The Cruise - Week 18, Home - April 27, 2015

Monday, April 27, 2015

Departed Savannah, Herb River Anchorage                         1000

Arrived Port Royal Landing Marina - Home                         1740

Total day’s run 47 statute miles (41 nm), 1506 miles total.

The anchorage in the Herb River is very good, protected, not too much current, and good holding in firm clay.  We passed under the Causton Bluff bridge without opening at about half tide.  The current was against us at first, but was favorable most of the day.  The weather was very cool (60's) and overcast then partly

Port Royal Sound

cloudy so we steered from the lower helm (inside) all day.  We waved at "Quandry" as we passed Skull Creek Marina on Hilton Head, then crossed the familiar Port Royal Sound and up the Beaufort River - Home.  Dubhe has taken us 1500 miles without complaint and only about 200 gallons of fuel.  She never failed us when underway or at anchor in a storm. 

After all our planning and traveling, it does not seem possible that our cruise is now only a memory.  Over the past few weeks, Nancy and I have had a lot of discussion about what is next.  The answer is "we don't know".  What we do know is that we will travel/cruise on a boat again.  We don't know when, where, or on what boat yet.  We've talked about putting Dubhe on the market and looking at other, larger boats.  Anything is possible at this point.  For a while, I have work to do on Dubhe and on our house, and most importantly, we need to soak up Lilly and Lane.

Port Royal Landing Marina - Home

I feel like I should provide some analysis of our trip, thoughts, likes, dislikes, etc as I will use this blog as my extended record of our trip (in addition to the written "official" logbook on board)...so here goes.

What we liked:  

Traveling.  i.e. driving Dubhe from one place to another.  We especially enjoyed starting out in the mornings, having coffee on the flybridge (weather permitting), and having breakfast on the move.  The moment when you set the anchor or tie up to a dock at the destination is very satisfying. We enjoy seeing new places.  Although the Keys are considered to be the most beautiful, there were other areas we liked more, particularly Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach and the east coast of Florida; Canaveral National Seashore, New Smyrna Beach, and Vero Beach areas.  From a natural beauty point of view, Cumberland Island was the most impressive.  We liked the Everglades and the isolation, but we did not have much opportunity to get off the boat because of mangroves and weather.  Although we missed our families and church, we loved the freedom of not having any other commitments, and the ability to go wherever whenever we wished. 

Meeting people.  We met dozens of new people, mostly couples in our general age group, who were also living and traveling on a boat.  Just this gave us much in common.  The new people and social interaction kept us entertained and justified(?) the trip.  Like in other aspects of our lives, some of the people we met we will never see again, a few we don't want to ever see again, and a few will probably be friends we will see many more times.  Our time in the Keys was fun, primarily due to the great folks at Harbor Cay Club.

What we didn't like:

Bad weather, especially at anchor.  In a way it is exhilarating and it is inevitable; something that has to be endured if one is to cruise even a little.

Rude, inexperienced, or just plan reckless boat operators, especially those in large power boats who seem to want to prove they are better and faster than everyone else.

Over eating.  We seemed to treat every day of this four months as vacation, which certainly added to our fun, but we ate and drank way too much.  I gained 10 pounds and now can't wear my 36" pants.  When we cruise again, we will have to live more like we do at home!

What we learned:

We love cruising and will do it again.

We do not want to sell our home, buy a boat and live on it full time.  We met a lot of people doing this, but a few months at a time is enough for us.  

Although we have been married 40 years, we learned a lot more about each other.

Dubhe is a wonderful boat, but for future cruising of any length of time, we will need a slightly larger boat with a shower, two staterooms, and a double/queen size bed for us.

We probably do not need to cruise the Keys again.  There are limited anchorages and too many people in the winter.  We want to make the Bahamas again, the Florida west coast, and possibly north to the Chesapeake Bay area. 

It is done, we are home, we will do it again.  If you have been reading this blog, thanks for being a part of our cruise.