Jan 21-22 St Augustine to Ponce Inlet

We dropped our mooring at dawn to head farther south. We have been on this mooring ball for about 10 days.  Leaving St Augustine

always comes with a little reluctance, because we always enjoy our time here so much. But the weather is finally right and it's time. 

The plan was to leave St Augustine early in order to arrive at Ponce Inlet before dark.  We made our way out of the inlet carefully making our way to through the big swells as the ocean swell reaches the shallow water just outside the inlet.  Once clear of hazards we turned south and got into the groove of a perfect ocean sailing day. 

(Lois's note: obviously I was very busy figuring out world peace or something....)

A few hours before Ponce Inlet a weather update suggested excellent crossing weather to the Bahamas  if instead of stopping at Ponce Inlet we just keep going south to Canaveral then turn east on a forming southern wind. Sounded good to us!  So passing Ponce Inlet we sailed into the night. According to the forecast the northerly winds are to turn easterly and then swing around to the south around midnight. When those southerlies arrive is our signal to turn east for the Bahamas.  However, as evening turned into night those easterlies never showed. We continued with the plan thinking a little patience would be rewarded with a good crossing to the Bahamas. Around midnight we were still riding northerlies, which are not good for riding the Gulf Stream. By now Second Star is far enough off shore to be out of cell phone, so a weather update by our usual method was not possible.  But we could tune in the marine weather band on our VHF radio. The forecast we got there was a huge change.  The southerlies would arrive later as a raging storm!  Decision time has arrived.  Crossing to the Bahamas is a definite no. We need to find shelter.  Looking at the options Fort Pierce is risky, likely unreachable as the southerly winds fill in. Canaveral is 30 miles west, but there are no readily accessible anchorages. It is way after the marinas there have closed for the day. So our choice is to turn around and go back to Ponce Inlet. 

So we turned around and sailed back the way we came in the fading winds that signal a big weather shift coming.  We decided to use an engine to slowly move us hoping to time our arrival at Ponce Inlet with sunrise. Taking turns at the wheel we did our best to each get a bit of rest. 

A hour before dawn we shut the engine off and drifted. The lights of the inlet were visible, but we choose to wait for daylight to better see our way in this unfamiliar place. 

We try to time our arrival at inl.ets with tide.  As the sun came up the tide was flowing in at the inlet, which is helpful. But here the tide was pushing us at 5 knots, a bit concerning. We followed the channel markers carefully but the channel turned sharply as the swift tide pushed us over a shoal that was not on the chart!  Scrambling with full engine power we pushed for where we guessed deeper water might be. A wrong guess would be a very bad day in this current.  The dagger boards tickled the oysters but we came through ok, but surely shaken. 

Now in more sheltered but still swift water we went looking for a place to anchor. The chart made a suggestion, and a couple boats already anchored there have us confidence to give it a try. 

We worked out of the traffic channel and into the anchorage carefully as the chart was clearly not going to be a reliable guide.  After noodling around a bit we found a spot and dropped the anchor.  Once the anchor had set we could pause and evaluate.  Depth here was about 5 feet.  When Brent checked the tide table we realized this was a problem because at low tide we would lose 3.5 ft of depth. Not quite enough!. We hoisted anchor and noodled around some more and eventually anchored in 12 feet about 100 ft from the first location.  

Once settled it was time to rest. It had been an exhausting night.  

A few hours later, slightly refreshed we emerged on deck. The incoming tide had reversed to outgoing. A dozen yards away the ground we had originally anchored in was emerging from the water as a large exposed sand bar populated with local boaters enjoying the weekend on the beach. Fortunately Second Star was sweetly sitting in the ripping current. 

The dog needed some shore time and we could use a refresh in fuel after the previous day’s activities. So we hopped in the dinghy to run up current to a fuel dock.  The fuel dock turned out to be a very long trip in an ever swifter outgoing tide and now increasing wind.  An inner voice was warning each of us that Second Star was vulnerable in these conditions. The anchor was holding fine when we left, but the concern rose. We finally found a fuel dock about2 miles away. Full with fuel cans we made short work of the return to the boat. We were relieved to come around the corner and under the bridge and see our boat riding right where we had left her.  With Second Star in sight we stopped on the beach risen from the tide to let Sam run joyfully in the sand. 

All night the boat twisted in circles riding sometimes to the wind and sometimes to the current. The switch between tide and cured was frequently a violent snap that woke us up. We checked the anchor to make sure it was holding and went back to sleep. 

Our path for the night- round and round and round

In the morning we were quite ready to move on. We waited for tidal current to subside a bit, leaving a couple hours after high tide. Carefully following our tracks back out to the ocean we’re we’re glad to leave Ponce Inlet behind.