I’m anchored here at mile 536. 203 miles in 3 days. Mile zero is Norfolk.
All is good. I stocked up with groceries at St Simons Island. Had some nasty weather last night as a front came through, with 2-3″ of rain. I didn’t get underway today until 1000 when things moderated. Weather looks great for the next few days.
I’m anchored here just north of the river.
Susan and Miles got off a couple of hours ago. I’m now in solo travel mode, next major destination is the Hudson River. I’ll lay out plans in another post.
It was nice having them aboard, and I got to explore the more interesting spots a bit more.
I just got around to tallying fuel usage over the last couple of months. These may be my worst numbers ever. Still not bad by any reasonable standard.
The numbers: from Destin FL through the Bahamas to Fort Pierce – about ten weeks of steady leisurely travel.
Distance: 1,508 miles / 2,425 km
Fuel: 444 gal / 1,680 l
That’s 3.3 mpg / 1.3 l/NM (nautical mile)
As I’ve mentioned before, my nominal goal has always been < 1.0 l/NM. But on this segment a lot of it was in open waters, and I travel faster. It’s the cost of speed. I did a couple of hundred miles at 8-9 knots.
I’m making up for it by pledging to travel slow for the next 700 miles up the ICW.
In other fuel-related news, I got my generator fully operational with David’s help, and we used it regularly in the Bahamas. I manage quite nicely without it when solo, but with guests and lots of cooking and Starlink and an ice maker it’s nice to have.
We’ve been chugging north on the Indian River. Last night we anchored here next to the Boston Whaler plant in Edgewater. Today we’re stopping at New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach.
More of Susan’s pictures from the last two days.
Susan’s favourite photos from today. Warm and breezy.
Today I met Miles and Susan in West Palm Beach as planned. They’re aboard for a week and fly out of Jacksonville.
We’re reasonably well stocked. Susan will take lots of photos.
I don’t have much of a plan beyond chugging towards New York and the Hudson River. Looking forward to it.
Tonight we’re anchored here in North Palm Beach. Will be underway tomorrow by 0800 with plans for a mid day beach stop.
Below are a few of Laura’s photos. They do most of the talking.
This is Cat Island and Eleuthera.
The Abacos
Five weeks, and about 950 NM. The only issue with the boat was a failing toilet pump that we replaced before leaving FL. We discovered that the water tank is 463 litres, or about 125 gallons.
The Exumas were undeniably beautiful. I’ve never seen such vivid colours. My favourite area was Cat Island and Eleuthera. It’s far less tourist driven, with no big resorts or cruise ship ports (yet – there’s a big Disney cruise ship port under construction on Eleuthera). Groceries and good small restaurants were plentiful and reasonably priced. I’d go back with the intention of spending more time ashore.
We’re back in Florida, anchored tonight in Stuart. Tomorrow we’ll be in Indiantown where we departed five weeks ago.
To catch up, we spent two more nights on Eleuthera, then from Spanish Wells headed north to the Abacos. After three nights there we had a weather window and cruised 130 miles to West Palm Beach, arriving at 0200 this morning. Lots of travelling, but under good conditions.
It was a great trip. I’ll write some further thoughts later and publish some of Laura’s photos. Here are mine, all from Eleuthera.
We came into Rock Sound this evening.
The last two days have largely been traveling. Yesterday we came up to Little San Salvador Island and anchored at a cruise ship beach as the passengers were departing. Today we stopped for lunch at the Barn House Bar and Grill. Delightful spot.
We’ll be following the shore up to Spanish Wells over the next couple of days, then on the Abacos. Weather looks good for the hop between.
What a delightful spot. There are about a dozen cruisers anchored here, and all were in for a music party put on by the local business community. Lots of fun.
Tomorrow we meander north.
Boating Adventures 