M/V MAERIN

We cruised from Vero Beach to Cocoa on Saturday, leaving Vero by 0830 and arriving at the anchorage off Cocoa in time to make it to Oleander’s before closing. Oleander’s is the pastry shop in Cocoa Village, and we’ve become fans, making a stop there every time we’ve visited, to the extent that the shop keeper recognizes us as the people with the dogs. Their delectable delights are worth the trip, there is always something fresh and different. The owners are German, and seem to have the whole sweets thing down to an art form!

The winds were still a bit fresh all Saturday afternoon and evening and I was surprised to awake at dawn Sunday to the quiet calm of a wind-less morning! With that in mind, quickly reviewed our rough plan to hopscotch from Cocoa to Port Orange, St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach, and then Brunswick (GA). That plan would put us in Brunswick on Wednesday evening. With the calm weather predicted to prevail for a few days, an option became available to head to sea and make the run to Brunswick overnight. It will put us in Brunswick Monday, saving two full days of travel. The admiral is not particularly fond of overnights, it can be boring, but we’re at sea, clicking off the miles. It’s 15:12 as I write this, and we only have 19 hrs. 34 min. and 145 miles to go!! Our cruise is smooth enough, so far with 2-3 ft. swells and about a 6-8 second period. A very gentle ride, with light winds and occasional light rain. A bit overcast, but it’s a good day to be at sea. We’ll arrive Brunswick just before noon, so we’ll have ample time to take on fuel. We haven’t put any fuel on since we were in Brunswick in January. We’ll likely take a bit over 800 gallons. Ocean Petroleum serves the fishing trade, and has the lowest prices for diesel in the region, so we’ll top off. Ouch.

We’re hoping to catch up to Chris & Joyce aboard Celebrate within the next few days, they’re headed to Cumberland Island. I imagine there will be some schedule adjustment by both crews in order to facilitate a meet up! We got news that Joyce had a successful initiation into hogmaw preparation. Since they so enjoyed the maw Barb made for us all in Ocracoke [link to page], we brought frozen ingredients back with us after the holiday trip home, and left them with the girls when they came through Brunswick in January. The preparation was a success, judging from photos we received of the results, and the reports of the comments from dock walkers as they passed Celebrate while the baking was in the final, most aromatic stages! It is a feast for the nose, teasing the senses with what’s to come!

Depending on the weather and our busy social calendar, we may stay Brunswick a day, but when we push off, we’ll likely make the run from Brunswick north at sea, thereby avoiding the notoriously skinny water of the Georgia ICW, and shaving a day or two from our travel time. We’ll be glad to get started on our maintenance chores, at least to the extent that the sooner we start, the sooner it is done. Not much of it’s fun, but it’s a good feeling to know our ship is in good shape and ready for the next leg!

An addendum to the outside run from Port Canaveral to Brunswick- our mill pond conditions deteriorated just after dark, with winds kicking to about 25 kts. and seas building as the night wore on to about 5-7 ft. with a very uncomfortable period (that’s the time between waves, the longer the period the more gentle the ride). We had very sloppy conditions, the admiral was sick, but we had little choice but to press on. The boat will take much more than the crew is willing to endure! No green water over the bow, but still a very uncomfortable ride. We cut our outside run short and ducked in at St. Mary’s, the closest viable inlet, just after sunrise, and finished the distance to Brunswick inside where conditions were tolerable. Passage through the notorious skinny water at Jekyll Island was at high tide, so we had an additional 7 ft. of depth, no problem! We arrived at Ocean Petroleum’s dock shortly before 2PM to top off the oil tanks. My estimate of 800 gallons was a bit strong, we took on a total of 775 gallons. At $2.71, Ocean Petroleum has the best price in about a 3 state area, and the folks there are among the best and friendliest on the waterfront!