November 12, sunset about 30 miles offshore...
What a trip! It just doesn't get any better than this. The weather window opened up and we took full advantage of it.
At 0630 we pulled anchor in Charleston, SC and headed straight for open ocean. We had winds about 10kt and waves of 1 maybe 2 ft. at least 8-10 seconds apart. It was an amazingly smooth ride. We had full sail out from the inlet on. Usually at night we reef down the sails but everything was so nice and conditions weren't supposed to change so we maintained full sail through the night.
Watches were two 3 hour watched and two 2 hour which made for a good night's rest. By day, we had a virtual Noah's Ark between bottlenose and white-spotted dolphin, sea turtles, jellyfish, birds... a plethora of critters.
30 hours after leaving Charleston we were anchored in Fernandina Beach, FL. Awoke the next morning and tides were in our favor to make the 67 mile run to Green Cove Springs. It was another great run. 67 is the second l ongest one-day run for us...beaten only by one 70 mile day.
Promptly after anchoring the wind blew 20-30 for the next 2 days... and when it died down we decided to raft off on the dock so we can pull the alternator, do some re-wiring, and in general tear the boat to hell and put it all back together...
Preparations for the winter cruising season begin in about 2 minutes with the removal of at least 3,000 cubic feet of salt...everything is covered and crusty... we could market Holding Pattern brand sea salt...all natural.
Heather going to do some much needed laundry and I'm going to desalinate us...
cheers for now | 
