Rolianne Afloat and Abroad

We spent one day / night in Jacksonville before entering the ICW once again. We were hoping to get to Daytona by sea in a day, but the winds were strong, and we felt like spending a comfortable day on the boat. So we went down the channels again, under the SUN! I did a full load of laundry on deck with Julianne, and I used my solar shower. Perfect day... Apart from the moment when we ran aground while trying to anchor. Maps were showing 10’ depth, but nope. Luckily for us, we managed to move and find a better place for the night. Slept like babies...  Daytona beach was supposed to be a playday, but the weather was so shitty that we ended up doing mostly chores. We left the next morning and had the best day ever though!! We crossed a channel FULL of manatees and dolphins! I stopped counting at 5 manatees... It was incredible!  We anchored in Titusville for the night, and left early to keep traveling South. We stopped in a really cool place called Pelican Island National Wil

We made it to Florida!!! And we have officially put away the winter clothes! We had a pretty hard past week if you ask me, so it’s well deserved. Since we left Charleston, it has been all about winter jackets, heathing the boat with the oven and sleeping with the kids to keep them warm. Not that much fun. Still, we managed to see a bunch of dolphins every day, which warmed up my little French Canadian heart. 🤩 We stopped in Beaufort for a couple of nights after arriving in the dark on the 12th. In was rainy and cold the whole time, but we still played in that gigantic playground a couple of times, which even had internet for the parents. Yeah! We also met another sailing family, with whom we traveled since.  From Beaufort, we left after lunch on the 15th but the winds were so unpleasant that we decided to anchor before our finale destination. That night was SOOOO cold! In the morning, we left early, heading towards the ICW. At last minute, after looking AGAIN at the weather fo

We made it! First day at sea with Rolianne. We left Beaufort early Wednesday morning to exit the ICW by the Beaufort inlet, following a bunch of other boats taking advantage of the perfect weather to do some coastal sailing: North West / North East winds of 10-15 knots, with 3-4 feet waves. We didn’t see any dolphins, but we spent the day reading in the cockpit or playing cards.  We made it to Masonboro before dinner time, where we met again with our new friends from Montreal. They have a 7 yrs son and a 11 months little girl onboard, so they came over for dinner with some drinks for us, and video games for the kids!  The boys were pretty stocked to have a playmate, so the day after, we stayed in the ICW so that Romain could spend the day on Ohana. Lucky them, they had a bunch of dolphins swimming next to them for 2-3 minutes!! It was awesome!!! We arrived in Little River in North Myrtle beach, at low tide. During this day, both Ohana and Rolianne touched bottom. Y

After crossing the Dismal swamp canal, we arrived at Elizabeth City.  Many cities along the ICW are incredibly nice to travellers. They built free docks where we can stay for 48h, and if lucky even take a hot shower and enjoy free wifi. That’s what Elizabeth City had to offer for us. So we spent a night there before heading to Alligator River. We left kinda late because winds were supposed to go down midday, which did not happen. So we crossed Albemarle Sound with good winds and 3-4 feet waves. After sailing for about 7 hours, we anchored in the middle of nowhere. So far from civilization that we were able to show the kids the Milky way and the million stars in the sky. It was magical!!!    Early morning, we left for Belhaven, where we spent the night before leaving for Oriental. Almost made it to Beaufort then, but we decided to relax a little and meet up with our travelling friends for a delicious fish curry! We even got a perfect sunset. It couldn’t

After trick or treating in the historic neighbourhood of Portsmouth for Halloween, we left the big city of Norfolk to enter the Great Dismal Swamp. The canal that goes through it was entirely man-made by slaves back in the 1800s. Luckily for us, with a draft of only 4.5 feet and a mast under 65 feet, we could go South by this beautiful waterway. Still, I was impressed to get under a 65 feet cleance bridge!!! We didn’t see as much wildlife as I was hoping for, but it was still a perfect day. The sun was with us and it was surprinsingly hot for November. 25C. Having lunch wearing a t-shirt and slippers, that’s good enough for me!! We’ll be spending the night in the swamp and heading to Elizabeth city tomorrow. We’re in North Carolina!!! Third state with Rolianne, three more to go before we get to our final destination in the States (South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, of course).