It's now early November, and although Hurricane season which normally ends November 1st has been extended to the 30th many cruisers are starting the southbound migration from the Chesapeake bay to warmer climes.

A week ago a fellow cruiser who was getting ready to leave Annapolis for Brunswick contacted us via our website to ask for our advice about heading south this time of year having read about our late 2009 trip (documented here). In the event other cruisers might be interested in what is largerly a warning I offer an extract of that advise below and a postscript.

"I can offer that rounding Hatteras in November is no joke. You do want to stay well clear of the cape but not too far offshore. I would advise to be very careful of the weather window and don't rush it. Little Creek in Norfolk is a great place to hold waiting for that window. The other thing that we found is that as rough as Hatteras can be, Long Bay from Lookout to Fear can be far worse. The nature of the bay is such that the speed course brings you 50+NM offshore.

Judy and I have experienced some pretty rough conditions in the Pacific, but our crossing of Long Bay was some of the worst we ever experienced. On our crossing 3 other vessels sank heading southbound. Again, the key here is timing. As a result, holding in Beaufort (NC) can make some sense, (by the way Morehead city is better dockage than Beaufort). If you plan on doing the entire hop in one shot (we were double handing and doing this in late November so needed to stop), again the key is weather.

In closing, we learned along time ago two pieces of wisdom: "Take the sails down before God does it for you", and "Don't break the boat or the crew, both sail poorly when broken". You are about to embark on a very exciting voyage, respect the ocean, be mindful of your vessel, and you will have a great passage. Above all please do be safe."

On Friday night on a whim we checked the weather off of Diamond shoals and were shocked at the conditions. Winds were gusting to near hurricane force and wave heights were over 20 feet. Fortunately the cruiser we exchanged message with decided to abort his trip having kept out a good weather eye.

7/19/2010 - Sightseeing

Makara is still on dry land. I hope by the end of the month to get her back into the water. In the mean time, we have been spending some time visiting along the south eastern coast checking out the various cities and towns. So far we have been to Charleston three times, Savannah once (there will be more) and Jacksonville. We go to Jacksonville primarily for the large West Marine Flagship store, i.e. BIG, and this last time discovered an old friend called Café Laredo very near the West Marine store. Café Laredo is a very good Mexican restaurant. There are several around including one that was virtually right next door when we lived in Dallas Texas. We were pleasantly surprised and immediately decided to hang around Jacksonville for dinner. One of their signature dishes is guacamole made fresh at the table, yummy. When we were in Charleston this time around we checked out several restaurants, all excellant, and spent some time walking the downtown area including the large outdoor market. In reality it is in a covered pavilion that occupies several blocks and reminds me more a bazaar than a market. We then walked out to the eastern waterfront and enjoyed the view. Later we went over to Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant to pick up a tour to Ft. Sumter. Unfortunately we just missed the boat (literally) so had to pass on that. Fortunately the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10) is moored there. The Yorktown is a very historical WWII era carrier that is now a floating museum. I couldn't resist that so we went onboard. There are walking tours of much of the vessel and a large number of historic aircraft to view. For those of us who lived through the early space program the Yorktown was one of the recovery carriers that plucked Mercury and later Apollo capsules from the ocean when they returned to earth. We had a really good time and also toured a late WWII era submarine that is also moored there, the USS Clamagore. All in all we found a good way to relax while Makara is indisposed and enjoy Charleston, a wonderful resource virtually in our backyard here in Atlanta.