Tuesday, May 12, 2020
7:00am Clear and calm, 75 degrees.
We are off the mooring and heading north on the ICW. Nightingale is underway as well and
about a mile behind us. We hear JAZ on
the VHF, they are departing also.
8:20am Lots of birds out this morning crossing our path to
Paul’s Island (egrets, rosette spoonbills, herons, terns).
10:00am The wind has picked up considerably (N@20-25), right
on our nose. Glad we are inside on the
ICW instead of outside in the ocean.We
are only making 5.8 knots over ground.
This wind was not included in the weather forecast.
2:30pm Cocoa Village, high hazy clouds. The wind has dropped a bit to NE@15-20.
4:40pm Anchor down southeast of the Addison Point Bridge (aka NASA
Causeway) Bridge in the lee of the land.
The wind is still 15+, but is supposed to calm down overnight and go
into the east.
5:00pm Nightingale
comes in and anchors. We hear from JAZ
that they stopped at the southern tip of Merritt Island (aka Dragon Point) for
the night.
67SM MM885 28°31.46’N 080°45.24’W
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| Sunset at Addison Point |
Wednesday, May 13,
2020
Partly cloudy, cool 65 degrees, wind E@5-10
7:30am We raise the anchor and move over to the bridge for
the 8:00am scheduled opening with Nightingale.
8:00am Addison Point Bridge (scheduled) with Nightingale. Today, we are following them.
9:00am Wind E@15+ NASA Railroad Bridge (always open unless a
train is crossing the bridge).
10:00am Haulover Canal Bridge (on request) – wind
SE@10-15. Many time the wind direction
and speed is different as you leave the north end of the Indian River and enter
Mosquito Lagoon. The two bodies of water are separated by a thin strip of land
at the north end of Merritt Island connected by the Haulover canal.
10:30am Mosquito Lagoon, wind SE@10-15. Motor sailing at 7.5
knots.
1:30pm George Musson (aka Coronado Beach) Bridge (scheduled). Got there right on time, no waiting, nice!
1:45pm It is high
tide and we had no issues at “The Corner” where the ICW turns away from the
Ponce de Leon Inlet. This corner silts
in on a regular basis. Today, the least amount of water we saw was 8 feet.
2:30pm The is the north end of the Ponce de Leon Inlet, and
again the ICW meets it. This too is a
notorious “corner” and is regularly dredged. Today, we never saw less than 11
feet of water (it is still close to high tide).
3:30pm Daytona, Main Street Bridge (on request), no waiting,
nice! This is the only bridge in Daytona
that still has to open. The other 4
bridges have been replaced with 65 foot high rise bridges.
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| New Memorial Bridge in Datona |
4:00pm Anchor down on the north side of the Sea Breeze
Bridge. It took three tries to get the
anchor to hold. We had this problem last
time we were here. Next time we might
try another anchorage. Strong current
and cross winds here.
Lisa made baked eggplant parmigiana with sausage for dinner.
Nightingale is anchored not too far away. Also three identical Lagoon catamarans anchored here
also.
56SM today. MM792 29°42.72N 081°14.31W
Partly cloudy, wind E@15-20 and gusty, 75 degrees.
Very windy overnight.
Thursday, May 14,
2020
Partly cloudy, wind ESE@10-20+, gusty, 70 degrees.
6:30am We raised the anchor and head north with Nightingale. Motor sailing at 7.5 knots!
7:40am We are in a narrow part of the ICW (north end of the
Halifax River). Sail in, motoring at 6.5
knots.
8:15am L B Knox Bridge (on request).
11:00am Matanzas Inlet, another famous shallow area. When we came through here in the fall, they
were dredging. Even though it is one
hour past low tide, we never saw less than 10 feet of water.
11:45am Crescent Beach Bridge (on request) – with Miracles and Nightingale.
1:15pm On the fuel dock at St. Augustine City Marina –
filled with water and fuel (22 gallons).
Nightingale has a
mooring reserved here for three nights, so we say goodbye for now.
1:45pm Off the dock and waiting for the opening of the
Bridge of Lyons.
2:00pm Bridge of Lyons (scheduled). On the north side of the bridge, we see Last Boat (Nelson and Mary) on a
mooring, but no one aboard.
6:15pm Saint John’s River crossing. We tarry as we wait for a large car carrier
to make its way up the river against the current.
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| Car carrier heading west on the St. John's River |
7:00pm Anchor down at the anchorage across from the free
docks in Sisters’ Creek.
53SM today.
MM739 30°23.65’N 081°27.60’W
Friday, May 15, 2020
Beautiful morning and sunrise, calm, clear, 70 degrees,
rising tide.
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| Sunrise at Sister's Creek |
6:30am It is about mid-tide as we raise the anchor and head
north through several areas of skinny water.
7:30am Sawpit Creek. We ran aground here in the middle of
the channel a couple of years ago. We
tried to make it through here at dead low tide and got stuck in the mud. Today we saw no less than 9 feet of water.
The tide here is about 5 feet. Nice!
8:00am Nassau Sound, another skinny water area. We went way around the sand bar in the middle
of the sound – south almost to the bridge, before turning back to the north.
8:30am We see two Rosette Spoonbills. One does not usually see them this far north.
9:30am More skinny water around Green #1 just south of
Fernandina Beach. We elected to stay
close to the east shore here and there was plenty of water until we got right
next to the Green #1 Marker and then we just barely touched bottom. Maybe next
time we will try the other channel next to the west shore.
9:45am It looks like most of the work on the docks at
Fernandina Beach City Marine has been completed. Boats are tied up in the marina and along the
“mega dock” that runs more than 250 yards paralleling the channel. The fuel dock is not yet completed and is not
open. Last update we heard it is supposed to be completely open by the end of
June. The marina was completely destroyed by Hurricane Matthew 2 years ago. There is a cruise ship tied up to the container wharf. The cruise lines are looking for dockage all up and down the east coast as their ships sit idle because of the coronavirus.
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| Cruise ship docked in Fernandina Beach |
Mostly cloudy, wind SE@10-15+, 80 degrees, very humid. We can smell the paper and plywood mills at
Fernandina.
MM712 (+2) 29SM 30°42.82’N 081°32.54’W
We hear the Navy on the vhf clearing Cumberland Sound as a
submarine is about to make it’s way to sea from King’s Bay Submarine Base just
north of here.
2:00pm We raise the anchor and head over to the North River
to St. Mary’s Boat Services. High tide
is at 4:00pm. You have to negotiate the
river at high tide and Rocky can only get boats in and out of the travel lift
when there is adequate water. Rocky calls and he is trying to launch two boats
and haul one (in addition to us). We
anchor in a deep spot in the river and wait our turn.
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| Saint Mary's Boat Services Rhiannon's summer home |
6:00pm Rocky calls and we will not get hauled today.
4SM MM712 (+4) 30°44.28’N 081°31.65’W
Saturday, May 16,
2020 My sister Patricia’s Birthday
Clear, 80 degrees, wind SE@15. The high tide today is not until 5:00pm, so
we spend the day getting Rhiannon ready for her summer storage. We removed and folded both the main sail and
the genoa (foresail), folded them on deck and stowed them in their sail bags.
We noticed that some of the stitching on the genoa is starting to come
loose. The luff (front of the sail)
where it fits into the roller furling on the head stay is tearing away from the
sail. We have not had either of these
sails professionally cleaned or serviced in 5 years, so this type of wear and tear is to be expected. We will take this sail home with us and have
the work done and the sail washed.
We went through all the food stowed on board and anything
that is open (like cereal, bread crumbs, nuts, etc.) is given away, put either in a box to
take with us or put in the trash. This includes anything that might spoil over the summer (Parmalat milk, juice, etc.).
We began going through all the clothes on board and deciding
which need to be washed, left on board or brought home.
It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate on a 42 foot
boat.
I began making a list of maintenance items we want to get done
over the summer, as well as a list of spares we will need for the next trip.
4:00pm Rocky calls and he is ready for us at the travel
lift.
4:20pm Rhiannon is out of the water. After Rocky and Kevin get the bottom pressure
washed, we inspect the bottom. The
Sherman Williams paint we used this year has held up very well. We have few barnacles and no blisters in the
bottom. Yeah!
Rocky will leave us here blocked in the slings until Monday,
when he will put Rhiannon in her cradle and move her to her summer home.
5:30pm We take the PT
Cruiser (which we left here a couple of weeks ago) and head over to the
Cumberland Inn and Suites. We stop at a
fried chicken place for take out dinner.
The hotel front desk is not all encased in Plexiglas so you can’t spread infection. They are not doing maid
service or cleaning while guests are there, but will bring new supplies for the
room (towels, etc.) if you call the office.
The room has a washer and dryer, so we won’t have to go to a laundromat
to get our laundry items washed.
Nice long hot showers, early to bed, long day.
Sunday, May 17 –
Tuesday May 19, 2020
We spent the days getting Rhiannon off-loaded and
cleaned. We met with Rhonda and went
over the items we want her and her crew to do over the summer. We are proceeding as if this fall we will
return and again head toward the Bahamas, but with the corona virus, who knows.
We met with Terry and went over the canvas work we want
done.
We met with TJ, who will look after the boat while we are
away.
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| View from the cockpit while Rhiannon is in the slings - looking south |
On Monday, Rocky moved Rhiannon out of the travel lift into
her cradle and then over to the spot where she will rest until we return.
There are not many people in the yard, but Noodin is still here. Ron and Phebe have a motor home in a camp
ground near by and they will be here a few more weeks working on the boat.
Wednesday, May 20,
2020
We begin the long drive to New Hampshire in an absolutely
loaded PT Cruiser. We stopped the first
night in North Carolina. The motel was
clean and the desk clerk was behind Plexiglas.
Thursday, May 21,
2020
We were up early, filled the car with gas and stopped at a
MacDonalds to get breakfast to go. A
very long day, but little traffic, even in New Jersey and New York.
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| Dererted Delaware Welcome Center |
We stopped at Lisa’s parents’ house in Billerica, MA, and retrieved
the Cadillac from their garage and were home by 11pm. A very long day (17 hours), but it is good to
be home. The end of another cruising season that turned out completely
different from what had been planned.
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| The gardens need some attention |
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