Catamaran delivery from Puerto Rico to Charleston - Intracoastal Waterway Florida to Charleston

We sailed from Nassau in the morning, over the bank at night and crossed the Gulf stream in day time, all of it motoring...it was a real weather window. It was a relief to get to Lakeworth, after 1000+ seamiles, too much distance in too little time, really. But it was over..only 480 to Charleston. In the mean time, it was Heiner's birthday...we had a BBQ and a bottle of bubbly (in 2010, Heiner had also celebrated his birthday in Lake Worth).

There were thunderstorms while we were at anchored but nothing significant; we shopped for food and beer in order to make sure we would have enough goodies for the ICW.  Luckily, the ICW had been dredged in Florida...what a breeze compared to 2010! Matanzas inlet: 14 feet! Wow!!!

The number of huge and empty houses (occupied only certain weeks in the year) is growing in south Florida which gives the surroundings an eery stillness to places. There is still quite a bit of wildlife along the waterway (surprisingly): we saw several manatees, dolphins, and many shorebirds including roseate spoonbills!

 Upon arrival in St Augustine, we saw that there were 2 old ships docking near the Lion's bridge!
As we circled almost 20 minutes before passing the bridge, there was plenty of time for taking photos.

El GALEON is a replica of the vessels that traveled the coasts of Florida between the 16th and 18th centuries, transporting men, goods, culture and ideas, creating ties between America and Europe. Then named the San Pelayo, the 650-ton ship was one of the most powerful ships of its day. It was the most important of several ships that carried 800 colonists and supplies to St. Augustine, establishing the first permanent European settlement in the United States in 1565. The San Pelayo was an enormous vessel – it carried 77 crewmen, 18 gunners, and transported 317 soldiers and 26 families, as well as provisions and cargo (including cattle). Her armament was iron cannons and artillery. She was built in 1564 just outside the gated city of Aviles, Spain (Menenedez’s birthplace).

As for the much smaller ship, the NAO VICTORIA, it is a replica of the Spanish ship to successfully circumnavigate the world under the commands of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The Victoria was the sole ship of the 5 ships flotilla to finish its mission: 18 men out of 245 survived the 32,000 mile trip. Very impressive story.

 

That evening, we anchored in the ICW in a beautiful marsh, listening to the birds and dreaming about long past explorations. Of course, smoking a little Dominican cigar and drinking Bahamian rum made that evening especially enjoyable!

 

 

While the trip in the Georgia marshes and swamps would have been an interesting one, we decided to skip that part of the ICW in favor of a ca. 20 hours passage on the ocean; less stress anchoring with ICW newbies, especially in tight quarters, and a faster return home! We heard from other cruisers that the ICW has not been dredged in Georgia and that many boats must wait a few hours for the tide to rise before attempting a passage. As our catamaran drew 4 ft draft, it proved to be easier to do the outside run!

And so, we left St John's river in the morning for an early arrival in Charleston, south Carolina next day.  The was lots of traffic at sea during the night around Savannah and our AIS system (one can see the name and details of ships on a radar type screen) made the trip much less stressful.

The weather was calm upon entering Charleston harbour. Fort Sumter greeted us...

 

It felt good to be in this favorite city of ours! And, finally at destination, we were going to have time to go on land and explore!

 

Good bye Charleston!

 

And so ended this adventure after 1500 nautical miles!