Charleston

 Tuesday, 30 May - 2 June

Port Canaveral to Charleston - 285NM

I was planning to leave on Monday, but Tropical Storm Bonnie, had other plans, so I delayed my departure.  On Monday night I had a few drinks Keith and his cousin, they were waiting on their boats documentation to head back to Grenada...

With bed made for the trip - I sleep in the main cabin as I can hear any alarms and can get up quickly..

I set off on 31 May, at 1020 with the undocking being a lot smoother than I was expecting. The forecast called for 10-15kts of winds from generally the South.. I had a send off from a couple of seadogs as I was leaving port Canaveral area. I then headed east to get on the Gulfstream, which would add 2-3kts to ground speed, which would be great.. The winds were pretty much as forecast with a really calm sea, which made for *REALLY* nice sailing.. That night I had steak and grilled  chicken for dinner.

Steak and chikin Braai.

 Once again, I was treated to an awesome sunset..

In the distance to the south and west, I could see the lightning, and fortunately for me the rest of the night went pretty well with sleeping 50 minutes and waking for 10 from 2200 till 0500, the following morning and I was rewarded to another nice sunrise..

 Later in the day, the wind died down and the the sea became even calmer - it really looked like the med, so I had to resort to using the slave again.. If you have wondered what it't like - here are some shots of looking around the boat..

Looking East

Looking Northwest

Looking West

 Note new flag..

Looking South

You can see how calm the ocean was - by how far back once can see the wake of the boat.. That night was also quite pleasant and uneventful. Later it got even calmer..

 You can see ripples from the tiny flying fyse..  With yet another stunning sunset...

I decided to leave the Gulf stream a bit early as it would cut down on the distance... It wouldn't have been a bad idea had I known that instead of having 2-3kts of current with me, I was going to have 0.5-1.5 kts current against me!  So my estimated time of arrival went from 0900 - to 1500 DOH!!!!!

As the sun was getting out of bed I managed to snap these pictures...

 Almost there..

Another nice sunrise.

The ever present seadogs, coming to check up that everything is ok..

On top of having the current the boat wasn't going as well as I was used to.. I was convinced I was dragging something..  Then I noticed something sticking out the transom... So I stopped the boat, tied myself to the boat and went for a dive... The bottom of the boat looked pretty grim - hence my lack of performance (after all it had been close to 2 months since I last had the hull cleaned). I also saw a long shark-like fyshe - I guess it was a ramora or pilot fyhse, he was hiding close to the keel.. I climbed back on the boat set off with my hitchhiker...

Sneaky hitchhiker

 As soon as I entered the tidal water my hitchhiker jumped ship and was gone, so back to talking to myself ;-), missed the little guy he had quite some tales to tell .

Charleston Ahoy!

One good thing to come out of the later than expected arrival was that I was coming in as the tide was flooding, which at some points meant 3.5kts of current...  After docking went to the Marina office to pay and plan the next days... On the todo list was to explore the boats in the background...

I met up with Torstein and Michelle from Nordic Belle and we went out for dinner, planned the next leg of the trip and  off to bed... Was wiered having uninterrupted sleep.. So the next day, armed with my camera I went exploring the boats...

3 June

First stop was the 2nd world war destroyer, Laffey (first ship to be named after an enlisted man, shudder).. This old lady survived a hit from 5 Kamikazees and another 22 that were trying to transform her into a sub, she wasn't having any of it...

Odd looking stearing wheel..

Next was the Yorkton - a 2nd world war Aircraft carrier - despite it's age she is one *BIG* old lady... In the hanger below, they had all the AC types that operated from her, quite impressive. She saw action from 2nd World war to Korea and last use was for the apollo space project to recover the crew..

 Enlisted men's bunks..

 The briefing room for the pilots

 The deck, looking back

 From the stern, looking across the bay

 The deck was littered with cool toys..

 Looking from the Captain's seat on the bridge

  

Then, I was called away as I had requested that Wobblyolly get sxfoliated (she had picked up lot's o critters and I was loosing 1kt of speed) Then I went back and had a look at the 2nd world war sub... She was finished at the end of 2nd world war, so didn't get to see any action there..

Best the Canadian MOD not see this, or they will probably buy this too and with a bit o spit and polish a minor re-fit, will put her into service, with out other 4 subs ;-) - we'll have a fleet to fend off those invaders after the maple syrup and polar bear.s..

 The forward section hosed a torpedo bay,, with crew berths 18 people occupied this section..

 The Captain's cabin - no luxury spared..

 The officer's mess and hangout room, with the enlisted men's one below

 The engines of the sub..

 In all her glory (a bit of paint and a clean up and she will be good to go_...

After a great sightseeing day we went to a party and prepared to depart the following day to Bald Eagle head, near Cape fear and wait out some Tropical strom - these things are quite the nuisance! 

View from the docks on the departure day