With a mixture of excitement, anticipation and a touch of apprehension we are thrilled to share with you the details of our newest adventure. It all began in Florida, a place that's starting to feel like home. Just looking for a little getaway, we went to the Miami Boat Show with NO intentions of buying another boat - just yet anyway. So, now here we are in early May, having made the 700 mile trek to the sunshine state 4 times in less than 3 months all because we fell in love - with a boat. We've finally found the one, a Viking Sportfish and we couldn't be more ecstatic! She's finally ours and we are bringing her home to Carolina Beach just in time for the fishing season.
While we regularly make the 60 mile run to the gulf stream for fishing, this is a brand new, somewhat daunting, adventure for us. A round trip of roughly 1,200 miles, 500 of which will be spent in the Atlantic Ocean. At 57 feet long, our new boat is more than capable of effortlessly making this passage. However, any boat, no matter how large, can and will feel small in sloppy seas. Unfortunately, the forecast isn't looking like it's all going to be smooth sailing.
So here's the timeline of our little adventure - We will be departing home, sweet North Carolina, early tomorrow morning, arriving in south Florida early in the afternoon with all our safety gear and provisions in tow. We will check her over, fuel her up and stay the night on the boat. At first light Thursday morning we will depart, travel (and fish) all day skirting the coastline of the sunshine state to St. Augustine where we will refuel again. From there, depending on the weather, we have the option of staying overnight or heading back out to the wide open ocean. Because we are a bit crazy, our plan is to head back out to the wide open ocean, travel all night with no moon and arrive safely home in Carolina Beach sometime late Friday. Again, this all depends on the weather and could change very easily.
I know many of you find this kind of voyage insane. Fear not landlubbers, people make these passages all the time, especially this time of year. We have done our very best to make sure we safely arrive back home in Carolina Beach, where we will be met by our Moms and children, just in time for Mother's Day weekend. We have tons of safety gear including our EPIRB, which transmits emergency signals via satellite to the Coast Guard, an emergency life raft and our new handy dandy DeLorme inReach satellite communicator. With the DeLorme inReach we will be able to send and receive text messages from anywhere in the world. It also allows us the capability to have 2-way communication with the Coast Guard in case of an emergency. Last, but not least, it also gives our nervous parents (& kids) back home the ability to track our path as we make this journey.
You too, can track our path on our Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Bill-Chaser-Sportfishing-Charters-397443797047601/
Fair winds & tight lines,
Salem & Captain Dietz
