Turning North

We decided to make the trip back to the Chesapeake.  We turned the boat and headed north.  The Travon Martin incident happened about 30 miles from Marineland.  We got tired of seeing confederate flags and only being able to hear right wing radio.  We never met any people that were rude or mean.  The tension and feelings were palatable and we just didn't want to venture further south into the land of bars and high price marinas.  There are many articles that deal with the anchoring fights between Florida land owners and boat owners.  Time to head to Maryland.

We headed north and were, of course, had to deal with a head wind.  We made it through the two bridges we had to open.  This time the Bridge of Lions was an easy opening.  No pushing through the yellow light.  After we passed St. Augustine we heard aircraft.  A fighter plane with a red star on the side was doing acrobatics.  The plane barrel rolled, did loop de loops,  and buzzed our boat.  We waved and cheered.  For over a half hour we were treated to an air show.  I throttled down and just watched and cheered.  The sky was clear and beautiful.  We had shorts , flips and tshirts on. We were motoring on our boat and were being treated to a free air show.  Such fun! We made it to the oxbow anchorage and had a quiet night.  

The next day, wind wasn't strong until past noon.  The wind hadn’t gotten up yet and we heard a lawnmower noise in the air.  It was an ultralight.  After yesterdays’ fighter jet, this was a totally unexpected scene.  He dove at the mast and we clapped and cheered.  Another air show ensued.  We slowed and engine and just watched.  Some fisherman joined us and we laughed, and clapped .  The ultralight pilot waved back and headed away.  The fisherman went back to fishing and we throttled up and kept moving north.  Never know what you will see on the water. The wind came up and the wind indicator registered 20 to 33 knts apparent wind.  The first place we stopped to anchor, Ft. George, gave us the hee bee gee beees.  No real real reason we could pin point, but we have learned to trust your gut.  I have always thought that our boat has ways of letting us know when we might be making a mistake.  This was one of those times.  We turned out of the river and went back up the ICW.  We had 10 miles to go to the next anchorage.  We battled the wind and made it to a cut behind an oxbow it the Amelia river.  Dolphins were jumping and greeting us.  Seems like we made the right decision to push northward.  We anchored in 14 feet of water at low tide.

The new Kraft Alfredo and cheese dinner mixes are easy to store and make a fast and easy meal.  I have pre cooked hamburger, chicken and ground turkey in the freezer.  It is easy to boil the pasta with the meat and freeze dried vegetables that we keep in the pantry.  It gives us a warm one pot meal.  Easy cleanup and a warm meal after a long day makes you feel so much better.

We sleep until we wake up.  No set wake up time means that you sleep as long as your body needs to recover.  There are times that you need to get up on a schedule, but it seems like we are healthier and thinner.  No stress and fatigue means no cortisol and extra fat build up in your body.  Cortisol is used by the body to cope with stress.  It is one of the limiting elements that keep fat around your belly.  I always thought some of the hype about stress was just a way to sell diet pills on infomercials.  Without the 21st century version of stress in our lives, we seem to be coping much better.  It feels like I have lost around 20 lbs.  My clothes fit better, I sleep better and seem happier, while living and traveling on our boat. 

Arrived at Fernandina Beach.  Got fuel, water and paid for a mooring ball.  Fernandina Beach is a destination for bus tour groups.  As we pulled up, we were asked questions by the visitors to the dock.  We got quite a few, "you really live on your boat?", the biggest question was, " don't you miss your stuff?".  The dredging is finished at Fernandina Beach, and the price is reasonable, but I would rather be on a mooring ball away from the dock walkers.  You start to feel like you are part of the tourist attractions. 

A little slice of Paradise

We worked our way south to Marineland Marina.  The marina has been newly rebuilt in August 2011.  The old marina was destroyed by the storm surge from Hurricane Floyd years ago.  The channel is well marked and easy to navigate.  We arrived at mid tide and had enough water.  At low tide we sink into the murk. Tied up to the face dock, the view of the channel/ICW is great. 

Marineland is part of the Georgia Aquarium research facility.  Across  the street from the marina is the main Dolphin building.  They give people the opportunity to interact with dolphins (for a fee).  The dolphins in the exhibit were either raised in captivity or were injured and were brought to the facility to heal.  Dolphins that could not be returned to the wild stayed with Marineland.

All around the marina there are salt water ponds that house all sorts of marine life.  We walked around all of them and tried to figure out what some of the big things were in the middle of the pond.  A fresh water pond located in the former campground is home to turtles, fish and an alligator.  Nature abounds at Marineland!  You can go across the street to the beach, take a kayak tour of all the preserve islands across the ICW, walk the nature trails or just sit on the stern of the boat and watch the dolphins play by the green marker.  There are no bars or restaurants.  A few of the  restaurants from the Hammock do deliver to the marina.  We borrowed the dock masters' car and went to the Publix to pick up a few things.  To us, this is a paradise.  We happened to arrive during Daytona Bike Week.  Motorcycles of all shapes and sizes were blasting down A1A.  We went over to the Marineland garden area, sat down and enjoyed the show.  Next came the Spring Break crowd. The bikini's and surf contests were a great spectator event. 

The winds have shifted from the North to the South-East.  It is time to head back to the Chesapeake.  The winter this year has been mild so the bugs are out in force.  Bugs in muggy anchorages are NO fun!  We are going to try and make it to Beaufort and send plane tickets to two of our three sons, Chris and Philbert.  We'll grab onto the Gulf Stream and book to the Chesapeake Bay. 

Florida-St. Augustine

We meandered down the ICW in Florida.  We passed by some amazing homes.  We noticed that most of the docks do not have a floating dock platform.  The power boats speed by with out taking any notice of the boats or areas around them.  The summer must be filled with noise and wakes.  The full moon was amazing.  With the full moon came the lunar tides.  Lunar tides are tides during the full moon that are lower or higher than usual.  Lower than usual tides cam be a problem.  Luckily we came into the Oxbow anchorage during low tide.  We knew we had enough water to leave in the morning.  We anchored and had a quiet night.

If I had a land home, this is the kind I would want.

 We made a marina reservation at Chamachee Cove Island Marina.  It is one the the fancier marinas, but they have a courtesy car and marine services.  We wanted to use this stop to provision and change the oil in the engine and the generator.  They also had a special, that if you buy one night of docking, you get the second night free.  The marina is home to some mega yachts.  When they have 50 feet of dock space leftover they try to fill the slip with one of us small boats.  One of the first times that our 42 foot boat felt 'small'.  We pulled into the marina and took on fuel.  I got the boat to the fuel dock, turned it around in the narrow alley surrounding by mega buck fishing boats and got it docked in our slip.  We had the fenders on the correct side, the dock lines and spring lines out.  Our electric cord was nicely coiled. We handed the lines and the electric cod to the dock hand.  Matt jumped onto the dock and we were tied up in no time.  We even got a thank you from the dock hand.  He said he was impressed, no yelling, hand signals and everything was ready to go.  What a change from the beginning of the trip.  We have progress from total newbies to seasoned ICW travelers.  I guess you can teach old folks new tricks.  We stayed at the marina through a blow.  Winds got to around 30 knts +.  Glad were were tied up.  We waited for the tide to come up and left for Marineland.

 


We had to open two bridges on our way to Marineland.  The first bridge, The Bridge of Lions, is in St. Augustine.  Other cruisers have told us about the bridge tender.  He doesn't hold the bridge.  The bridge only opens on the hour and half hour.  Many people said that they have had to wait the full half hour between openings.  We got to the bridge at 3 minutes before the hour, the light was still green. Matt was talking to the bridge tender and saw the light change to yellow.  I gunned the engine a went full speed ahead.  The light turned to green and we made it through the bridge.  Never ran a yellow light in a boat before.  I think all the driving in the DC area teaches you to be fearless.  The next bridge was easy.  You hail the bridge tender and he opens the bridge.  No need to gun the engine to make the light.  Matt was much happier. 

Got to Marineland without a problem.  Pulled into the slip and got all tied up.  Going to do exploring tomorrow. 

Fernandina Beach, Florida

We moved south to Fernandina Beach .WooHoo we finally made it to Florida!  Only took us four months.  We pulled into Fernandina Harbor Marina, paid and took a mooring ball.  This is our first 'mooring ball' marina so far on this trip.  I was at the helm when we went into the marina.  Matt was at the bow to pick up the mooring ball.  A mooring ball is an anchor that has been screwed into the river bottom, a chain attached, a ball float attached to the change, and  a line (rope) tied on the ball.  The line is picked up and attached to the boat.  It took three tries to get the mooring line.  The line had been in the water for a while and was a bit 'furry' with algae and other marine growth.  We didn't want to get the yuck on the boat, so we attached another line thru the mooring line.  My first time at the helm to pick up a mooring ball!  Matt and I have worked out hand signals so I can guide the boat close to the target.  From the helm I can't see the mooring ball so Matt points out the direction I need to point the boat.  Large gestures mean 'go way over that way', and small gestures indicate more delicate movement.  We got attached to the mooring ball without any problems.

Fernandina Beach is home to two paper mills.  The mills are working twenty four hours a day.  At night you can hear trains moving through the town and boats being loaded and unloaded.  The sights are mesmerizing.  The beauty is gritty and rough.  Without the mills the town would not have any industry but tourism.

We put down the dingy and went into town.  The town is pretty and busy.  They had two bus loads of visitors.  The day was bright and warm.  We decided to have lunch at the marina restaurant.  We got a great table for people watching.  The mood was festive.  People were waiting to take fishing excursions and sailing lessons.  I ordered a margarita and thoroughly enjoyed every sip.  The food was great and the people watching was entertaining.  We walked the main drag and went back to the boat and took a nap.  Perfect boat day.

We went to the Farmers Market/Garden Show the next day.  The winds were predicted to pickup about 1pm so we wanted to get there, shop, and get back to the boat before the storms hit.  The temperature was climbing as we stepped off the dingy to walk to the market.  We carry cloth bags for shopping.  We found wonderful fresh veggies and fruits.  One tent was staffed by an Alaskan fishing family.  They fish the Kenai Peninsula, freeze the salmon, and bring it south to sell during the winter.  Our son Chris, went to the Kenai River to fish when he was 16.  My parents used to go every year, and one year took Chris.  He caught a 55 lb king salmon, and other smaller salmon.  He shipped home over 100 lbs of salmon.  It was nice to buy a half salmon and spur memories as we munched.  We made it back to the dingy and made it back to the boat before the thunderstorms rolled it. We put the dingy back on the deck ad tied it down before the blow.  The thunderstorms started to roll in.  The storms passed north of us and spawned a few tornadoes.  We just got wind and rain, no lightening or tornadoes or water spouts.

We run our watermaker every other day.  Love having the watermaker.  I am frugal with water, but not fanatic. We take showers and do the dishes with no thought to water rationing.  We can stay out on a hook or mooring ball without having to go to a marina to fill up the water tanks.  The watermaker gives us a greater freedom to explore the the less traveled places. Quiet places let us renew ourselves.

Cumberland Island

We loved being at Jekyll Island, but were happy to get off a dock for a while.  The tourist traffic had started to increase.  We started feeling like a 'live' exhibit.  It is nice that people are interested in us as strange creatures that live on a boat and travel the east coast and associated waters.  We heard comments like 'you look so normal', and 'how do you live without having a house?'.  We did a few boat tours and folks were amazed at the fact that we had a stove, a sink, running water, a toilet, a shower and a bed. 

We moved down the ICW to Cumberland Island.  Cumberland is an island that can only be accessed by boat.  It was quiet and beautiful  The beach was wide and isolated.  They have one of the few maritime forests on the east coast of the USA.  Very relaxing...until the cold front went through.

We have gone thru Hurricane Isobel, TS Ernesto, Hurricane Jean and Hurricane Irene.  But this was the first time we were on anchor during a wind event that was just 10knts shy of hurricane strength.  We had two anchors out, the enclosure buttoned and plenty of food.  We took turns watching and checking the anchor mark.  We installed jacklines and used our vests and tethers whenever we went forward to check the rode line for chafing.  After two days the winds relaxed to just small craft warning speed (20 to 35knts). 

A sleepy Matt during night watch

It was great to watch the ponies return to the beach after the winds died down.  The ambled down the nibbling at the low tide line.  The birds did diving and fish gathering and the dolphins were playing around the boat.