Is what happens when you find yourselves unexpectedly in 8 foot seas.  Add a dose of seasickness and you get a good idea of how our latest 32 hours transit from Morehead City NC to Charleston SC turned out.  Thankfully the 8 foot seas occurred at night so we didn’t have the visual impact to go along with the feeling and hearing part of things.

Needless to say, I was not a happy camper and was very glad to get docked at the Charleston Maritime Center.  The seas ended up bigger that predicted and since we were 30 miles offshore due to having to get around Cape Fear there was not a whole lot we could do.  Trying to sleep while off watch with all the added noise of stuff moving around and the random creaks and groan from this old gal (both old gals) did not help the situation.  Of course Stan can sleep through anything but I am not so lucky.  At the point in time when I asked what can we do, we were 30 miles offshore and about 30 miles from where the shore met us heading southwest so we kept on going.  Dawn brought some calming seas and by time we go to the offshore buoy in Charleston we were beginning to wonder if we just imagined it all.  Then I looked around and saw all the stuff that never moves, moved and I began playing 52 pickup.  My next task is to get out the earthquake putty and re-stick items that had been stuck before and stick all the items that never needed it in the past.  Amazing that nothing broke and once again our sturdy little ship came through for us.

Now we have to jockey 2 weather issues this week and next and get to Hilton Head SC.

 

We decided to make a run for it and en-route, since the weather was holding and the waves weren’t too bad, we kept on going directly into Hampton VA 48 hours later.  We started with taking spray over the windshield and side of the boat in Long Island Sound.  Those pesky 30 knot winds have a habit of doing that.  Then we blew through Hell Gate at a peak of 13.1 knots (per our GPS).  Our timing with the current kept pushing us right on past Battery Park an hour earlier than expected and continued until it spit us into the Atlantic off Sandy Hook.  It was a pretty cool ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To try and time us coming into Atlantic City during daylight we would have had to slow down for 4 hours and since we had such a good run going, we bypassed it.  During day #2 a bird flew into the pilot house and then got into the salon.  I spent 2 hours trying to get him back out with no luck and Stan slept through the whole event even though it went on all around him.  Finally I got the fishing net and corralled him with that. Unfortunately he wasn’t looking too good when I turned him loose. I don’t think he was long for this world when he fell into the ocean.  Bird # 2 that came in for a visit was more fortunate and escaped alive.

We did start getting 4-6 foot rolling waves off of Delaware that continued though VA until we turned into Chesapeake Bay.  During my night watch I was glad that I could not see the size of the waves as feeling them was enough to put me on edge.  I have now decided that over 6 footers are out of my comfort range and unless we have no choice I would prefer to be tied to the dock.  At least now I know what is too big for me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived 48 hours after we left CT, tired, relieved (at least I was) and ready to chill out.  Having warmer weather certainly helps get us motivated to start getting more items knocked off our never ending “to do” list.  We had to add to the list to replace the fresh water pump that went out 15 min after leaving the dock in CT.  Imagine how interesting a 48 hour transit was with no running water, especially when you need fresh water to flush the toilets.  Luckily we had stocked up on bottled water before we left.  We now need to re-stock the bottled water once again.  Also, added to the list is the raw water pump on the starboard engine that decided to start leaking on the trip.

Oh well, something always happens to keep life interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We missed our weather window for leaving Stamford CT and going on a straight shot into Hampton VA on Friday as we were having way to much fun in NYC.  On Friday when we got back to the boat, the plan was to leave Saturday morning with Eric and Xavier on board to do the transit back through NY and into Staten Island.  At 5 am on Saturday, when I read the prior days weather brief (that I should have read Friday), I realized that it was a no go.  Stan didn’t put up too much of a fight as it only took him about a nano second to roll over and go back to sleep.  I was disappointed that E & X would miss out on doing the Hell Gate transit around NYC.

Now we will have big wind and waves this week off of Jersey and Delaware coast from TS Rafael that will churn up the seas as it heads north, although well offshore.  Maybe we are looking at a good window opening next Saturday.  Today, as I was pouring over weather reports and alternative routing with small jumps down the coast I kept seeing these different daily forecasts with anywhere from 20-30 knot winds and seas from 3-5 and 5-8 feet on different days .  So my question is when are seas too big to venture out?   Can I handle 3-5 foot as I know 5-8 foot is out of the question?  Will it be worse than predicted?  Probably!  Would I rather be stuck here in CT or Great Kills, NY?  I know Stan and he will push to go as his tolerance is greater than mine.  Not really sure that just “following along” with him will be a good thing this time.

As a wiser person than us stated later today:

“It’s better to be at anchor wishing you were at sea than at sea wishing you were at anchor. Don’t rush or think “how bad could it be?”

Funny, as I had asked myself numerous times this morning, how bad could it be?  Maybe we need to re-think our plan to leave on Tuesday and wait this thing out.  Do I really want us to get spanked by Mother Nature?

Stay tuned…..