Beaufort and Ladys Island Marina
We initially planned to stay at Lady's
Island Marina for two days to catch up on some projects. On our
first night we go to a dive bar next door to the marina called the
Fillin' Station for their 5 dollar pork chop dinner, with Dan and
Dawn from Gertie. This is our first warm evening in shorts in almost
a month. Unfortunately we expect to get waited on while we have a
few drinks, silly us. You have to put in your order when you arrive,
so by the time we figure that out we can't get served until 8:00 PM,
so we all head back to our boats for dinner.
The next day, Friday,
we use a couple of the marina bikes and head over to Beaufort with
Dan and Dawn who have folding bikes on their boat.
Fun riding through
the Live Oak, Spanish moss covered treed neighborhoods of old
Beaufort.
We get to the Fillin' Station early for the $10 Friday night steak night, not going to screw ourselves out of another cheap dinner. We are the first people to put in their orders, we are practically regulars now. Enjoyed dinner with Steve, the manager of Lady's Island Marina. Him and his wife live on a boat there that Steve is making some major changes on, before they head off cruising next year. They will be hard to replace, they do an excellent job running the place.
Well, our two days of warm weather
quickly came to an end, by Saturday we are back in fleece and jeans,
and are happy to be plugged into dock power for heat. Steve loans us
their personal car and we head off to Lowes and Walmart for some
shopping.
That evening most of the cruisers at the marina get
together for a potluck hoer-derve party organized by Steve and
Gloria. Steve and Gloria try their hardest to make it tough to leave.
One fellow said he pulled in for a couple days about a year ago, cue
the Eagles, Hotel California. The next day is colder so we decide to
stay another day or so. There are a couple supermarkets and hardware
stores in easy walking distance, just a little too convenient. Monday
we rent a car with Dan and Dawn and go to Savannah for the day which
is an hours drive away. Linda and I were there last March and it was
rather cold then, but this time it is even colder.
The next day the temperatures are in
the 40's and the wind is blowing 25-30 mph and there are gail
warnings on the coast. Oh well ,we stay another day, oh the hell with
it, we might as well stay for Thanksgiving also. I figure Tow Boat
US won't be available on Thanksgiving day, might as well play it
safe. Thanksgiving we have dinner with 35 people, mostly cruisers
staying at the marina, we have a great time.
Potluck Thanksgiving at Ladies Island Marina
I think he has been here too long.
Finally on Friday we
leave hoping to make it to Georgia that night. Our two day stop
turned into 8 days, Steve and Gloria make it awfully hard to leave,
quite some business plan they have. They are the nautical equivalent
of fly paper.
That evening we anchor in a creek in
the Town of Thunderbolt, Georgia, just past the Savanna River.
A Prairie Schooner ? or Sloop ?
That
evening I discover that NOAA has removed the Magenta Line from a
couple of the detailed charts through the Georgia sea islands
sections of the ICW. What is the Magenta Line you ask ? Hell,
previously I didn't even know what color Magenta was or that it is a
color. The Magenta line is a line on the NOAA charts that represent
the route of the ICW. NOAA is concerned that people will follow it
too closely and fall off the edge of the earth. In actuality, no one
believes it is absolutely correct, just a rough guide, channels
change over time.
If I was using paper charts this would
not be a problem, but I don't. Aside from our regular dedicated
chart plotter I use a chart plotting program on the i-Pad that
updates to the latest charts available over the internet, via cell.
And guess what on October 22, 2 of the Georgia charts were changed,
Magenta line was removed. Well, the Georgia Sea Islands have a maize
of channels between islands, marshes, rivers and the mainland and
there aren't any road signs telling you where to turn. This was the
function of the Magenta Line on the charts, so I have to plot my own
“Magenta Line” prior to each days waterway travels so I know
which fork in the channel to take.
Cool day on the ICW
Our second day we pass through a
channel called Hells Gate, nothing like the one in the East River in
New York City. You will not go aground at Hell Gate in Manhattan,
but is is highly probable you will in Georgia. Unfortunately, our
passage coincides with low tide and there are all sorts of warnings
on the web. I follow the center of the channel and never see less
than 6 feet. The hard part is finding and staying in the center of
the channel. The boat behind us fails to do so and runs aground
twice, the second time they can not get free and has to wait for the
rising tide. That evening we find a very remote anchorage in the
Wahoo River far from civilization, we are in the zero bars territory,
beautiful, quiet and dark. Two other boats join us just before
sunset.
The next day we see few signs of
civilization until late in the afternoon. After listening to, two
cruising friends on different boats, disagreeing over the VHF radio,
where to anchor for the night I pickup on a interesting anchorage I
had not considered. It is on the Frederica River which parallels the
ICW and is at Fort Frederica National Monument, which I had never
heard of. There was a British Fort and town there prior to the
American Revolution, an outpost, to prevent the Spanish in Florida
from moving into Georgia which was a no-mans land between British
South Carolina and Spanish Florida.
A remaining part of the original fort
The next day we head to Cumberland
Island our last stop in Georgia. I had been getting pretty smug about
not running aground in some of the notoriously shallow spots in
Georgia, but I get my comeuppance as we are passing the St. Marys sub
base. Linda takes the wheel while I am siphoning a can of diesel
into the main tank. The buoys red and green switch ahead, at the
same point, another buoyed channel heads to the left. I'm busy filling the tank and it takes
longer than planned. Between me not looking up and Linda watching my
progress we run aground. We can not back off, but the tide is
rising. So we attend to some other chores for an hour before backing
off, while amusing our fellow cruisers passing us by in the correct
channel.
Dropped the anchor that evening and in
the morning went ashore. Cumberland Island National Seashore park is
Georgia's largest barrier island.
The members of the Carnegie family
owned most of the island and sold it to the Federal Government and it
became a national park in 1972. The former land owners in turn lease
a couple small areas back from the Government for their lifetime,
which will then revert to the Park Service. There is a nice
campground that was totally empty this time of year. We spent the
day walking around, visiting the ruins of the original Carnegie
mansion, other buildings and beaches. Saw wild horses, but only 4 or
5 other people the whole day.
Late in the afternoon we pulled the
anchor and motored to Fernandina, Florida on Amelia Island the next
barrier island south. Caught up with cruising friends we have not
seen for awhile and had dinner in town with Gertie (Dan & Dawn
from NJ), Sanderling (Roger & Chrisy From RI), Hot Chocolate
(Bill & Sandy from NC).
Fernandina, View south from anchor
Fernandina, View south from anchor, slightly left of previous photo.
Pulp Mill on Fernandina, a little stinky, a lot noise
The next morning my cousin, who
recently moved to Fernandina with his wife Debby, picked Linda and I
up to spend the night at their new house on Amelia Island. First
night in a while, that the bed we were sleeping in did not change
directions every 6 hours. They have a beautiful house that has a view
of the ICW in the distance. The following day we left Fernandina
around noontime for the Jacksonville Free City docks just north of
the St. Johns River. The floating cement docks are just off the ICW
and are quite new. They are the best floating docks we have been on,
free or otherwise. The floating docks connect to a pier where there
was a family fishing. Their buckets were half full of some kind of
fish about the size of fresh water perch.
On the other side of the
park on the ICW is a very active boat ramp and two more floating
docks that did not have enough depth for sail boats at low tide. One
of them was sitting on the mud at that point.
The next morning we leave to cross the
St. Johns River which has lots of container ship traffic in to
Jacksonville. Before we can see the St. Johns we see a towering ship
stacked high with containers that appears to be traveling over land
and fortunately passes by, by the time we are actually on the
St.Johns.
Castillo de San Marcos
By late afternoon we are at St. Augustine and plan to stay
for a couple days on a mooring at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina.
There is a fair amount of current here, but they have excellent
moorings.
The next morning (Saturday) we head
into town for breakfast and discover there is going to be a Holiday
parade. I am not sure what the locals called it, but since there
were a bunch of singing (chanting) Hare Krishnaers in the very long
parade it had a broad charm to it. Luckily the place we pick for
breakfast faces the parade route. After breakfast we pick a spot and
watch a good part of the parade go by.
Then we head off to our main goal for
the day, The Sailors Exchange, a second hand boating supply store.
Interesting place, somewhat between a junk store and a sailing
museum. I was looking for a replacement stainless steel water tank
deck cap that disappeared a while back. I have been using a plastic
deck cap replacement that I had on board for such an event. I find a
lesser quality SS one and for $5.00 I bite. We had a hard time
getting our friend Dan out of there. Not often the men can bore the
women to death in a store. They had an even junkier section out back,
outside. Dan overlooked that and his wife told me under no
circumstances was I to point out that over-site to him. That evening
we meet up with our expanding group of sailors for dinner in Old St.
Augustine.
Sunday my goals are to walk to the St.
Augustine Lighthouse and visit Castillo de San Marcos, the Spanish
built fort. Since we woke up to a very foggy morning we decided to
go to the fort first. St. Augustine was an important last port to
Spanish ships laden with gold and silver returning to Spain. The
British had burned down the first couple wooden forts before the
Spanish built the current masonry fort using a quarried stone called
Coquina (co-keene-a) which is made of ancient small shells that have
bonded together to form a limestone like material. Coquina out
croppings can be seem along the beaches in northern Florida. This
materials softness had the unique ability to absorb the impact of
cannon balls without fracturing as with hard stone forts. This
enabled the Spanish to fend off sieges by the British although the
buggers did manage to burn down the town numerous times, sore losers.
Shooting a cannon
That afternoon it is still foggy as we
walk to the Lighthouse over the Bridge of Lions to Anastasia Island.
We get all the way to the lighthouse without actually seeing it
because of the fog. Standing at the base we can now see the top. We
decide to pay the entry fee and climb up (219 steps). My wife the account, counted them. At least on
the inside, it wasn't foggy, had a clear view up the stairwell. At
the top I have the guide describe the various views as if we were
blind. We walk back, still in the fog.
Monday morning we leave after the fog
lifts and head for another buck-a-foot marina, Marineland. Just
before we arrive at Marineland we pass Fort Matanzas a Spanish
micro-fort on the Matanzas River that was built to keep the British
from sneeking in the backway to St. Augustine.
Fortunately we made
reservations in the morning and get the last available berth.
Unfortunately we find that we are “persona non grata” at the
Marineland Aquarium. There has been a large number of dolphins dying
on the east coast this year from a virus and there is a concern that
boats traveling the ICW may pass the virus to the Marineland
dolphins.
Tuesday we delay leaving because of the
weekly farmers market at the marina. So much for the buck-a-foot,
our stay is now up to about three-bucks-a-foot before we leave. But
we do leave with lots of seafood and vegetables. We head for Daytona
Beach. We had planned to stay at the Halifax River Yacht Club, 75
cents a foot for Yacht Club of America members which MBBC is. I get a
call back late afternoon, but because of our late start I don't think
we can make it through the last bridge opening before 5:00PM. The
dock master offers to hang around until 6:00, but I said thanks, but
don't bother, we will anchor out. We make better time than I thought
we would and make it through the two Daytona opening bridges, before
the restrictive opening time 4:45 to 5:45. Made it through the last
bridge minutes before 4:45 and did not have to slow down for either
bridge. If you can't be good, its good to be lucky. We anchor out
with Gertie and Sanderling who are already there. The anchorage is
exposed to the north and south and it gets a little choppy at night.
The next day we visit Daytona and head
to another used sail equipment place, “Surplus Unlimited”, which
is a long walk to the west of town. This place had a mix of new and
used stuff. The women make the foolish mistake of pointing out, to
me, that this place also had an outback section which all the guys
had overlooked. I head out there and pick up a piece of ¾” thick
starboard for a future project. As I walk back in the store, with my
starboard, Dan catches me coming back through the door. If I wasn't
carrying the starboard I would of pulled up my zipper and told Dan I
was using the bathroom, but since I was caught red handed I fess up,
Sorry Dawn. So the back section eats up another half hour. We have
lunch in town and head back to the boat before dark. The wind has
picked up and we have a damp dinghy ride back, fortunately we are
running with the wind and waves.
The next day we all head for Titusville
to pick up moorings at the Titusville Municipal Marina. We have lots
of wind out of the northeast and are initially doing 9.2 mph, with a
partially furled jib and near idle speed on the engine. Because of
the wind we are back in foul weather gear to keep warm even though
the temperature is near 60. We get to Mosquito Lagoon which has a
long fetch to the north and the waves start to build up. We start to
get a little surfing action.
We furl up the headsail before we turn
down Haulover Canal for an opening of the Allenhurst Bridge just
north of the Cape Canaveral and the Vehicle Assembly building for the
Space Shuttle. We start to head into the Titusville Marina. We call
ahead to Sanderling who went in ahead of us to get fuel before going
to a mooring. The wind is now blowing so hard out of the northeast
they are pinned to the dock. Since it is late the dock manager lets
them stay overnight on the fuel dock. We quickly turn around and
head back out the fairway in the mooring field. Watching all the
moored boats, hobby-horsing, we decide to go a little south and
anchor behind the causeway leading to the Max Brewer Bridge (65
feet). This gives us protection from the waves, but not the wind.
We do have a comfortable nights sleep, but even with the wind we can
hear music from a local bar/restaurant under the bridge. Whomever is
playing is actually quite good. Some other friends that were on a
mooring that night said they had to move midships as they were just
about getting tossed airborne in their berths in the bow.
Overnight the wind moderates. We head
in to fuel up and pump out in the morning. Sanderling has since left
and has headed to another marina a couple miles south to leave their
boat for a month or two while they head back north. After we fuel up,
I wash the salt off the boat with fresh water and suddenly I notice
this snout sticking out of the water under our rail scupper, where
the water is running off the boat. I am looking face to face with a
Manatee. We have seen many at a distance, the last couple days, but
this is the first one eye-to-eye.
Although they can absorb fresh
water through their skin, while in salt water, they still like an old
fashion drink occasionally and have learned where to get it here.
Starting the engine in neutral, they know it is the signal for them
to leave. No problem today, because we have to wait our turn at the
pump out dock, and the water runs out and the Manatee leaves. Even
though the wind has dropped we have the same problem with the wind
holding us on the dock. We leave the bow line tied and motor
forward. The stern kicks outward about 30 degrees from the dock as
we push the bow anchor close to the dock using the curve of the
forward half of the hull. A quick switch to fast reverse and we back
away successfully from the dock as Linda pulls in the bow line. Move
to pump out dock and repeat the exit procedure.
We pick up a mooring and spent most of
the day ashore in Titusville and head in town for lunch with Gertie
and Dragon Dance (Capt. Ron and Carol, who we first met in Beaufort,
SC and are on their return leg, being Floridians). The marina has a
fairly well supplied store and I pick up two items I have been
looking for, a can of T-9 Boeshield and a dry bag. I have been
looking for the T-9 since the Seven Seas GAM at the end of September.
It is generally used on mountain bikes (not much mountain biking in
the Low Country) because it is a waterproof lubricant for moisture
displacement and penetration. Good for use on turnbuckles, screws,
fittings, etc. The dry bag was only $10. That evening we meet up with
Sanderling and Gertie for a very good dinner at Dixie Crossroads and
have Rock Shrimp and Oysters. Sanderling must like it they ate there
the night before while the wind was holding their boat on the dock.
We say our good byes to Sanderling and will hopefully see them again
this winter in the Bahamas, when they come back and continue their
trip.
Saturday we head to Eau Gallie just
north of Melborne and anchor in the lee of the causeway leading to
the Causeway bridge. We have had a slow day motoring into a strong
south wind and this is a fairly calm anchorage. As luck would have
it, we are anchored in front of “Squid Lips”, and you never
considered that Squid have lips. Neither did we, but this Squid Lips
is one hell of a Beach bar/restaurant. Listening to a good rock band
playing we head ashore with Gertie to check it out. We get a couple
happy hour drinks and then decide to have and early dinner and enjoy
the music. Linda and I had the best fish sandwich ever, coconut,
lemon battered fried fish. After a walk we head back to the boat and
listen to the next blues band playing after dark.
Dan and Dawn, our boats at anchor
Warm evening, we
shower off the back of the boat in the dark. Life is good.
Sunday we head to Velcro Beach, I mean
Vero Beach. Velcro is the tag name cruisers have given Vero Beach,
because it is hard to want to leave with all the restaurants, stores
and other services. We share a mooring with Gertie at the Vero Beach
City Marina. Moorings are only $13 a night and is a very popular
protected spot of the ICW. At their busiest there can be three boats
on each mooring. Vero Beach has a free bus service that make access
to stores very easy. We run into another boat (Our Dream) we first
saw in the Dismal Swamp. They come down from North Carolina every
year and stay the winter at the Vero Beach City Marina.
Vero Beach City Marina mooring field
Manana and Gertie
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