Trip Summary by Captain Kevin

Sunday, June 8, 2008 TRIP SUMMARY Hello from Capt. Kevin, Haven't written much thus far, as I have been very busy with navigation and maintenance of Island Hopper. Luckily we had no mechanical issues or groundings. We saw more than our fair share of mariners who did not navigate as carefully as they were being towed off the"hard". Wanted to cover a few details about our recent voyage. We traveled 1205 miles from Stuart, FL to Rock Hall, MD. Rock Hall was fishing community until the past few years. Our summer home is Haven Harbour Marina on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay www.havenharbour.com/ . Many of the boat owners at the marina are from PA (Philly area) and NJ, which are a short drive. 80% sailboats in this marina, but with fuel costs I don't blame them! In our recent journey we were en route 20 days with 18 travel days. We spent two nights in Charleston and Hilton Head, respectively, neither of which we have visited prior to this trip. Our diesels ran 94.5 hours and we burned 1486 gallons of fuel or 15.7 gallons per hour. That corresponds to .82 MPG which is respectable for a boat. We averaged 67 miles per day which was 4-5 hours underway. One day over 100 miles and several at 25 miles. We left the marinas between 7:30 and 10:00 depending upon tides and how many miles we had to travel. We used Marinalife to book our marinas http://www.marinalife.com/ and would highly recommend the service. For internet access we relied upon a Verizon USB connection and/or a marina wireless network. The marinas had marginal service. I bought an antennae for wireless internet which allowed me to pick up unsecured wireless at a great distance, which in most cases were faster than the Verizon devise and better than the marina coverage. We ate breakfast and lunch on our boat and most times dinner at a local establishment. From gourmet to a marina bistro. ( I am being kind) I checked cruising websites nightly as I planned our next day travels, mostly http://www.cruisersnet.net/ for cruising problems. Mostly shoaling of the channel as the US Government has chosen not to maintain the waterway for commerce. Luckily, our navigation equipment includes tide tables so we could navigate the problem areas at rising tides (in GA and SC the tides are 6-8 feet) or avoid the areas all together by going out in the Atlantic provided we had a good pass to the ocean and decent sea conditions. We don't like to go in the Atlantic with seas exceeding 4 feet and winds in excess of 20 knots (23 MPH). Just not comfortable, so why do it. I also spent time daily reviewing and handling client matters as I have chosen not to retire, so I can afford the diesel fuel, which climbs with each fill-up. The vessel carries 600 gallons. Overall a great adventure. Especially with my great First (Best!) Mate. It takes a great crew to handle a 52 foot vessel in winds and currents. The wind always seems to pick up at the time you want to dock! No collisions though once I did a waive off as the current was pushing me into a 120 foot vessel, in Beaufort, NC. The damage I could have done would have been catastrophic! Luckily, I dodged that bullet. Till the next adventure!