Welcome Home To The USA

Charleston, SC
32 47.16 N 079 54.88 W

Well the deed is done. Yesterday midday when we finally intersected The Gulf Stream, I decided that we would miss the Monday-Friday 8-5 office hours of US Customs in Beaufort on Friday afternoon. That would put Jim in trouble because he has to be back at work on Monday. Instead, we headed for Charleston.

Soon we met up with a catamaran who was following The Gulf Stream north. I chatted with him on the radio. It turns out that he left Marsh Harbor about the same time we did. He chose to go to West Palm Beach Florida first to clear US Customs. Then he came out into The Gulf Stream for an express ride north. He said that he got a 3 knot average boost from the current. At times he was moving 12 knots over the ground.

I got immediately jealous. I thought that we too should have gone that way. We wouldn't have been becalmed, and even if so we could have motored with the help of the extra kick from The Gulf Stream. Who am I kidding? It would have taken us two days to get to West Palm. That would have wiped out the time gain.

Then I thought that I made the wrong decision in not trying for Beaufort. If we got a solid 3 knots boost from The Gulf Stream we could have been there by Friday afternoon. Who am I kidding again? Murphy's law says that we would get there at 0501 PM. I just like to second guess myself with navigation decisions.

FLASH! We got mobbed by a big pod of dolphins. We estimate 15-20 in the pod. They swam along side Tarwathie and cavorted for a half hour. Libby, Jim and I all enjoyed the sight. It is amazing to see up close how little they have to move their tails to propel themselves through the water at high speed. See the video below.

From Bahamas 09

Today approaching Charleston, we were mobbed by another pod of dolphins. These were of a different species, very much smaller than the bottle noded ones. I th0ught they looked like pygmy dolphins.

We got in to the harbor despite having to dodge huge container ships and against the fierce current. Customs checked us in. What are we going to do now? Very mundane. Libby does laundry, I shop for grocreies, and Jim books himself a ticket back home.

Tomorrow, Jim travels home while Libby and I go to sea once more to get to Beaufort, and from there to Oriental.