Workin 9 to 5

After leaving Daytona/Ponce Inlet on December 12th, we hugged the Florida coast and arrived 12 hours ahead of schedule into Lake Sylvia, near Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) early Sunday morning. Ft. Lauderdale has been one of our major neon sign destinations since leaving Halifax and everywhere else that reminded us of warmer weather. Although it's been 5 days since our arrival, it's still a bit surreal to know and I keep repeating myself: "we've made it", "we're actually here" and "I can't believe we've made it this far!" after many moons, constant motion and some 2,000+ Nautical Miles, we're actually here!

I suppose the world works in mysterious ways. Since our arrival we got jobs for the entire week aboard a 130ft IAG private yacht. We were asked if we wanted to make a little extra cash this week so we said "why not!" It's not every day you get to work on a boat of this beauty and size. Whoa, is this boat spectacular! It's beyond anything I could imagine owning myself. It sure is pretty inside and out. Pictures never seem to do justice when you're standing inside a floating mansion, but here are some below. Nate is doing more hands-on, technical engineering work (considered "blue boat" projects) while I dance around beautiful woodwork and furniture, swiffering, making beds and dusting ("pink" boat projects). Most cruisers will agree that boat projects tend to fall into two categories: "Blue" or "Pink" projects. I take on the pink projects with rubber gloves and pride, and although some are dirty and hands-on like cleaning teak decks, I have no desire in tinkering with technical, complex "Blue" projects like engine rooms, bilges, electrical systems, etc. I have a handyman for that and he is learning from the yacht's technical engineer, our sailing friend G.R. I cleaned a yoga studio for three years so this yacht's got nothing I can't clean! 

It's weird getting up in the morning for work. Making breakfast, getting into the dinghy to commute the 10 minute row. It's a lovely way to get to work. We wave to other cruisers onboard as we row by, most days with the current in our favor. It's an opportunity we decided to pursue to boost the cruising kitty, try something new and meet new people in the process. This gig may lead to other opportunities for Nate's resume.

My awesome sister came for a visit. Well, mostly to help her dad move from Ft. Lauderdale to Denver after 20+ familiar years in the same condo, with the same views, same routine. It must have been hard for her dad to pack up his former life for a new one. I know exactly how scared and unsure he must be feeling. I give him lots of credit in bravery and courage. My heart broke open when I ran into my sister's arms and reunited after only 4 months of not seeing eachother. We spent an evening at Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlour catching up, enjoying our guiltless calories. Back in the day, our family would drive an hour from West Palm Beach just to enjoy homemade ice cream at this landmark establishment. It was fun to relive some memories!

The weather has been lovely! We're talking about sailing somewhere new for my birthday for a couple days and plan to stay in FLL for a while enjoying the warm sun and multitude of palm trees. It's nice to not be in transit mode for the moment. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season, although it sure doesn't feel like the holidays here with tanktops and warm weather. Far from complaining about the warmth, but snow and Christmas go together like peas and carrots.

After looking at some of the photos below, there will be more posts about my first sail repair, dolphin experience and meeting up with old friends after 8 years! Until then, we've found ourselves workin for the man. 

Pre-departure from Daytona Beach: repairing the foresail with dental floss 

Nate in sight of Cape Canaveral (about 3 miles offshore)

Catching some Zzzz's

Reunited aboard Felicity after 8 years

Sunday Funday!

Girls Night Out at Jaxson's

The office's main entrance

I love this vessel sink!

Pretty stairs!

Care to come for a dinner party?!

Love to all,
Jenn & Nate

Tree Hugger

After 5 long days of sailing from Beaufort, NC (just over roughly 400NM, merely stating our distance proudly, non-gloating), we entered Ponce de Leon Inlet, just south of Daytona Beach. A few hours prior to our entrance, I spoke with Sea Tow (over VHF) to collect local knowledge on entering the Inlet. Comments from Active Captain highly suggest to ask for clarification before entering, and by golly, that's just what we did! We entered the inlet Monday evening, just after sunset, which isn't recommended for an unfamiliar area, but we got out the spotlight to locate the shoal markers, instructed to leave heavily to starboard. Not heavily enough, we gently ran aground. Being his intuitive self and by no means having both vision, Nate turned us from whence we came and I dropped the hook in 13ft of water. Stopped. After. 5. days. of. constant. movement.

Tuesday morning we got escorted into Lighthouse Boatyard and we were happy clams to see the boatyard, dock hands and my most favorite, palm trees! This is our first time paying for a dock and well worth it ($1.75/ft=$63, showers, new friends and internet included)! As Nate took my hand and led me onto the dock, I steadily landed my feet and ran to the nearest palm tree. I'm now known in the boatyard as "Jenn, the Tree Hugger"! It's a name I believe I've earned.

During a long and rough passage, no cleaning of any kind gets done. Our cabin was astruned after 5 days; books, cans, clothing in every corner, Wyatt peed and pooped inside because we couldn't get him into the cockpit, and our souls were in desperate need of multiple hot showers. Once tied to the dock, putting the boat back in order and cleaning it with boiling water+Pine Sol was more than satisfying, opening the v-berth hatch and portholes let fresh, warm sea air circulate the space and unlimited shower access gave us a new sense of purpose. I'm not kidding!

We've made great friends at the boatyard, had a boat party aboard Aletheia and repaired a couple items onboard. We'll resew, using waxed dental floss, a portion of our foresail that ripped during our passage and plan to get underway Friday morning towards Ft. Lauderdale, one of our major destinations!

First official palm tree!

Fresh Little Tunny - gave us 3-4 meals

Ponce de Leon Lighthouse

Big pelican!

My studio

A butterfly landed on my finger

Our newest crew member and Wyatt, his biggest fan

Another favorite spot (still and quiet)

Love to All,

Nate & Jenn

Shedding Winter Blues

Beaufort, NC - we continue to have a great visit in this little southern small town. It's been a while since I've written about our travels and I'm excited to catch up! Finally bringing on some warmer temperatures, we've felt more motivated to explore our surroundings and go "outside"! This past Sunday, we reached our 3-month official sailing anniversary since leaving Halifax, NS - a landmark celebration indeed!

We spent a crisp and windy Thanksgiving Day sailing down the ICW towards Adams Creek, about a 40M day. Once at anchor right outside the ICW channel, a small storm blew through leaving a vibrant rainbow in its path- a sure sign of natural and unmistakable beauty. We both missed our families this Thanksgiving Day. Although relaxing and special, I would have liked a little noise and the ability to bake my apple pie. But...thanks to my sister and mama, we kept the family tradition alive and they baked my tradition caramel apple pie which I always gift to Dan - my kind-hearted, fun-loving cousin. I think he really liked it and hopefully he shared a bite with others!

Safely docked in Belhaven, NC

I just love this photo! A sunny and cold morning in the cockpit on our way to Elizabeth City, NC

A familiar cold sight along the ICW

Homemade smell - our oven bakes really well too!

We arrived into Beaufort on a breezy, but warm Black Friday after our final days sailing and motor-sailing down the ICW to MM200! Beaufort is our last stop through the ICW. From here we'll go outside the ditch due South. We've come across some great moments while in Beaufort so here's a quick update:

After anchoring in Taylor's Creek, we immediately came ashore to find laundry and public showers (two recurring necessities of our lifestyle) after being without for eight days. Checking out the local scene, I walked into the North Carolina Maritime Museum to inquire about these invaluable services. Seeing my desperation and greasy hair, boy, did I talk to the right gal! Turns out the sailing community is around every corner! After providing her number to a complete stranger, in case we didn't find what we needed, our dear friend, Dianne, opened her home to us for a delayering-of-skin shower, a washing machine, evening cocktails, among escorting us around town to provision during our stay, and even introduced us to some of the museum's cool hidden gems - including the Maritime Museum Watercraft Center, where we got complimentary wood scraps for the stove, and the Maritime Museum Cetacean Research Center. The biologist that works at the research center deserves a medal for his passion or at least a bigger building to house and build his masterpieces of whale skeletons - I think I could have hung out with him all day and talked about porpoises and sperm whales!

Pirate Blackbeard frequents the Maritime Museum

Beautiful maritime library at the museum!

A very large, rare sperm whale tooth from Scotland!

A skeleton of a beached whale

A beautiful, but small studio

Being newer to the cruising community, it seems only natural that veteran cruisers are always waiting in the wings to help us newbies out. It's happenstance that we cross eachothers' path, but seems all too common when you're living in this environment. Dianne saw an opportunity (or maybe the look in my puppy dog eyes), knew our desires, and offered a kind heart and cruising hand, fulfilling our needs without asking for anything in return. Although, I believe we gave her something in return - time and human connection. As we swapped stories in her living room, sipping red wine after a life-altering shower, she openly shared and warmly reminisced about her 8-year cruising career, aboard Cloud 9 with her late husband, with a continued glow on her face. She was able to talk about things she hadn't thought about for a long time and was proud of every moment she experienced with him. By being forward and unashamed of asking for what we need, we've met the friendly locals, openly sharing about our travels and receiving some unexpected opportunities. It's good to be a social butterfly, you never know who you'll meet!

We took a sunset row down Taylor's Creek, amidst the vacant pirate ship, and tied up on Carrot Island upon the Rachel Carson Estuarian Reserve where we were hopeful to see the popular wild horses. Of the claimed 33 horses on Carrot Island, we saw one! She was beautiful and I call that a success. Wyatt and myself were able to see our first wild horse. Check!

Trails on the Rachel Carson Reserve - the outer loop usually muddy due to tides

Yarrr!

My personal driver

Lots of Sniffing

Rachel Carson Estuarian Reserve

See the white spot on the horse's bridge?!

We hired a diver from Discovery Diving Co to unravel our anchor chain from an undiscovered 500-lb anchor at the bottom of Taylor's Creek! Turns out our anchor was free as a bird, but our anchor chain thought otherwise. Thankfully, the heavily aged anchor and wrapped chain kept us set for 3 days before we were able to free our boat and re-anchor. It took the diver 5 minutes to unhook the chain and costs us $50. But, the excitement he got from finding this discovery will allow him to bring his diving students back to the site to pull up the anchor. Glad we could help out!

Thanks Andrew for the fix!

Barnacle-encrusted wine bottles from down under!

Nate was in Beaufort during his 2-week stay aboard Heretic back in December 2006. He was really excited to hit up Backstreet Pub, a place both he and dear friend Rupp were quite fond of!

Friday night on the town @ Backstreet Pub

Backstreet Pub

Provisioning Day

Laundry Day

Warm, luscious afternoon run!

Fresh seafood run

Remember these rings we used to make?! Its not much, but it's festive!

Downtown Beaufort

Haven't seen one of these around CO. This bar was also a non-smoking bar!

After all the unexpected cold fronts we've been handed and priceless wood burning fires, we begin to shed our winter attitudes and layers, seeing real temperatures averaging 60-68 degrees, sitting in the cockpit at night to connect with family under shooting stars, and I've finally been able to run in a tank top (woohoo!). As the internal butterflies take flight about offshore and overnight sailing as my biggest setback, I put my trust in our ability to navigate, Nate's expertise as well as the distance we've already accomplished. We are lightly seasoned. We're getting mentally and physically closer to our Miami-bound destination and we're looking forward to the journey (and arrival!).

Love to All,
Nate & Jenn