This is our third boat ride down the coast in our Viking/Princess Sport Cruiser. (Annapolis to West Palm) Each year we are better prepared, more organized and plan the stops better. Do to some big pre trip service jobs the boat had not been run for 6 weeks prior to our departure. As we idled out of Bay Bridge marina (Stevensville MD) we realized we had no steering. Zip, zero... The autopilot steered fine while I added hydraulic fluid and pumped up the pressure. Fixed.
First stop was just inside the York River south shore to look at a friends boat.
Clicked on the wrong waypoint and ran 8 miles south of the York before I realized the error and turned around. Spent an hour or so aboard his boat then continued on to Tidewater in Portsmouth. Pulled out of Porsmouth late morning, 08:30 and ran down to River Dunes in Oriental. Very long day as we arrived around 20:00. Dark, rainy with heavy rains moving through. The next two days were forcated as light winds offshore then a strong cold front. So we got underway at first light and went outside at Beauufort down to Masonboro Inlet then inside to Southport marina. They were booked, sold out, so we tied up at the end of the fuel dock and ran our gen set all night. Next morning we ran offshore to Port Royal Sound. We always enjoy the small town of Beaufort, SC but not this time. They too were sold out. Never had this happen in previous years. Oh well plenty of choices. We ran down to Hilton Head and stayed at Harbortown. Funny thing that 200 mile run was all the range our little pea shooter could muster. Gen set ran out of fuel and judging from our fill up the mains were close to E. Next day on the nside to St Simons Island as it was a bit breezy. We tied up at a Morningstar Marina. The restaurant at the marina gets 4 stars. Very good. Stayed on the inside through Georgia down to St Augustine where we tied up at Camachee Cove. They have a dependable serice department and I was tired of my Separ fuel fiters. They installed new Racors for me pretty quickly. We stayed the day and went for a bike ride, walked the town and dinner at Kingfish Grille. Offshore to Ft Pierce on a flat day. Stayed at the Municipal marina. Offshore for a 50 mile flat ride down to Lake Worth inlet. Tied up at Palm Harbor 12:25. Boat ran great, all systems operated as inteneded and I did not hit anything. Going into River Dunes on a dark night was tricky and I was glad we had a FLIR night scope. Fun Trip! Somebody needs to tell the guy who owns the first house at the marinas canal to turn some of those lights out! Blinding.
