To see as much of the world as we can,
Using the smallest carbon footprint we can,
Spending the least amount of money we can,
Making as many friends we can.

Team Red Cruising

2021 Southbound Phase III

We're planners. CA and I can't do much without a detailed plan. We worked for a company that liked to have an MBM (Minute-by-Minute) for software deployments.

It's cold at Mom's. It's pretty cold in Charleston. It's not so cold in Key Biscayne. So. That's our objective.

Not so fast.

We need to stop by some of our favorite places first. Which leads us to the following plan for getting down to warmer weather for the rest of the winter.

  1. Charleston to St. Marys. 163 nm 27h. Refuel before departing.

  2. St. Marys to Jacksonville. 40 nm 7h. Refuel before departing.

  3. Jacksonville to St. Augustine. 40 nm 7h.

  4. St. Augustine to Key Biscayne. 270-300nm 45-50h.

This starts with an overnight to St. Mary's, GA. We need a good 30+ hours of calm seas. Wind out of anything from N to E would be helpful.

CA wants to hike Cumberland Island some more. It's a National Park. We have old people National Park Passes.

The St. Mary's to St. Augustine is an awkward distance for us. It's too short for a real overnight and too long to make it in the short winter day. Instead, we'll bop out and down to Jacksonville as a day sail. Then we'll day sail down to St. Augustine after we figure out if there's a mooring available. We've anchored north of the bridge, but we'd rather have a proper mooring for a week or so.

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From St. Augustine, down, we'd like to avoid the ICW. We've done the ICW as far as Ft. Pierce. Below that, the bridges get dense and confusing. We like New Smyrna Beach and Vero Beach. We liked Manatee Pocket down near Stuart. We've done the long offshore motor down the coast in clam air and really like it. It's noisy motor-sailing, but the B&G handles the navigation nicely. And doing this avoids all of the bridges and ICW navigation. We feel that we have some duck-in alternatives along the way, in case we misunderstand the weather.

From Key Biscayne? We'll be on to Phase IV. But. Let's not overplan any more than we need to.