April 1-2, 2026
It was April fool’s day.
We estimated a 19 hour trip and wanted to get to the inlet on the other side at first light. David had already secured things for an ocean passage. We hoisted Fat Tuesday and strapped her down. We secured the cabin. After we felt prepared, we decided to go. We might get there early but that would be ok. We knew that low tide at the inlet was at 253 am so the current should be going with us and with the wind and waves at the inlet when we arrived.
We waved as Alboe left the anchorage at dawn and sailed out on their long passage.
We eased onto the bank and raised the sails. At first we could use our genoa but soon after had to pull it in as we turned more downwind. We would get to the edge of the bank by sunset. The bank was beautiful and the waves were not bad. We took turns steering as our autopilot seemed strained with the downwind sailing, over correcting for the wave action.
We were making good speed with our main and preventer. We reefed the main before sunset as the wind was picking up and we did not want to reef in the dark. We had some more dolphins come to the boat during one of my shifts.
We exited into deep water before sunset and we watched the turquoise of the bank transition to the deep blue of the ocean. This was about the time that Artemis II launched from the Florida coast. We saw the rocket briefly but it disappeared before I could get a photo. The jet stream lingered and I did take a photo of that. Amazing.
Once we entered the gulf stream, there was a tropical feel to the air and warm winds at times. The seas grew larger and though mostly behind us, had some occasional side action.This would knock us a bit such that we would get off kilter with the main swells and rock from side to side until we could get back on track. We would repeat tis cycle every few minutes although sometimes it was longer between rolls.
During the good periods, Josie would gently swish her beautiful rear just slightly and we would speed over the waves and surf them perfectly. This was a lovely exhilarating feeling, like we were flying and I loved it. But then, the swishing would become more exaggerated, she seemed to be acting like a pendulum and everything would rattle as we would roll from side to side.
Our autopilot was no good in these conditions, our wind vane would likely have been better but we had not practiced with it so we were stuck with hand steering. David is very good at steering under these conditions but I am less experienced and tended to overcorrect like the autopilot which made things worse. I tried to make fewer and lesser corrections and did a lot better but it got to the point where we were rolling too often and David took over.
Even under his expertise, the cycle would happen often enough that i knew it was not a good time for me to practice. And therefore, he did not get a break for many hours. I tried to make coffee but the hot water we had saved from supper in the thermos was now lukewarm so it was not very good. Heating was not an option.
We kept going with mini- snickers and oranges. At one point, I was going to have some yogurt and granola. I got as far as taking the bag of granola out and putting it on the counter. David asked for the spotlight to be brought up so I forgot about the granola bag.
I arranged a bag and a bin in the cockpit floor so that tethers and phones and the spotlight were not crashing around. That worked really well.
Later, I went back down to get us a cheese and cracker snack.. The cabin was a disaster. Books had jumped off the shelf and littered the floor along with the settee cushion and the foul weather gear. Added to that was now the granola which had escaped its bag and now traveled in its own waves back and forth across the counter top and the floor. I did my best to contain what I could and to at least make a pathway to the bow.
Shortly after our cheese and cracker snack, we could see the lights on the shore. As we exited the gulf stream, the wind and waves improved for a little while and I could steer and give David a small break.
The full moon was the saving grace of our passage. It gave us light the whole way and was beautiful. We could not use it for steering as it was behind us but its light and its company were welcome. And it reminded us that there were four people on a much more perilous journey tonight, planning to circle that moon and then come back to earth.
We took the sail down before the inlet. I brought the boat upwind and David dropped the main. While he was on deck, the boat was bouncing up and down into the waves plunging the bow into the water. David managed to stay upright and manage the sail. Our motion was worse without the sail but we continued on.
As we reached the inlet the waves got bigger again and we realized that even two hours after low tide, the current was still coming out and was against the wind and swell, causing the waves to slow and stand steeply.
I suggested we turn around and wait for the current to change but that would have been frightening in itself. David was determined and felt he had enough power to get through. We lined up with the channel buoys and headed in. We entered the breakwater with about 3 knots of current against us. Once we got in, we still had current but the waves subsided. The moonlight helped us find our landmarks and soon we were headed to the Indian River and the junction with the ICW. We turned to cross under the Causeway bridge and south to our anchorage.
We had stayed at this anchorage in the fall and it was familiar. It was on the south side of Causeway island. There was a channel and we finally found the channel markers above large white signs that said no wake. The white signs were so visible, the tiny reflective channel markers, not so much. But we found them and made our way in. We found space to anchor amidst some other boats. I probably awakened many with the spot light but we did not hit any. Some did not have anchor lights on. Thank you again, moon.
Once we were anchored, it was about 6 am. We cleaned up the cockpit, readying it for squalls that were predicted for later in the morning. David fell asleep sitting in the main salon. I watched us swing in the wind for another half hour, making sure we were not getting too close to our neighbors. I then headed down to sleep. David could not budge. What happened in the next few hours is a mystery to me. David says there was a strong squall with heavy rain. I missed all of that. When we woke up around 11 am, we were safe in our anchorage. It was sunny and dry and we readied to move to the marina.
We had a reservation at the Fort Pierce City Marina that was across the ICW from our anchorage. We made our way over. There was a cross current at the entrance to the marina breakwater but once inside it was calm. We were on a face dock at the end of I dock. There was enough room for us to turn and face out and David turned us like a pro and we docked easily.
Our friends Laura and Dan had made the crossing from Grand Bahama the day before. They had anchored on the inlet side of Causeway Island as they could not get into the marina. Today they were able to get a spot. We decided to celebrate our successful crossings, anchoring, and docking with dinner in town. We chose a local brewery for the occasion that was close to the marina. Thunder rumbled as we got back to the boat.
