Up the Coast of Florida
March 23, 2022
Heading North
We left Ft Lauderdale with a plan to leisurely hop up the coast and ultimately be out of Florida by April 20. Stops include West Palm Beach, Ft Pierce, Cape Canaveral, St Augustine to Brunswick, GA.
While exiting West Palm’s channel to the ocean we had our first experience with strong tidal current rushing into strong opposing wind, making for wild, confused waves. Seas went from 1-2’ waves to 3-4’ waves. Other than the dramatic exit, the sail from Ft Lauderdale to West Palm was perfect.
Thank you, Allyson Hamm, for crewing from Ft Lauderdale to Ft Pierce.
Fort Pierce
After years of fun dinner parties with the Sanchez-Moran’s in Lake Forest, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to do it again on Bistari. We picked them up from shore in Ft Pierce.
Cape Canaveral
Our sail to Cape Canaveral was a perfect first solo sail with just Ken and me. We docked Bistari at Cape Marina and prepared her for time alone. I was heading to Kate Foley’s bridal shower in Chicago and Ken was heading to Annapolis for a four-day diesel engine class.
Bistari was on her own.
Cape Canaveral - St Augustine - Brunswick GA
We were delighted to have our Kenosha Harbor sailing friends Heather and Brandon Hodges join us for our sail to Brunswick via St Augustine. It was a wonderful few days.
The real excitement happened when Brandon spotted an odd vessel far off our starboard side between St Augustine and Brunswick. We got the binoculars out and realized after much discussion, it was a nuclear submarine. Checking our charts confirmed we were off Kingsbay Naval Base. With lots of trepidation and a bit of delight we watched two escort boats and one big submarine rapidly approach. We were debating our tack, turned 20 degrees to starboard, when we heard the broadcast over the radio, “Northbound sailing vessel, what are your intentions?” We responded with “This is northbound sailing vessel Bistari, our intention is to head north to Brunswick GA”. This was followed by “Northbound sailing vessel, maintain your course. Do not come within 1,000 yards of this vessel.” And there you have it - Bistari’s close encounter with a nuclear submarine.
St Augustine
We hooked onto a mooring ball in St Augustine Municipal Harbor and enjoyed a few days of touring. The highlight was visiting on Good Friday, a Greek Church dedicated to the first Greek settlers in St. Augustine.
We said good-bye to Brandon and Heather in Brunswick GA. It was Easter Sunday and so we headed to Redeemer Presbyterian Church for Easter Service and a walk about town. The church was a small country church with a very welcoming congregation.
