We had a great day making the run from Osprey Marina to our next stop, St James Marina. We pulled into SJM around 4:00pm, got into our slip, and settled in for a few days to wait out some weather. (I have pictures now…😉)
The marina is nice but they put us wwwaaayyyy out in the slips so it was a hike to the bathrooms, showers, and the restaurant. Good for getting in your steps though!! We saw some friends that we had met at Lady’s Island Marina a few weeks before so we had a great dinner with them on our first night. It was pretty calm as the marina is protected but it was pretty windy outside.
I spent some time looking at the weather forecasts, the tides, and our next stops heading north and thought it might be prudent to spend a couple of weeks at SJM just to let things settle down in the weather world plus allow some of the warmer weather to push further north. Unfortunately, this delay wasn’t going to work for Denise so after we talked about it for a couple of days, we decided that we’d rent a car and bring her home. The thought was that she would rejoin me when I got to Port Washington on Long Island NY and finish the trip from there. FYI, we had decided, even before the trip started, that Denise had the option to head back home at any time she wanted with no questions asked and no hard feelings so even though it was tough to see her go, I respected her decision 100%.
We rented a nice Audi on Friday, drove up to MA, hung out on Saturday, and I came back on Sunday. I dropped off the car on Monday and then spent the rest of the day starting on a list of boat chores that I needed to get done. I also started walking every day as St James is a huge gated community with tons of walking trails. I knew I was going to need to be in better shape to make the rest of the trip home single-handed so that was my incentive.
As the week wore on, I did have the chance to make a new friend at the marina (always good to make new friends…😁). I introduced myself and they didn’t say much but I did learn their name. My new friend’s name was Ally and was a local resident of the area. After a few minutes, I learned that their last name was Gator and I thought it was a good last name. We hung out for a couple of days but then they left without saying goodbye…🤷.
After a week or so, the weather had improved considerably and it was starting to look like I’d get a decent few days to make the run to Beaufort NC. My plan was to leave SJM, move to Wrightsville Beach, then head offshore to get to Beaufort. So, in case you’re interested, Beaufort NC and Beaufort SC are spelt the same but are pronounced differently (don’t mix them up either as you’ll be shunned from society in both places…😬). The Beaufort in NC is pronounced as Bow-fert (Bow as in bow and arrow) and the Beaufort in SC is pronounced Bew-fert (Bew as in a kitten cry sound of mew). Now you know so no excuses…🤨.
Once I had decided on the departure date, I set about getting things ready to go. I got a ride into town to do provisioning with the thought that I’d get enough food to last until the end of the trip, notified the marina office of my departure date, did laundry (the washing machine wouldn’t go into a spin cycle so I had to wring out all the clothes by hand and then run them through 3 drying cycles just to get them dry… everything’s an adventure on this trip…🤣), and got in a few more walks. I was excited to be finally moving again and I was still hoping to be home by the middle of May!!
Next up…Cape Fear River, offshore, and why finding a leak in your boat really sucks…😬
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Sailing Infinity 