Leaving Cape Canaveral and heading North.
Arion's West Indian Adventure
Hermione & Douglas Pattison
Sat 18 Jun 2016 01:47
Having decided, after their epic 300 mile beat, not to sail to windward again, the Pattisons found themselves doing it once more. It might have been more miserable, however the miles on the plotter looked much better this time- 20 rather than 200. We also had the promise of a good nights sleep, so it really was not that bad at all. The weather had been beautiful as we sailed out past the rocket launch pads. After a few hours, the sky turned dark and it was obvious we were in for a squall or two. Reefing down, we weathered 2 squalls in quick succession after which the wind turned onto the nose and we made our slow progress into Port Orange, thankful that it was only 20 miles.
The relief of reaching a quiet anchorage quickly evaporated as Alice stuck a pink plastic ‘jewel' up her right nostril. Not normally one to panic, I internally panicked this time as I thought she was about to snort it further up and we would have been in real trouble. Luckily, we managed to get the tweezers up there and extracted the jewel without too much fuss………… honestly Alice!!!
Because the wind is from the North now, we are in the Intra Coastal Waterway heading up to St Augustine. Although the ICW is slow going, the benefits are that I can do lovely things with the children whilst on passage. Arthur is really enjoying painting and drawing and in the flat calm he can do this to his hearts content. Alice has been doing lots of dancing in the cockpit which has been entertaining the bridge masters. The flat conditions also make cooking very easy as I do not feel sick while doing it! Apart from the odd American Chav racing past in his fishing boat, there are few waves to concern us or spill our coffee so all is well onboard Arion for the time being.