dec 6th Happy birthday David Evans!

Being away from friends it is hard to not see them on birthdays.  Know that my thoughts and happiness goes with you all day long and into the future! Much love

Our day started again at 6:00am. that has been the schedule. We get up before the sun... pull up anchor... start motoring by 6:30am... Ben is the new designated motor man through mud...

this morning we got up and I thought I could start motoring so he could make the coffee.  he makes better coffee.  so I pull out and the chartplotter says i'm in the middle of the channel the markers look like i'm on the edge but still I should get through...NOPE  grrrr stuck aground again! we got off quickly so far all our groundings and yes Ben grounds too he just thinks it more fun than i do.  we got off mostly cuz the tide was rising and we did not plough through we just lightly bumped into the shoal which are EVERYWHERE!

needless to say you know my thoughts about shoals and rivers.  all in all the day went great. picture this...

me at the wheel with tunes cranked loud and dancing in the cockpit to keep warm when all of a sudden I feel like I'm being watched... sure enough... a motor boat has snuck up behind me... he hails me and laughs as he says, "Im going to pass you by on your port - smile" as he passed I waved knowing he had been watching me dance for a while... oh well a day brightener I'm sure....

we were at day marker 735 we made it to 785... not bad we could have gone further if we can find anchorages! it is so hard.  the channel is just that a channel if you go a little outside of the channel you are in less than 5 feet... the night before we do a lot of homework...

check the bridge height and times they open... then time the trip taking into consideration the current... sometimes we travel 5 knots an hour if we keep our engine at 2000 RPMs that is a happy motor where we get 1/3 - 1/2 a gallon per hour... if we go 3000 RPMs we use a gallon per hour!!! eek!!! sometimes the water speed is 5knots but our gps speed is only 2.5knots per hour due to the current against us and the reverse is true sometimes we fly at 7.5 or more...!!! if you go one hour and the brdige is 5 nautical miles away 5 knots is perfect but if the current is on your nose then it will take you 2 hours!!!

Today during one of my shifts, I motored through St Augistine very beautiful city and a cute little bridge.  That was timed perfect we arrive at 1:30pm... it was pure luck due to the currents.  on the way to the bridge I was flying at 8.3 knots due to the current then once you hit an inlet from the ocean now you are going the opposite way the current is adn then I was going 2.5 just crawling!

WE had a place marked out on the map where we thought we could anchor. it said 7-12 feet.  so we ventured in and got stuck! it is so frustrating for me... does not seem to bother Ben... give him mud over seasickness.  So we went further but on the map there was absolutely no place to anchor for the next 15 miles and we would not make that before dark. so we went back to a place we thought might work and it did... or so we think... i'll let you kjnow tomorrow if we get grounded or we drift away during the night.  we will have the anchor watch on... i sleep better and Ben the first rate mate we will get up at 2:30am after the tide and current change to see which direction our boat will be and to make sure our anchor is still good with the new direction we will be facing.

after getting stuck this morning i decided that I'd rather make coffee and so I did.  it's not as good as Ben's of course, he is the coffee master!

tonight ended with wifi and work and soon to beat Ben in cribbage. last night I crushed him in rummy 500 but he came back with backgammon and won by one shake of the dice! we had the doubling cube up to 64 games so he took the night in style.

good night all.