[Rhodes22-list] Offshore trip

[R22RumRunner at aol.com]

I am back. Actually I got home Wednesday afternoon, but have been busy  
catching up on email and work. It was a wonderful trip covering about 408 
miles.  We started from Delray Beach, FL Saturday morning and went out to the 
gulf  stream after several hours of motoring on the ICW. Florida has a lot of 
draw  bridges and some are "on demand" and others are on a schedule of  top 
of  the hour and bottom or the fifteen and forty five. Timing is everything. 
Topped  off with Fuel and ice before leaving the ICW. We went out about 
twenty miles  until we saw the water temperature increase and then we knew we 
were in the  stream. Strong southerly winds and the gulf stream allowed us to 
cover 238 miles  in the first 24 hours. We saw three LARGE cruise ships 
headed for Port Canaveral  and were hoping they saw us on their radar. They all 
missed us. :) We had a pod  of dolphins play in our bow wake in the middle 
of the night also. From  there it went down hill. Ran into a squall Monday 
afternoon and not knowing  our fuel situation (new sending unit had been 
installed prior to picking up the  boat) we back tracked to St. Augustine, 
refueled and then started north in  the ditch. (ICW) The fuel gauge show about an 
1/8th of a tank, but we only took  on 10 gallons with the tank holding 20 
when full. We stayed at the Beech Street  marina in Jacksonville, FL. Monday 
night after motoring in heavy rain for  several hours. It was good to get off 
the boat for a good meal and adult  beverages. Tuesday we left early and 
motored until we got to Jekyl Island just  at dark. Our destination was only a 
little more than an hour ahead, but  traveling the ICW in the dark is not 
recommended. We ran aground Tuesday at  marker 62, but with persistent 
reverse motor power and pulling the main sail  out, we were able to get free. 
Wednesday we arrived at St. Simons Island,  Georgia and by 9:30 I was headed 
home. After being rocked around for five days,  getting my land legs took a 
little time, but there really is no place like  home.
Captain Keller has a very nice Catalina 310 which is a nice upgrade from  
the R22. 
 
Rummy
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