Atalanta: Adios Mexico: Hello USA

After nearly four years of cruising we’re back in the USA. We aren’t certain exactly how many miles we traveled onboard Atalanta (to be figured out on some cold winter night) but we estimate between 20-25,000 miles. The adventure is certainly not over yet. After a month at City Marina in Charleston we will sail to New England, enjoy our family and new home in Vermont for the summer, and take Atalanta to local waters in RI, MA, and ME. When the leaves begin to change, that is the signal to once again move south.

Our passage from Isla Mujeres, Mexico to Key West went well. April Hayes and John Creelman joined us for the three-day/ three-night passage and helped out with watches. We sailed well if not on a bit more of a northerly course than we would have preferred. Moving to the east is always a challenge especially this time of year as the trade winds are still evident and weather tends to move in from that direction. Once in Key West, our crew departed and we once again became a crew of two. Our friends Paul and Mary on Genesis III buddy boated with us from Mexico and continued with us up to Key Biscayne and on to Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades).

Fort Lauderdale seems to have no shortage of extreme wealth as we moved along the ICW past miles and miles of enormous waterfront homes and super yachts of magnificent grandeur.

One of Many on the Intercoastal

After spending so much time in places like Dominica, Guatemala, Suriname, and the Bahamas, we realized that we did not see this kind of conspicuous wealth anywhere else in our travels.

John, Kay, and Richard

The winds continued to blow so we continued to motor the ICW. In Vero Beach we had the pleasure of reuniting with our friend John Terry, our Casa Mate in Guatemala. It’s fun to visit a native in his natural habitat and John treated us to a fun time in his hometown. We then headed to Sebastian and a visit with our Vermont friends Peter and Blaine. While squeezing into a favorite anchorage off their home, we found a sand bar that just didn’t want to let go of us. With the assistance of Towboat US, we continued on our way the next morning. As old salts say, “There are two kinds of sailors, those who have grounded and liars.”

During a brief two-day stop in one of our favorite cities, St. Augustine, we reunited with friends we met in Guatemala, Rob and Rhian on Beyzano, who we hope to see in points north later this summer. We also enjoyed spending time with Jerie and John on Peking who we knew of in Guatemala, met in Ft. Lauderdale and traveled with for the trip north. Our paths will cross again.

After a fast overnight of motor-sailing, we are now docked at City Marina in Charleston, SC where we will sit for a month to enjoy the pleasures of this fine City, visit with family and play with our grandson Liam.

Also docked here is the magnificent Athena. Athena is a clipper-bowed three masted gaff rigged schooner built by Royal Huisman in 2004 for Internet entrepreneur James H. Clark. She is 295’ long, 40’ at the beam, and accommodates 10 guests and 18 crew. She carries 22, 712 gal of fuel and 6,426 gal of water. She’s for sale so if you are interested in owning a $100 million boat, check her out here:
http://www.superyachts.com/sail-yacht-2276/athena-specification.htm

Charleston has become a home away from home so we are looking forward to the coming month.

Best always,

Richard and Kay