New Bern NC.

An unplanned stop ,we made a detour to New Bern from our anchorage in the icw at Adams creek. We left Wrightsville Beach on 5-2-10 with the evening falling tide getting outside the break water before dark. We had a very nice sail overnight to the Beaufort inlet in the early morning then motored up the waterway about 20 miles and anchored for the evening. We decided to go out of the way to New Bern where we could get inexpensive dockage if we need it to go back home. The town is real nice and so are the marinas. We are the only boat anchored out here, the first time we have had the anchorage to ourselves in a long time. The water is almost fresh this far up the river but very dark, almost coffee colored.

After spending a little over a month here we received an offer for a great position back in the Detroit area. It is with mixed feelings that we return to work and set aside this wonderful life style we have been living the last 2 years but we knew it would come. Time to repair, replace, reequip and save. Rapscallion II will be hauled for the hurricane season then return to the water in New Bern NC. as our winter retreat.

86.5 NM to Adams creek sailed 16 hours motored 3, 23 NM to New Bern motored.

Wightsville Beach NC.

Anchored in Wrightville Beach where we are visiting family and friends that we have not seen in a year and a half. New and growing grand children are the biggest indicators of how long we have been gone. We had a great time seeing Andrew and Aarons families. Getting together for BBQ's and visiting aboard Rapscallion II.

North Carolina

We set off from Charleston SC. the morning of 4-22-10 for the overnight trip to Wrightsville beach. The wind was so light the entire way we had to motor and motor sail. We are way over due to have the bottom and prop cleaned. We are losing 1 to 1.5 knots from the growth. In Charleston i tried using a brush on a long handle to remove what i could but it wasn't enough.
The second day we spent motoring against the Cape Fear river tidal current into the ICW to Wrightsville Beach. 151 NM , 32 1/2 hours, (gad).

Charleston SC.

We have really enjoyed our stay once again in Charleston. It is such a beautiful city with so many historic buildings. We especially enjoyed the French Quarter of the city. We had a bad scare the first night here when around 1:00 am we were hit by another boat. By time i got on deck they were gone and out of sight, quite possibly very drunk. We had a bent stanchion and some black rubber marks on the side but no real damage. I was able to remove the black marks and bend the stanchion back but i don't think the other guy will be able to put back the gel coat he left on our deck. He must have made a nice gouge down the side of his hull. The weather has been great with no rain. 168NM, Light winds, 33 3/4 hours , motored 3/4 of the way.

Fernandina Beach FL.

We had some mixed emotions about being back in Fernandina Beach. Its a lovely town and very cruiser friendly, but unlike the December before last we had horrendous no-see-ums attacking us this time. We revisited the shops and found the large grocery outside town to stock up at. The weather has been all northeast, the very direction we need to go, so we are here for almost 2 weeks until the weather breaks. We took a short 7.5 Nm. motor boat trip over to St. Marys Ga. for a couple of days where when we were pulling anchor to return to Fernandina Beach, we discovered we had a raccoon stow away in our anchor locker. Unfortunately i had to send him swimming back to shore. St. Marys is a very nice town but very small with no provisioning at all. 56 NM. motored the entire way.

St. Augustine Fl.

We got into St . Augustine on March 27 @ 10:00 PM but had to anchor outside along the inlet until morning being that we could not find the channel buoys. We moved inside the harbor at 7:30 in the following morning. It is a very pretty town but not very friendly to cruisers. We were charged $10:00 a day to tie up the dinghy at the city dock. Shopping was 1 1/2 miles or so away but other than that our stay was pleasant. We visited with some folks we met along the way, Tont and Sue, who live outside of town, that we have become friends with. They showed us a good time taking us out to dinner and a day out on there power boat Scarlett. 217 NM. 41 hours total. Motor sailed half.

Palm Beach Fl.

We ended up motoring to Lake Worth from Miami being the only weather window we had in a week was for no wind, we took it. Along the way we had a Homeland & Security boat sneak up on us. Finding out that we had checked in at Key West 3 weeks ago they left us to continue on our way. We motor sailed close to the 10 to 12 KN. wind over night to make the inlet in daylight the next morning. We anchored just inside the inlet and fought some vicious tidal currents until we moved 4.5 NM. up the waterway to North Palm Beach to a very placed anchorage where shopping was only 1 bock away. We had our friends Mel and Joni from Serene aboard for dinner. We also got to see Steve from Broad Reaching whom we met 10 months ago. He returned home to Stewart Fl. while we were here. We also got to see some family from Sarnia Ont.Ca. that were in the area during our stay. We really enjoyed seeing our cruising friends one last time and family before we moved on. 73NM. 14 hours overnight motoring and motor sailing.

Miami Fl.

One year and 2 1/2 months ago we left here sailing south. We did not plan on circumnavigating the Caribbean but sure are glad we did. It was a great adventure and we have made some great friends, 2 of which we will be leaving here after cruising on and off , more on for a year. Mel and Joni on the boat Serene have been great sailing companions. We both flew all our courtesy flags back into Biscayne Bay. With a stop at channel 5 at Long Key we took 2 days and a night to make Miami . We spent a week visiting Mel and Joni, seeing their home and meeting their kids and grand kids again. A trip to the Everglades, South beach, Fort Lauderdale & Miami with our local guides. We also got to enjoy a land side bed and shower which we haven't used in a long time.

Channel 5 Long Key 25NM motor sailing 5 1/2 hrs. Miami 82 NM. overnight sailing 19 hours.

Marithon Key Fl.

Two short day sails from Key West with a stop at a road stead anchorage at Key Lois, we stop at Marathon Key. Mel knows people here and we meet at a harbor side restaurant. The harbor is really a marina, almost entirely filled with mooring balls. We anchored outside and took the dinghy in. The main dinghy dock charges $16 a day just to tie up. The moorings seem cheep if you take them for a month. We could not see ourselves here that long, 2 days and we are ready to move on. There really is not much to see and do here within walking distance though we did some Manatee watching up the canals from the dinghy. 20NM. motor sailing to Key Lois, 20NM. sail to Marathon Key.

Key West Fl.

After a grueling 3 day passage, sailing all but the way out and into the harbors, we make Key West Fl. from Isla Mujeres Mexico. We knew that there was a possibility of some squally weather but it was the best window we could see in the forcasted weather. There were 2 other boats traveling with us, Isla Bonita ,a catamaran and Serene who we have been traveling with since the Dominican Republic. On the second day out it seemed more likely we were going to get hammered off the Cuban coast. So far the sailing had been fast and wet with frequent waves splashing into the cockpit. By day 2's evening we seen the front moving down on us. Serene moved off to the north 12 miles from Isla Bonita and ourselves and ended up experiencing nothing more than heavy rain. We, on the other hand, saw gusts up to 50 and 62 knots with 40 to 45 sustained. All in all it was not to bad being we anticipated this and had a triple reef in the main and the storm jib up and the wind being behind us. In an hour and a half it was all over and back to the usual 20 to 25 knot conditions. Our 3'rd day we hit the gulf stream adding 2 1/2 to 3 knots to our speed hitting almost 9 knots over ground for a couple hours. Getting to the sea bouy at 12:30 am we started the motor for the first time in almost 3 days and had it die right away. Again we got water into our fuel. I emptied almost 2 quarts of sea water from the water separator. It must be getting forced down the fuel vent on the stern with following seas. Getting the motor running again we get to the anchorage at 3:45 EST.
Key West is a very touristy party town where Mel used to have an office. He and Joni introduced us to their friends and took us on a tour of the lower keys. We hung out playing tourists for the next week until the next available weather window. 349 NM. sailed all but 6 miles. 65 hours.

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Had a great sail up the coast to Isla Mujeres. We didn't expect every port to be a tourist trap but once again we are exposed to the same vendor booths and poor food. The vendors are very aggressive working the passing crowd to come into there shops. If we hadn't already seen this same thing in Cozumel and Cancun it might be interesting but its a carbon copy. The wives find the shops more interesting than the guys. We pick up a few trinkets to bring back with us. We end our Mexican coast tour about as disappointed as our Belize trip. Checking in and out here was very easy unlike checking in at the other ports. 34 NM. 8 hours sailed the entire way.

Puerto Morelos, Mexico

The weather report missed by a day and we found ourselves totally exposed to a North West wind in Cozumel's poor anchorage. Leaving Serene there we pulled anchor a little after 5 am in the dark with 2 to 3 foot waves rolling in. Our best bet was to make for the main land that sweeps northeast here giving us some protection from head wind and waves. We made great time with the wind on the beam for Puerto Morelos. This anchorage was quite shallow and once again we hooked just inside the barrier reef and dropped anchor in 7 1/2 feet of water at low tide. This is a very small resort town where maybe %90 of the population are tourists. We still have not checked into the country and this is not a port of entry. We reported in to the port caption that spoke English well , explaining that we were unsuccessfull in checking in at Xcalak or Cozumel and weather would keep us here for another week or so. He was great about it getting on the phone and getting the various people down to our boat starting within an hour. By the time we made it back to the pier they were already there and waiting. They got us checked in quickly, short the health department which went to the port captions office the following morning. We got our paper work to take to the bank for our clearance. We took a cab to Cancun and the bank which we had wanted to go to anyway. Had a small problem with immigration not giving us the bank routing number and we had to make a dash around the corner to the immigration office. Approaching the guard at the door he explained that the office closed 5 minutes ago. There were still long lines inside and a young man that spoke English asked me what i needed. Explaining to him, he translated to the door guard who allowed us in. Relieved we didn't have to make another trip, we were back to the bank to pay our fees. That done we looked around town. We were looking for the market area which turned out to be just like the vendors in Cozumel , very aggressive with much the same items. That out of the way we enjoyed the atmosphere of Puerto Morelos with its small town atmosphere. It did have souvenir shops but not the aggressiveness of the big cities. After we were here a couple of days Serene rejoined us.

Cozumel Mexico

We broke up the trip to Cozumel , stopping at Cayo Norte and Espirtu Santo along the way. We thought we had the weather to do this with just an overnight stop at each. The sailing was great only having to motor through the inlets. We had a currents up to a 3 knots at times. I cant comprehend going south down this coast as the currents are so strong. Cayo Norte is an atoll with only a Navy outpost on it. They stopped to Question us but did not give us a hard time at all. This is a very pretty spot but there is little protection so we press on the next morning for Espirtu Santo. The weather was going to kick up the next day so we decide this location would give us fair protection. The following morning around 2:00 am the wind picked up to 25 to 30 knots and created a chop that sent a breaking wave over the bow and onto our heads in our bed, what a rude awakening. This went on until the late afternoon when it died back to 15 knots. Both Serene and ourselves broke our anchor snubbers through this blow, a first for each of us. The holding was good and we both stayed put it was just to far from the reef to give us good protection. The morning of the 20th we headed for Cozumel. We dropped anchor just after dark, around 7:00 pm.

The following morning we split a car rental with Mel and Joni so that we could run around and check into the country. They don't make it easy as all the different departments are all over the place, and as we found out nobody knows where they are. We finally found the health office, the one we needed to check into first and found it closed, so much for checking in until Monday. We ended up driving around the island instead. We stopped at the San Gervasio Mayan ruins site and then drove the coastal road along the beach that spanned the length of the island. Back in the main town there are all the vendors who aggressively try to get you into there shops. The food is geared to the tourist and we find it far from being Mexican. The beer is getting more expensive the closer we get to the states along with most everything else. Two days of window shopping and were ready for something else. Cayo Norte 46NM 9 hours, Espirtu Santo 45NM 7 hours, Cozumel 79 NM. 12 1/2 hours, full sail all the way.

Xcalak Mexico

This might not have been such a good idea to stop here. The anchorage once again was very shallow and we did not venture to far in from the cut in the reef. We had intended to clear into Mexico in this little town and we got in early enough that they should still have been in the office, they we not. We spoke with someone that indicated that it was unpredictable when the office was open. We had no intention of staying and loosing our weather window to move north so no checking in for us here. Ashore we were getting bit up by no see ums and mosquito's. We tried to take shelter in a local restaurant for some Mexican cuisine and a coldie but the bugs were just as bad on the upstairs patio as they were down on the street and the food was a joke. We ordered Fajitas and burritos. The burritos were a folded flour tortilla with a thin slice of cheese inside, the fajitas were the same with the addition of a thin slice of ham added in. We sucked down our beers and made a mad dash for the pier to escape the persistent bugs. Back at the boat we made a real dinner without the bugs company. 32NM 4 1/2 hours sailed final 2 hours.

San Pedro Belize

Leaving Serene back at the Drowned Cays we head to San Pedro on New Years eve. The wind is almost on the nose and somewhat lite but we are able to motor sail into it. San Pedro's anchorage is shallow and we hook just inside the reef and anchor in water that leaves 3 inches under our keel at low tide. One of Belize's most popular tourist destinations with a Moorings bare boat charting base here we are in vacationers paradise. For us we find the island nice but more expensive than other Belizen ports. There are few cars used here. Most everyone uses gulf carts, bikes or walks. We walked most of the town in a short time. Being a small island it didn't take more than a couple of hours for us to see the business district and the resort district to the north. The weather has been sunny but windy which has been fine ashore. In the anchorage the reef gives us great protection and we see only a small wind chop. Serene rejoined us here after seeing their son Miles and his family back home from Belize city to Miami. We share the cost of a gulf cart and see a bit more of the island. We also took a ferry trip to Caye Calker to check it out. We wish we were able get our boat in here as it is very laid back compared to San Pedro. All the streets are sand and the only motorized transportation are gulf carts. We enjoyed a day strolling the streets before returning to the hustle bustle of San Pedro. We find there is a large percentage of shop owners that are Americans and Canadians. The weather did not allow us to depart the country before our 30 day immigration allocated time limit and we have to extend our stamp for another 30 days, at a cost of $25 each, even though we only needed 3 days before the weather breaks. 47NM. 9 hours, sailed 2 hours, motor sailed the rest of the way.