Nov 16 – Jekyll Island to Fernandino Beach FL!! (Mile 716)
We had a leisurely morning and finally pulled away from the dock around 9:30. It was still pretty windy and it was a challenge getting the boats away from the dock. We left last as we were at the end of the face dock and we got blown sideways into the little cove at the end of the dock.
Dave had quite a time getting turned around and out of there, but all was fine in the end. We had to cross St. Andrew’s Sound, and in order to get around the shoals you have to almost go out into the ocean. It can kick up quite a bit in a high wind so we were cautious about going across it, but that too was fine. There was definitely some sea, but nothing like what we’re used to up north. We had a hard time deciding whether to stop at Cumberland Island or to go a little farther and get to Florida. Cumberland Island is a beautiful state park with wild horses and great walking trails, but given the cold temperatures, we decided to press on to Fernandino Beach. After some challenges in finding a mooring in Fernandino Beach we did find one and got tied on by 1:00. We had a great walk in this beautiful little town. It has great brick buildings and wonderful stores full of antiques. We got a few groceries at Fred’sa 5 and 10, and ice cream at the treat store. The folks on Gotta Life and Sandpiper went out for pizza, but we decided to stay on the boat for supper tonight.
Nov 17 – Fernandino Beach to St. Augustine (Mile 778)
We planned an early start but when we tried to start the motor at 6:30 the starter motor was making really strange noises. After a couple more tries, the starter wouldn’t work at all. Dave went to investigate and discovered that one of the two bolts that holds the starter in place had fallen out, and the other one was half way out. He was able to find the bolt and put it back together, but it took half and hour and we didn’t get away until 7:00. We expected to have a long day to St. Augustine as it is 68 miles but we had the current with us and we actually arrived at the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine a couple of minutes after their 3:00 opening. There were a few boats anchored on the north side of the bridge including Serenus and Miakado (with the twins that we met in Oriental) so we spent some time talking to those guys as we waited for the 3:30 opening. At 3:30 the bridge didn’t seem to be opening, so I called the bridge, and they said they weren’t opening as no one had requested and opening. That was pretty frustrating as we had talked to them at 3:04 when we asked them to keep the bridge open for us and they wouldn’t. Anyway, we had to wait another 30 minutes until the 4:00 opening. When we got through the bridge we went to look for a place to anchor. The anchorage is a little tricky as there are shoals in the middle of the anchorage, so Dave was watching the chart plotter really carefully, and then it started to get really shallow, even though it wasn’t showing shallow on the chart. To make a long story short, we ran hard aground and couldn’t get the boat off. Fortunately for us, a few minutes later a big power boat went by and rudely did not slow down. He created a lot of wake – I mean a lot of wake – probably 18-24 inch waves. Anyway, it was enough to raise us of the bottom and we were able to back off the shoal. Unfortunately, we also had to deal with the valleys between the waves and those kept slamming us into the bottom. We were hitting so hard that things were bouncing of the shelves down below, but in the end I was both glad to have a steel, full keel boat, and glad to be off the bottom. We were able to find another spot to anchor and had the hook down around 4:30 after a really long and tiring day. By the time we arrived in St. Augustine the bolts had loosened up again on the starter, so we took another crack at getting them tightened up with a different Allan key that Brian had on Gotta Life.
Nov 18 – St. Augustine to Daytona Beach (Mile 835)
We really weren’t sure where we were going to end up today as there are very few good anchorages on this stretch of the waterway. When we listened to the forecast, they were predicting that another front was going to come through so we decided to make a reservation at the Seven Seas Marina, just passed Daytona Beach. We saw lots of dolphins today. When we were waiting at one of the bridges, Dave tried the bow thruster and it didn’t work – at all… After we cleared through the bridge Dave went below to see if he could figure that out. After some trial and error, he was able to get it to work one way, but not the other way – there was a problem with the electrical connections. He spent quite a while trying to fix it, but finally had to give up. Just before we got to the marina we went under another bridge and it was really beautiful – each one of the supports was covered in a mosaic of dolphins and manatees. We had a hard time getting into the marina slip without the bow thruster, but eventually did get tied up. Shortly after we were settled, the wind really started to pipe up and it started to get colder. We were glad to be in a marina. We went for a walk across to the Beach and it was really beautiful.
The 
waves were rolling in and the beach was so flat and smooth with fine white sand. The kids couldn’t restrain themselves and it wasn’t long before they were all soaking wet playing in the waves. They said the water was really warm, but the air was cold and we got them back to the marina so they could get a warm shower. Dave spent a long time trying to get the bow thruster to work with limited success. He finally took apart the connector and discovered that the wire wasn’t tinned so it was all corroded. He didn’t have the parts to fix it so he left if for tonight and we went over and had supper on Gotta Life.
Nov 19 – Daytona Beach to Titusville (Mile 876)
First thing in the morning Sheryl, Eileen and I got a ride with the marina owner to the grocery store. It was interesting to talk to him. They had owned the marina for 30 years. A few years ago they were offered a lot of money to sell the marina, but when he thought it over he said to himself, "if I had that kind of money I’d take it and buy a marina in Florida – I already have one of those, so why would I sell it!" By the time we got back, Dave had the bow thruster fixed! We left around 10:30. It was a reasonable uneventful day, although at one point Dave realized that he had followed a power boat through a bridge and took the wrong turn. Fortunately it wasn’t a dead end and joined back up with the ICW and it wasn’t really any farther. We had dolphins with us all day and the kids had a hard time concentrating on school. It is very sad to see so many boats that have been abandoned and are partially submerged. We saw one today that didn’t even look that old. We were anchored a little north of Titusville by the Jay Jay Railroad Causeway.
Turning off the ICW to anchor here it was very shallow, and it was really distracting to have a dozen dolphins swimming around the boat, surfacing and breathing loudly through their blow holes. After we anchored we had a quick trip to shore with Rudder on the causeway. It was a little difficult getting to shore as the water was really shallow and it was hard to get the dinghy to shore. I made lasagna for supper so we had the girls over from Gotta Life.
Nov 20 – Titusville – Eau Gaille (mile 914)
Mark and Brendan wanted to go exploring in the morning, so we had breakfast and were thinking about taking Rudder to shore when we heard Mark and Brendan coming back from shore. Apparently the causeway is owned by NASA and we weren’t really supposed to go to shore there. Oops. We left around 8:30 and had another uneventful day. Nice to not have things break for a day or two. We anchored in behind the Eau Gaille causeway around 1:30. Sheryl and Brian have friends that live near here, so they went to shore to check things out and to give them a call and they took Annie and Kristen with them. We went to shore shortly after them and there was a great park with a playground and tennis court. As we were going in the dolphins were corralling fish and doing all kinds of splashing around. There are also lots of birds – pelicans, egrets, ibis and wood storks. Were pretty sure there are manatees around as you can see them swimming out in the channel. The kids had a great time playing in the playground. Sheryl and Brian’s friends Brian and Linda came to meet us and they started shuttling us all to a restaurant for supper. There were 14 of us all together and it was a really fun time. Sheryl arranged for the waiters to sing Happy Birthday to Annie!
We had a leisurely morning and finally pulled away from the dock around 9:30. It was still pretty windy and it was a challenge getting the boats away from the dock. We left last as we were at the end of the face dock and we got blown sideways into the little cove at the end of the dock.
Dave had quite a time getting turned around and out of there, but all was fine in the end. We had to cross St. Andrew’s Sound, and in order to get around the shoals you have to almost go out into the ocean. It can kick up quite a bit in a high wind so we were cautious about going across it, but that too was fine. There was definitely some sea, but nothing like what we’re used to up north. We had a hard time deciding whether to stop at Cumberland Island or to go a little farther and get to Florida. Cumberland Island is a beautiful state park with wild horses and great walking trails, but given the cold temperatures, we decided to press on to Fernandino Beach. After some challenges in finding a mooring in Fernandino Beach we did find one and got tied on by 1:00. We had a great walk in this beautiful little town. It has great brick buildings and wonderful stores full of antiques. We got a few groceries at Fred’sa 5 and 10, and ice cream at the treat store. The folks on Gotta Life and Sandpiper went out for pizza, but we decided to stay on the boat for supper tonight.Nov 17 – Fernandino Beach to St. Augustine (Mile 778)
We planned an early start but when we tried to start the motor at 6:30 the starter motor was making really strange noises. After a couple more tries, the starter wouldn’t work at all. Dave went to investigate and discovered that one of the two bolts that holds the starter in place had fallen out, and the other one was half way out. He was able to find the bolt and put it back together, but it took half and hour and we didn’t get away until 7:00. We expected to have a long day to St. Augustine as it is 68 miles but we had the current with us and we actually arrived at the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine a couple of minutes after their 3:00 opening. There were a few boats anchored on the north side of the bridge including Serenus and Miakado (with the twins that we met in Oriental) so we spent some time talking to those guys as we waited for the 3:30 opening. At 3:30 the bridge didn’t seem to be opening, so I called the bridge, and they said they weren’t opening as no one had requested and opening. That was pretty frustrating as we had talked to them at 3:04 when we asked them to keep the bridge open for us and they wouldn’t. Anyway, we had to wait another 30 minutes until the 4:00 opening. When we got through the bridge we went to look for a place to anchor. The anchorage is a little tricky as there are shoals in the middle of the anchorage, so Dave was watching the chart plotter really carefully, and then it started to get really shallow, even though it wasn’t showing shallow on the chart. To make a long story short, we ran hard aground and couldn’t get the boat off. Fortunately for us, a few minutes later a big power boat went by and rudely did not slow down. He created a lot of wake – I mean a lot of wake – probably 18-24 inch waves. Anyway, it was enough to raise us of the bottom and we were able to back off the shoal. Unfortunately, we also had to deal with the valleys between the waves and those kept slamming us into the bottom. We were hitting so hard that things were bouncing of the shelves down below, but in the end I was both glad to have a steel, full keel boat, and glad to be off the bottom. We were able to find another spot to anchor and had the hook down around 4:30 after a really long and tiring day. By the time we arrived in St. Augustine the bolts had loosened up again on the starter, so we took another crack at getting them tightened up with a different Allan key that Brian had on Gotta Life.
Nov 18 – St. Augustine to Daytona Beach (Mile 835)
We really weren’t sure where we were going to end up today as there are very few good anchorages on this stretch of the waterway. When we listened to the forecast, they were predicting that another front was going to come through so we decided to make a reservation at the Seven Seas Marina, just passed Daytona Beach. We saw lots of dolphins today. When we were waiting at one of the bridges, Dave tried the bow thruster and it didn’t work – at all… After we cleared through the bridge Dave went below to see if he could figure that out. After some trial and error, he was able to get it to work one way, but not the other way – there was a problem with the electrical connections. He spent quite a while trying to fix it, but finally had to give up. Just before we got to the marina we went under another bridge and it was really beautiful – each one of the supports was covered in a mosaic of dolphins and manatees. We had a hard time getting into the marina slip without the bow thruster, but eventually did get tied up. Shortly after we were settled, the wind really started to pipe up and it started to get colder. We were glad to be in a marina. We went for a walk across to the Beach and it was really beautiful.
The 
waves were rolling in and the beach was so flat and smooth with fine white sand. The kids couldn’t restrain themselves and it wasn’t long before they were all soaking wet playing in the waves. They said the water was really warm, but the air was cold and we got them back to the marina so they could get a warm shower. Dave spent a long time trying to get the bow thruster to work with limited success. He finally took apart the connector and discovered that the wire wasn’t tinned so it was all corroded. He didn’t have the parts to fix it so he left if for tonight and we went over and had supper on Gotta Life.Nov 19 – Daytona Beach to Titusville (Mile 876)
First thing in the morning Sheryl, Eileen and I got a ride with the marina owner to the grocery store. It was interesting to talk to him. They had owned the marina for 30 years. A few years ago they were offered a lot of money to sell the marina, but when he thought it over he said to himself, "if I had that kind of money I’d take it and buy a marina in Florida – I already have one of those, so why would I sell it!" By the time we got back, Dave had the bow thruster fixed! We left around 10:30. It was a reasonable uneventful day, although at one point Dave realized that he had followed a power boat through a bridge and took the wrong turn. Fortunately it wasn’t a dead end and joined back up with the ICW and it wasn’t really any farther. We had dolphins with us all day and the kids had a hard time concentrating on school. It is very sad to see so many boats that have been abandoned and are partially submerged. We saw one today that didn’t even look that old. We were anchored a little north of Titusville by the Jay Jay Railroad Causeway.
Turning off the ICW to anchor here it was very shallow, and it was really distracting to have a dozen dolphins swimming around the boat, surfacing and breathing loudly through their blow holes. After we anchored we had a quick trip to shore with Rudder on the causeway. It was a little difficult getting to shore as the water was really shallow and it was hard to get the dinghy to shore. I made lasagna for supper so we had the girls over from Gotta Life.Nov 20 – Titusville – Eau Gaille (mile 914)
Mark and Brendan wanted to go exploring in the morning, so we had breakfast and were thinking about taking Rudder to shore when we heard Mark and Brendan coming back from shore. Apparently the causeway is owned by NASA and we weren’t really supposed to go to shore there. Oops. We left around 8:30 and had another uneventful day. Nice to not have things break for a day or two. We anchored in behind the Eau Gaille causeway around 1:30. Sheryl and Brian have friends that live near here, so they went to shore to check things out and to give them a call and they took Annie and Kristen with them. We went to shore shortly after them and there was a great park with a playground and tennis court. As we were going in the dolphins were corralling fish and doing all kinds of splashing around. There are also lots of birds – pelicans, egrets, ibis and wood storks. Were pretty sure there are manatees around as you can see them swimming out in the channel. The kids had a great time playing in the playground. Sheryl and Brian’s friends Brian and Linda came to meet us and they started shuttling us all to a restaurant for supper. There were 14 of us all together and it was a really fun time. Sheryl arranged for the waiters to sing Happy Birthday to Annie!
1 comment:
Happy Birthday Annie from all of us!!! Sounds like you guys are making good time. Glad to hear that you all and the boat are okay after running aground. That must have been a bit nerve racking.
Meanwhile here at home, we got DUMPED on yesterday. 6 inches or so of heavy wet snow. Apparently we had thunder and lightening during the storm. Great for snowballs and snowmen!!! Have fun in Florida and talk to you soon.
The Hotsons.
Post a Comment