Underway?

We left the dock a couple of days ago! Whoo-hoo! Our voyage lasted all of ten minutes. We backed out of the slip in order to turn the boat around so I could sand the toe rail on the port side. It’s so much easier to do that from the dock than from a dinghy. I’ve been involved in sanding the toe rail in preparation for varnishing. I’m saving the varnishing for a nice comfortable anchorage just off a sunny, palm-studded, sandy beach. Anyway, I finished sanding the port side toe rail and proudly proclaimed the job finished and ready for varnish. Claudia burst my bubble by pointing out that I still had the cap rail on the transom and the trim around the companionway to sand. Not a big job, but a job that renders my “Mission accomplished” declaration inaccurate.
We have seen one front after another pass through and even though it would have been possible to leave a couple of times, we would have been stuck for several days elsewhere. It looks like we will have a good weather window this week and hope to get off to St Augustine. It’s time.

Stuck?

OK, we have not posted for a while. I promise to do better.

Christmas came and went. We had our traditional Moules Marinières and champagne for supper on Xmas Eve. There was a pot luck dinner in the marina on Xmas day—turkey, dressing, ham, prime rib, several iterations of sweet potatoes, salads, veggies and oh my-oh-my desserts. Then, New Year’s Eve arrived and we were still in the marina. Naturally, there was a party and, of course, we went. For the first time in years we stayed up until midnight. The first time, that is if you don’t count our being awakened by a beautiful fireworks show at midnight last year in the Saintes!
So, why are we still in Brunswick? We along with dozens of other boats have been waiting for a suitable weather window to head further south. The weather here and points further south has been frigid and windy. Hardly the kind of weather we want when traveling by boat, especially with an open cockpit. Some of the folks who have holed up here have enclosed cockpits and some have trawlers and would be somewhat sheltered from the elements. Still, it simply hasn’t been weather for traveling by boat.
Many boats left during the past couple of days and many more are waiting until next week. We could have left yesterday except that it was our anniversary, 444 months! Then we could have left today in order to arrive at St Augustine on Friday. The weather is supposed to deteriorate on Friday and begin raining for several days and the winds are supposed to pick up. We’d be stuck in St A and no car. So we sit here at Brunswick Landing Marina until we get a better weather window. But it is nice here, the boaters are a nice bunch as are the marina staff. Not a bad place at all to be ‘stuck’.