Saturday, April 13, 2013.  We leave the dock at Cocoa Village Marine at 8:15am, partly cloudy, wind NW @ 5.  There is a ½ knot current pushing against us.  At 10am the wind is NW 10-12.  At 11:30am, the wind is NW at 15-20.  It pretty much stays NW at 15 all day.  Of course, that is the direction we are traveling.  Stan Hedlund says that no matter what direction you are going on the ICW, the wind will be on your nose.

At 11:50 we have passed Cape Canaveral and approaching the cut through Merritt Island into the Mosquito Lagoon.  Both of these bodies of water are very shallow (2 feet outside the channel) and the water is 86 degrees.  We wonder how warm it will be at the end of the summer.  This is the habitat for the Rosette (Pink) Spoonbill, and we see quite a few in flight.  The small islands just west of Merritt Island are their roosting/nesting places, but they are too far away to get a good camera shot.  More info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseate_Spoonbill

Between Mile Marker 860 and 850, we saw herd of Manatees.  The most we have seen on our trip.

We planned to anchor off the ICW east of Green Marker 47 and Red 48, but it looks as if the entrance to this anchorage is shoaled to the point where you could walk across it.  We continue on.  The free docks at New Smyrna Beach are already taken, so we take a slip at the New Smyrna Beach City Marine.  We are on the dock at 4pm.This is a nice little marina and we have been here before – Mile Marker 246.  51SM, 47NM today.  29° 01.65’ N  080° 55.22’W  Mile Marker 846

Note:  We touched bottom in the channel at Green 39 (where you turn to enter the Marina).

We had dinner on board, then walked into town.  Tonight is old car night. 

 Click here to see the pictures of the New Smyrna Car Night.. 

Sunday, April 14, 2013.  We are off the dock at 8:15am.  It is partly cloudy and the wind is east at 5.  We clear the Coronado Beach Bridge (aka George Mussen Bridge) at 8:40am.  We made the infamous corner where we went aground twice on the trip south .  Last time, we were “advised” to hug the Red 18 buoy – no water there.  This time we stayed just south of the Red/Green 19 and had 7+ feet at mid-tide.  I believe if you go north of this Red/Green buoy, there will be even more water.  We have between ½ and 1 knot of current pushing us this morning – nice.

Clouds built up all afternoon, and by 3:30pm it is raining.  We planned to anchor at Fort Matanzas, but it is starting to rain and the weather service has just issued an tornado and hail warning for this area.  We decide to continue on to St. Augustine (another 14 miles). By the time we reach St. Augustine at 6pm, it is starting to lightning and thunder.  We get tied up to the dock and everything hooked up, when the storm really hits.  Big crashes of thunder and lightning very close by.  We have dinner on board, watch some of the John Adams HBO Special we have on DVD and to be early. The storm continues most of the night.  68SM, 57.9 NM today.  29° 53.52’ N  081° 18.54’ W.  Mile Marker 778.

There is a new dock going in to the north of the current docks which has a 6 foot skirt and will act as a breakwater also.  There are also lots on new mooring, both north of the Bridge of Lions and south of the marina.  The bathrooms and showers have all been redone, also.

Monday, April 15, 2013.  Patriots’ Day in Boston and the Boston Marathon.  The day is clear and beautiful.  Sunny with a cool breeze.  Lisa and I do laundry, some housekeeping, take showers and then go for a walk around this lovely old city.  See pictures.  A guy named Henry Flagler built many of the public building, churches, hotels, and Flagler College.  All we built using poured concrete construction in the Spanish Renaissance style.  Beautiful buildings. In case you don’t know, Flagler was a business associate of John D. Rockefeller and one of the owners of Standard Oil.  He and his wife honeymooned in St Augustine and fell in love with then area.

Click here for some pictures of St. Augustine

We have a wonderful lunch at Harry’s (New Orleans style food).  Now, mostly I find that once you leave New Orleans and especially Louisiana, the “New Orleans Cuisine” is mediocre at best, but this was very good.  I had a shrimp po-boy and gumbo and Lisa had fried eggplant with crab.  MMMMMMM good!

Jeff called with the news of the bombings in Boston.  I guess there are crazy people everywhere, but this is a little close to home.  Maybe we need to re-institute public hangings – or let the families of the victims stone the perpetrators – I’m just saying………….

Jim and Judy Foster (Tug-a-Long) are in Fernandina Beach.  We will try to make it there tomorrow, so we can see them.  Nite Cap is still in Velcro Beach.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013.  We are away from the dock at 8:15am and make the Bridge of Lions opening at 8:30.  We made plans to stop at Jacksonville Beach, because there is no room anywhere in Fernandina Beach because of the Trawler rally.  At 11am, the marina at Fernandina Beach calls and they have a mooring for this evening!  Great!  Hopefully, we will get to hook up with the Fosters!

Shortly after leaving St. Augustine, the fog closes in.  We are in the company of 3 other boats and using the radar for about an hour, we finally break out of the soup.

We arrive in Fernandina Beach at 5:30pm.  The dockmaster has found us a spot on the face dock right behind a small cruise ship.  It makes a nice wind block!  Jim and Judy come by and we wind up going out to dinner at the Salty Pelican.  Good shrimp.  Today has been a long day and we will turn in early.  30° 40.23’ N   081° 27.99’ W   61.5 SM, 49.2NM today. Mile Marker 716.5

Wednesday, April 17, 2013.  We decide to take advantage of the wind and the tides and leave Fernandina Beach at 9:30am.  We tried to connect again with the Fosters, but they are in a group meeting with the Trawler Rally.  Wind is NNE @ 10 and the skies are clear.  We decide to visit Brunswick, GA, and arrive there at 4pm.  It is actually 5 miles west of the ICW up the Brunswick River.  It is supposed to be the best hurricane hole (place to hide from hurricanes) in the southeast.  However, in town is a big plaque with the story of the 1898 hurricane that wiped everything out in the area with a 16 foot storm surge.  The harbor is well protected from the wind, but is open to the south into the      Brunswick River, which is open to the ocean.  The dock hands were less than helpful and the three of them spent most of the time we were there sitting in the office, smoking, and grousing.  The docks look strong, tho’.  Lots of NoSeeums.

We had dinner at Tipsy McSways.  Mostly a bar, but the burgers were good and the beer was $2.  There is also a store in town that makes cup cakes and has ice cream.  The downtown is trying to make a resurgence and there are shops and restaurants to walk to, but anything else requires a car.

We have been crossing paths with Teri Ann a Mainship 40 trawler since we left Cocoa (Teri and Al Jensen, Massapequa, NY).  They are here in Brunswick tonight along with Hooper (their Golden).

31° 09.07’ N  081° 29.99’ W  42.5SM, 35.4NM today.  5 miles west of ICW Mile Marker 680.

Click here for most recent pictures 4/16/13 

Thursday, April 18, 2013.  We leave the dock at 8am.  Although the dockhands are all in the office, they are too busy to help “until later”.  No problem getting off, skies are clear and there is no wind.  There are some shallow area to deal with today.  We managed OK through Buttermilk Sound at 11:30am and then the Little Mud River at 12:45pm.  Both of these on a mid tide that was rising.  The tides are 9 feet through Georgia.  The south end of Althamaha Sound saw only 6.5 feet on the magenta line, but we did not touch.

At 2:20 (Red Marker 153), we see lots of dolphins and a sea turtle.

At 2:57 (Green Marker 143, there are serious whitecaps as the wind builds 15-20.  Sun and clouds.

We decide to visit Kilkenny Marina.  It is at Mile Marker 614, up Kilkenny Creek.  It is supposed to be “rural”, but have a great restaurant and fuel.  We arrive there at 6pm.  The docks are floating docks and there is good protection from the wind.  Quaint would be the description I would use.  They have a small travel lift for launching the locals’ fishing boats and you can buy live shrimp for bait.

We had dinner at the adjacent Marker 107 Restaurant (named for the green ICW marker at the entrance to the creek).  Nice place, excellent food and cheap beer.  The restaurant also has a dock and you can anchor in the creek either above or below the marina.  Plenty of  water.

031° 47.34’ N  081° 12.16’W  73SM, 61.4NM today.  Mile Marker 614.

Friday, April 19, 2013.  We depart Kilkenny Creek at 10:25am.  It is dead low tide, but we hope to catch a rising tide for the remainder of the day.  PC 77 degrees, wind SE @ 10.  The least amount of water we way in Kilkenny Creek was 8 feet at low tide.  Locals told us to stay in the center or just north of the center of the creek. 

At 11;!0am, the wind is S @ 15-20.  At noon, the wind is S @ 20-25.  At 12:45, we pass through Hell Gate and the lowest water we saw was 7.5 feet.  However, it is mid tide.  We saw 4.5 feet through here at dead low tide on the trip south, but we did not touch bottom.  The wind is now gusting to 30.

We arrive in Thunderbolt, GA at 3:15pm.  We have made great time with the wind howling on our stern and a tidal push most of the day. 

We had an early dinner at Tugby’s (one of the two restaurants you can walk to from the waterfront).  $2 beer and free appetizers.  Burgers and fries.  As we leave the restaurant, thunderstorms arrive and we wind up standing under an awning until they pass.  Lisa heads back to the boat and head “two blocks” into town to get some milk and ice cream.  Two blocks is more like 8 and there are no sidewalks in this town, so you walk in the street or through someone’s yard.  There are apricot trees at the marina, so I picked some.  Very sweet.

Morningstar Bahia Blue Marina 32° 01.89’ N  081° 02.89’ W  32SM, 26NM today.  Mile Marker 582.5

Saturday, April 20, 2013.  We are off the dock at 9:00am, as the skies clear.  It has rained hard all night.  That helped wash some of the salt off the boat, but she is in need of a good bath and her water line cleaned.  The bow and the waterline turn brown from the water when traveling the ICW.  Water ever minerals make the water coffee colored, do the same for the boat.

Our raw water strainer is cracked and leaking.  It is heavy plastic material, but I have no idea how it would crack.  We patch it with Llife Caulk (an underwater sealant), and hope it will suffice until we get somewhere where we can replace it.  There is no water pressure per se, so hopefully this will work.

We had the heat on this morning, it is only 58 degrees.  Stan and Judy said sometime you outrun the warmth going north.  I think we did.  We also have the Mr. Heater set up in the cockpit and jeans and jackets on.

At 10:15, we are exiting the ICW into the Savanah River.  A huge container ship crosses in the river just as we get there.  The chart and chart plotter show the channel on the wrong side of the Red Markers.  Make sure you stay to the right of the Reds heading north, regardless of what the electronics tell you.

As we cross the river and turn north into Fields Cut, we run aground and are stuck fast, in the middle of the channel.  It is low tide here, but the charts say there is 7.5 feet of water, but there obviously is not.  Active Captain says to favor the Red Markers, but that didn’t help us.  Luckily, we sit for about half an hour and are floated off.  Do not try this cut at low tide.

At 10:50am, we are exiting the northern end of Fields Cut and run aground again.  Right in the supposed channel.  The deep water is close to the east shore (Green Side).  A large power boat is behind us and we ask hime to pass us with a learge wake to “bounce” us off the shoal.  Normally, you want a slow pass with no wake.  Magic Queen obliges with a large wake and we are free!

At 11:10am as we turn north from the Wright River to the New River at Red 42, the chart and plotter show the magenta line (preferred course) far to the east of the Marker.  Do Not Do That!  The channel is in the middle of the river and there is plenty of water there.  Whoever drew the magenta line through this area must have been in a flat bottom air boat!

\We received a message from Diane MacKay that Lauch went into the hospital with pneumonia or severe bronchitis and then he had an asthma attack as a reaction to one of the meds, then they found an 85% blockage in one of his arteries.  They put in 2 stints and have him on a broad spectrum antibiotic and is now in ICU.  He was one sick puppy.  Lauch was our conceriege doctor when Lisa had her tonsillitis when we were last in Myrtle Beach.

We arrive at Downtown Marina in Beaufort, SC at 4:30pm.  We have dinner at Luthers, a burger and beer joint on the waterfront.  Food was OK, beer was cheap (happy hour) – some places in Georgia and South Carolina have Happy Hour all the time!  Also, Savanah is one of the four areas of the country that allow “take-out” drinks.  New Orleans being another one.

32° 25.79’ N  080° 40.49’ W  46SM 38NM today.  Mile Marker 536.

Sunday, April 21, 2013.  There are high wind advisories posted for this afternoon and tomorrow – 40+ knot wind gusts.  Sustained at 15-25.  We decide to visit Beaufort until Tuesday, when we will head for Charleston. 

Teri Ann arrives and we say hello to Teri and Al and Hooper.  They went to Savanah and tied up to the wall at the river walk there.  They said they got beat up pretty good by the passing ship wakes and today got beat up coming up Port Royal Sound.  They will probably also be here until Tuesday.  Water Music (a Hunter 35) that we have crossed paths with several times is also here hiding from the wind.  The marina is, in fact, full.

Monday, April 22, 2013.  There are still high wind warnings, so most everyone, including us, is staying put until tomorrow.  We hope to get an early start and make it to Charleston.  There are quite a few boats leaving to make the first bridge opening at 7am.  Hopefully, the weather will co-operate.

Click here for pictures of Beaufort, SC

Stay tuned!