From Paradise to Reality

Armed with a stale three day old forecast, Emily and I turned Elpis’s bow due west for the glow of America and headed home. Hoping the gentle ENE breeze wouldn’t build and whip the Gulf Stream into a monster wave sized frenzy, we distracted ourselves by thinking of all the fresh food we were about to eat and how many times we would go to the grocery store just for fun. Though a tad more rolly than was comfortable, 170 miles later we sailed into Port Canaveral (because the cooling system stopped working again), safe and sound in the land of Starbucks, highways, and real navigation aids.

The culture shock was intense. We went to the grocery store and walked around in awe. We had to choose between different brands for everything we bought! There were so many options! And the produce section was full of food- no waiting for the supply boat here. We had to be extra careful with the roads. Not only were they much bigger, but we had to think twice about which side the cars drive on (to our Uber driver- are you sure you’re on the right side?). The harbor was filled with cruise ships, fishing boats, freighters, coast guard boats. There was constant traffic and it never really got dark at night. Welcome back to the states.

We were again on the ICW. We motored all day. The water was brown. We washed our dishes in the sink instead of the ocean. We didn’t swim. It was hot. There was shoaling everywhere. What were we doing? We had just left the most beautiful cruising grounds so that we could slog through a ditch every day. It was still so close- we could just turn around…

Over the rumble of the engine, we reminisced about our island time. It had seemed too perfect, was it all a dream? Our hearts ached for crystal blue water, sailing, our friends, fishing, swimming, and to be back in the fairy tale we seemed to be living. Morale was low. We kept our spirts afloat by planning how to equip the next boat for future island adventuring, while simultaneously trying to avoid being eaten by flies.

Also on the bright side, we had an amazing stop in St. Augustine. It is a beautiful town, and was a wonderfully refreshing stay for us. We washed about 1000 pounds of laundry, ate as much pizza as we could, and I finally got ice cream that wasn’t outrageously expensive. 10/10 would recommend!

My first ice cream, and chasing a peacock

In the ICW we passed the replica ships of the Niña and Pinta (Columbus's ships), and we thought we were cool because we were going so fast past them. We then realized they were going slow in order to time their arrival with a drawbridge opening so they wouldn't have to stop, so we felt pretty dumb. We were then in front of them at the bridge and could barely go fast enough to stay ahead, so they almost ran us over. Whoops!

Barreling down at full speed, run away!

Cool church in St. Augustine

Real food!

Someone brought a snake to the bar, Emily- as a properly sorted Slytherin- was excited to hang out with the snake