Our first US sunrise in almost 4 months. The swells don't look as large as they felt. Lynn estimated 6' at times.

George has shed his lifejacket/harness because the sun is (just barely) up. We are in the Ft. Pierce inlet channel near high tide with the current still flooding. Good planning George. The buoy you see just off the stern in the red #2 going into the channel.

My, my children, didn't it blow? Friday afternoon we were hit with a squall that had gusts as high as 62 knots (71 mph). Dinghies were flipping over, canvas was torn off, and at least one boat had a hatch blow open. Lynn opened the top half of our main hatch and shot these photos. We could barely see boats moored not 20 yards away. We were fortunate. Our only problem was the reliable little Honda generator got soaked and now the shutoff switch is off regardless of position. We have unhooked it and will use the choke to kill it when needed. Maybe the switch will eventually try out and work properly. If not, we will use it as is and fix it when we get home.

The main area of low pressure is due over the weekend and after this blow, we decided to stay in Vero Beach until Monday. Don't want to be underway in anything like this.

There is a gap in the weather and the youth sailing program here was running laps around the marks this morning. I couldn't grab the camera fast enough to catch them all bunched together. Foul conditions still expected this afternoon/evening through tomorrow. The day was actually a little grayer than the photo. I bumped the color up a bit.

Bridges are marvels of design and sometimes more than just functional, they design or build them to be attractive to us non-engineers.

In Daytona they have put mosaics on them so even those of us at water level have a nice view.

Toby is on deck to make sure the bridge in Haulover Canal opens properly.

They are dredging near the junction of the ICW and Cumberland Sound near Kings Bay Sub Base.

Three photos at sunset at Cumberland Island. The first is Lynn's favorite.

The second is George's

The third is a heron silhouetted by the sunset.

Birds. Most not close enough to shoot from a moving boat, but some work out OK. An egret hunting the shore line.

Egrets grooming while a heron turns its back for modesty sake.

A heron hunting the shallows.

While pelicans with cormorants on the shore.

Lynn with our electric fly swatter stalking an unwary prey. Thanks Bret and Lori for the cool gadget.

A different form of wild life. This water skier has a hydrofoil water ski. I found one on line called an "Air Chair." But he is able to do some great stuff on it. This series shot with camera on continuous (sport) mode and shutter speed at 1000 shows him doing a flip. Pretty awesome.

Those green buoys are supposed to be in the water as an aid to navigation. Be sure to give this one near St. Catherine's Inlet a wide berth. It's been on the beach for years but I guess the Coast Guard likes it where it is. Less maintenance this way.

We often see these American cruise ships that ply the Intracoastal and rivers.

We mentioned the mess the cormorants made on our boat. Look at what they have done to this buoy. From a distance you can not tell it is supposed to be green.  Thankfully this shape is unique to a green mark, so we can tell anyway.

Beautiful homes line the waterfront on the peninsula at Charleston.

Our favorite thing about Charleston is getting to see Peg and Don, seen here with Raffles their cockatoo.

The Waccamaw River always furnishes great scenery. This year that included a family of bald eagles in a dead tree.

The old light house at Baldhead Island as we come in the Cape Fear River.

Tides on the way up the ICW have been extreme because of the "Super Moon." The moon is at perigee, it's low point in orbit, and is much closer to the earth, thus its increased effect on tides. Unfortunately, the night it was full we had clouds. Lynn managed to catch it just peeking through at Wrightsville Beach.

There was a barge and crane working under the bridge at Atlantic City. From a distance we weren't sure there was room for us to pass.

Nearing home, Lynn has the lines looped and ready to slip over the pilings.

Clear skies welcome us back to Northwest Creek Marina and home.