Back in the ocean again!

   Its about time! Finally we our out of the, old mans trip, ICW.  Frankly, they can keep it. The ditch reminds me of a trip i did to Saratoga raceway. I went in to the diner and was served beef. I asked about the lack of any taste, and was told, "We cater to an older, less refined pallet". Well that is how i feel. When i am 80, and do not care about much, i may enjoy the leisurely pace of the ICW.

   The Atlantic ocean!

We left the dock in the early AM. The tide was slack, and then started to run with us. We exited the dreadful ICW at Cape Fear.

The tide was with us, and we were motoring at about 7-8konts over ground. The wind was south, but only about 4-5KTS not enough to sail on. We like to motor at about 2000RPM, that puts us between 1GPH and 1.2GPH depending on wind. We passed someone flying a spinnaker doing about 3KTS, and then he passed us under motor a few hours later. Too slow to make any serious headway. So we settled in for a 24-28 hour passage. Wow were we wrong.
  

I have taken a liking to red pizza. The ingrediants are all stable at room temperature.
1 packet of crust premix (we prefer Betty Crocker)
and 1/2 cup water
thats it! We used canned pizza sauce and we sprinkle grated cheese (the dry kind) on the pizza, as well as red pepper and garlic powder. This will be one of our primary at anchor foods. I want to add about 20-30 ready mix packets to our supplies. For our passage to Patagonia, it should be about 100.
   We are slowly learning what we like to eat when under way. I prefer Pizza mostly, followed by PB&J, and then chicken noodle soup.

   Seas were 3-5 when we left, and of course on the port starboard quarter. It always makes it uncomfortable. because there was little wind, there was no way to stop the rolling twisting we experienced on the first 10 hours of the trip.

   At about 6AM we arrived at the first marker leading into Charleston, SC. It was still dark when we arrived, so we killed some time. We also had to wait for the tide to run slower. We hung out, out there for  few hours, and followed a tug, with 2 barges in.