Well here I am, having left Georgetown, S.C. on Saturday.. The October surveys showed just 0.2' of water in the Ditch north of Charleston anyway, and the weather looked benign for a couple of days. I had to get to Myrtle Beach Fedex depot to get my "repaired" Raymarine equipment (no Saturday delivery in Georgetown). This was complicated by both Hertz and Enterprise being out of cars due to the recent ice storm. But the coffee shop proprietor lent me his truck, the job was done, and we departed just after lunch. We ended up with lightish winds for the trip, generally 8-12 and often less, 417 rhumb line miles in 3 days arriving at about 1:30 at Spanish Cay today. Nearly 35 hours of engine run time: one 12 hour run with light following winds and a very sloppy left over swell from somewhere, rolling the wind out the sails and slapping the main from rail to rail; then from last night all through today, 2-3 knots from SSE (ahead) and nearly 1 knot adverse current the whole time. We went though a squall line at the stalled front on Monday morning, lightening all around and heavy rain, briefly about 30 knots (yielding boat speed in the mid to upper 9s with full mizzen and single reefed main).

The Commander's Weather report proved about as reliable as the GRIBs, beginning to diverge from reality about 1.5 to 2 days out. The Sirius satellite weather (I'm sure just GRIBs) also diverges, but is updated in real time and proved more reliable being fresher after the first day. It was especially useful for tracking the storm cell movement and lightening strikes. The only casualties were the green running light, which quit last night, and the flying fish that jumped to his death on the deck this morning.

We cleared customs in the Spanish Cay bar and had a nice dinner, closing the restaurant at 7. It is definitely off season, though there are 3 other sailboats and one powerboat here. Squalls were coming over as we entered the cut, making the water very difficult to judge, the flat light just makes it all look oily with no color. I think we will be off towards Marsh Harbor tomorrow, feeling our way with our 6.5' draft.

Track at share dot delorme dot com slash jonfitch. Click on any blue dot for time, position, speed, direction, and altitude.