Our insurance company (Pantaenius) wanted us out of the hurricane belt by June 1. Different companies have different definitions for hurricane belt but for Pantaenius it means north of latitude N30degr30min which means you have to pass the state of Georgia

Subsequently it was time to depart Florida and the tropics. Once we had a two day weather window we passed the ICW through Cape Canaveral passing the only lock to reach the North Atlantic. We were surprised by finding dolphins as company in the lock obviously also longing to the open sea.

On VHF 16 we were made aware of a “naval vessel” departing Canaveral demanding a free range of 1Nm. It was a submarine departing to the Atlantic as well guarded by two patrol boats armed with machine guns constantly circling the submarine.

Once out in open sea two days and nights passed with good weather a descent seaway never needing to launch the paravanes. As usual landfall would be in the middle of the night. Preliminary our port of call was Charleston but our weather window was shrinking due to a gale approaching from NE and subsequently made us change plans heading for Beaufort South Carolina instead (274Nm). Once coming closer to the South Carolina coast we headed into darkness and a two hour long heavy thunder rain.

Having some large cargo ships anchored outside the Beaufort inlet their echoes disappeared on the radar but fortunately the thunder was gone once passing the anchored ships to starboard.

It took us a couple of hours running against the current in Beaufort river before finally making landfall in Port Royal Marina. At 4o’clock in the morning we were safely tied up in the marina where we have to stay some days letting the gale pass.

South Carolina will be exciting. The film Forrest Gump was made here giving an idea of the look of the surroundings.