After two months at the dock, I was getting really antsy to get back to cruising. Dock life with its easy access laundry and groceries, obstructed sunsets, light polluted night skies was really getting to be a drag. Then, there's the rummaging about for sweaters and down comforters as Autumn temperatures sneak in. We just need a 24 hour weather window and we'll be in balmy Florida.

Weather forecast: strong cold front, gusty winds, thunderstorms. 

Anchorage possibilities: uncertain protection, uncertain dog walk ability, uncertain internet connection for work. 

Route between the dock and the nearest anchorage: shoals and adverse currents. 

Prognosis: We'll run aground, back off, hit a log, get struck by lightning, drag into the bushes, all while having no internet, getting fired, and the dog abandons ship into the marsh and away from us. We wouldn't blame him. 

Huh. Dock life isn't so bad, is it?

We delayed a day to let the cold front pass and only have to deal with 15 instead of 20 variables. Baby steps.

We left.

We encountered:

• Low tides
• Passing boats yelling at us about 3 foot depths ahead
• Fear and terror as we approached the shoal and our depth started dropping
• Relief as we never saw less than 6 feet
• Confusion when our companion ran aground twice
• Good old fashioned fighting about where to anchor
• Confusion over tidal drop and if we would run aground in the night
• Manic calculations with excessive glaring
• How hard is it to calculate 13-7=6? Hard. 
• Wine drinking
• Dolphins
• Rain
• Muddy dog walk
• Good internet for work
• More rain
• Dolphins seem to be harassing us now
• Sunsets
• Sleepless nights as the dog wants to rampage 
• Sleepless nights as our anchor alarm is set to go off with each wind change and current change
• Sleepless nights as we are forced to stay up watching the stars reflect in the still water while phosphorescence makes our anchor bridle glow. 

  ICW Cruising

  Peaceful Nights

  South Carolina Low Country. Can you spot Independence?

  Dog Walk

  Dolphins!

  Sunset

  Rainbow at Sunset

  Dusk

Time to check the weather for our trip south. 

Prognosis: there are no 24 hour weather windows. Cold fronts and warm fronts will literally just move back and forth over our exact location, stalling out, raining, storming, for eternity. The tide is always low and the shoals are always there. The current will always be against us. We will face land walk uncertainty and internet insecurity. We'll never have a full nights sleep again. 

And yet? We love it. It's good to be back on the ICW. 

What do you love and hate?

We left the Abacos in mid-June since our insurance requires us to be north of Florida by July 15 (well, not exactly, but more on that later!). We motor-sailed from Man-O-War Cay to Vero Beach, Florida with an overnight stop at Great Sale Cay. We had light winds and several squalls in the night, but we survived. We checked in for the first time using Customs and Border Patrol’s iPhone app, ROAM. It was quick, painless, and utterly un-government-like. Many folks have to do a video interview through the app, but we just got a message saying, “Welcome to the United States.”

We decided to stop in Vero because we found it to be such a convenient stop during the winter on our way to the Bahamas. The mooring field is very protected and quiet, and the marina is in a residential neighborhood. And everything you might need or want is right there in town (or can be delivered to the marina).

While there, we finally bit the bullet and ordered the fridge of our dreams. It took a few days longer than expected to get it delivered, but once it arrived it fit right in and started right up. It’s amazing and will be the subject of a future blog.

We left Vero and spent a few days anchored near Ponce Inlet. There we ran into some new friends. Actually, they ran into us. And we are not, and have never been, friends. They left shortly after the incident in shame.

We stayed in the St. Augustine mooring field for a few nights. We enjoyed yummies from the bakery and a lovely Thai meal. St. Augustine is excellent since you can walk everywhere!

Our next stop was Amelia Island. We spent one night at the marina to use their courtesy car. Since the fridge arrived late, we were unable to stock it before leaving Vero. So with the refrigerator and freezer stocked up, we decided to stay in Fernandina Beach awhile. It turns out our insurance actually requires us to be north of 30.5º of latitude and Fernandina is at 30.67º. Score!

Fernandina Harbor Marina was shoaled in severely and banged up pretty bad in Hurricane Mathew in 2016. Two years later the city council is just now getting everything approved and cleared to begin rebuilding. In the meantime, the marina’s only business has been dinghy dockage for anchored boats, 10 mooring balls for rent, and 3 transient slips. They have a few resident boats and charter operations, but most of these were at slips that went dry for half the day.

The town of Fernandina was great for us. We had a cozy anchorage on a bend on a river off of the ICW. It was about a 10-minute dinghy ride into town, where dinghy dockage was $3.21 a day. After the second week, the dockmaster got sick of Lucy digging in her purse for the pennies and told us that we’d paid enough. We got some mail and ordered a new wind instrument.

We hadn’t intended to stay for three and half weeks, but it wound up being great. Persistent rains and storms kept us on our little river, but we found a wonderful Cuban cafe with cafecitos and empanadas. We hit up the farmers market every Saturday morning, where a food truck sells African curries and sambusas that are amazing. On week four, we finally got a break in the weather and headed offshore. We weren’t sure how it was going to work out or even where we were going to put in with the forecast light winds. We wound up motor sailing in very relaxing following seas all the way to the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. 

We always thought that when our savings ran out, we'd simply dock the boat, liveaboard, and get jobs for a few years, and then go cruising again. However, when our savings started looking pathetic, the idea of commuting to a "real" job just seemed beyond depressing.   But, can we get remote jobs and keep the boat going all while still enjoying the cruising lifestyle?

We've been really lucky. I immediately became an independent contractor to teach English to Chinese children via videoconference and have been able to pay 100% of our expenses (day-to-day expenses like food plus maintenanace, replacement parts, and boat upgrades) without tapping our savings. 

Remote Work that Works for Us and Weekly Income

VIPKID, 20-25 hours a week: $420-$525

TextBroker and Other Freelance Writing, 15 hours a week: $100-200

Stock Photography, 0 hours a week: $10

Matt experimented with UpWork but between the amount of time spent to "bid" for a "job", the jobs completed, and the pay scale, it simply wasn't worth it to continue. 

Day to Day Cruising

It was much easier to work and cruise in the Bahamas. We could, for instance, easily work in a 4 mile cruise from Man O War to Hope Town. Simply raise the sails and go, arrive, gleefully use up data at 70 cents per GB, swim in clear water, walk to the store and buy eggs.

Cruising the US is actually tougher than cruising the Bahamas.  Calculate ICW mileage for the day: 60 statute miles. Look up bridge schedules. Calculate time and distance to that bridge with the 5 knot current. Use up inordinate amounts of diesel fighting currents. Glare at constant, crazy weekend boaters trying to terrify. Pay $7 a GB for data. Arrive tired. Look at muddy, currenty water and decide to shower instead. Rent a car or get an Uber to get eggs. 

It's always horrifying when the alarm goes off at 5:25AM, however, I really enjoy having a significant amount to daylight to travel or enjoy. For instance, when my family stayed onboard, I worked from 6AM-10AM, but still had the whole day to move the boat to a new anchorage, go snorkeling, and go out to dinner.  

Waiting for Weather

I prefer to keep the same work schedule week to week. I have Monday and Tuesday available to make passages. We were able to cross to the Bahamas on a day off, and cross back to Florida on a day off. We'd have to wait a little longer than the schedule-less to make bigger island hops like Abacos to Eleuthera, but we got there in the end. 

We've been "stuck" in Fernandina Beach for over 2 weeks waiting for a weather window that matches my days off. If I wasn't working, yes, we would have made it further. And, of course, we could just take the ICW after work each day, but we don't feel like it.

Being stuck isn't all bad. We've been using the extra time to get a heap of boat projects done. It's been very handy to be able to get packages at the marina and use their laundry machines. We've got a perfect, free, river anchorage and didn't move an inch during a 70 knot thunderstorm. We were happy not to be in the Gulf Stream for that! On our days off, we walk to the Cuban cafe for cafe con leche and cheese and guava pastries. On Saturdays, we stock up on fresh produce and African curries at the farmer's market. We're constantly joined by dolphins. Matt points out manatees and roseate spoonbills from his daily climb up the mast to "attempt to fix the wind instrument but just get hot and bruised instead". We've been documenting a growing family of alligators in the marina.

Other Work Options

We could still dock the boat and get boring jobs or career jobs. A boring job simply doesn't pay enough to make it worthwhile and career jobs are still very unappealing when you add in commuting and office politics. 

Lessons Learned

I've learned valuable lessons about working on-camera. For instance, always wear bug spray and have a fan on in the summer. There's a whole generation of Chinese students who think Americans say "cat" while hitting themselves in the face. They also believe it's culturally acceptable to start a conversation standing up and end it hunched down, trying to hide growing sweat stains.

Moving Forward

We're quite happy with the sustainability of our work/cruising life balance.  Next year we plan to take June off and do a long passage to Maine, and then take a month off between October and November to get south. Waiting for weather on specific days and clawing our way past currents while working is pretty tiring and I'm hoping for a sweat free summer next year! 

What's your ideal work / life balance? How do you keep cool in the summer?