11-23-2015 - 11-24-2015 - Southern GA, Northern FL

Continuing south along the ICW, completing the southernmost part of Georgia, and into northern Florida.

Monday 11/23/15, we slept late. Chilly morning, clear.  We finally left at 9:30 AM. Discovered that the boat anchored behind us was “Intermission”, who we had met briefly at the Calabash River in NC. The entrance was shallow, about 1 foot under our keel (we draw 5 feet). Georgia has very high tides, up to 9 feet in places. It also has some very shallow water. As a result there are a lot of groundings and many cruisers go “outside” in the ocean and skip it. And when there are no exciting groundings it can be boring, but I prefer to think of it as “meditative.” The scenery is beautiful and calming. We were very lucky this time. No serious groundings, and we only touched the bottom once or twice. It’s sand, so it’s not dangerous, and if we got stuck we’d probably be able to count on the tide lifting us off within a few hours. But our trip was relatively uneventful.

"Degaussing range" - for eliminating or reducing the magnetic field of submarines

At 10:22 we were warned of a submarine involved in diving operations.

Diving operation nearby. See the two dive flags,
the familiar red and white, and the less familiar blue and white international flag above it.

By noon we were in northern FL, and it was chilly. Just south of the Fernandina mooring field a group of us, two sailboats and two powerboats hit a very shallow area. Together we were hunting for the deeper water.

Fernandina FL, paper mill

Fernandina Mooring field, with boats that would later become familiar -
"Blue on Blue"  (Maya Bella), "Oak Bluffs", and Hafvalla, the trimaran on the far right.

Unfortunate sight, a sunken ketch, in the Fernandina Mooring field

Hunting for the deep water

It's low tide

After hunting for the deep water, on our way again

The other sailboat was “William Reed” and the powerboats were “Grouse” and “Twin View.” We were intrigued by the name William Reed. A lot of boats are named after women, and it’s unusual to see a man’s full name as a boat name. We looked it up. The most likely reference for William Reed is the author of a book called Phantom of the Poles, about the “hollow earth theory”. In this theory, there is water, and sailing inside the earth. I wonder what they do for wind…

After a brief slowdown, we were on our way again, with the jib up, reefed, doing 4.7 kts, and wind from behind. At 1:10 we passed pretty Amelia City, with neat houses and dolphins. At 2:55 PM we bumped on another shallow spot, but again, nothing serious. At 3:40 PM, we passed the very full free dock and anchored in the one good spot in Sister’s Creek, at STM 738.9. There was a huge construction barge blocking most of the anchorage, holding materials for the nearby bridge under renovation (which had been going on at least since we last passed this way going north in the spring).

Scenery along the waterway, in northern FL

Scenery along the waterway, in northern FL

There's a barge in our anchorage!

William Reed was searching for a spot to anchor. We invited them to raft with us (eager to hear more about the hollow earth theory) but they declined and returned back up the river to find a suitable anchorage. It was a very cold night. We made soup and contacted many cruising friends to let them know that we’d be in St Augustine for Thanksgiving.

Tuesday 11/24/15, we got up late and had a lazy morning. I did some cleaning and kitchen chores, Chuck watched the bridge construction with a “hammer driver,” a primitive piece of equipment that drops a huge weight (held by chains) to hammer in the piles.

Sister's Creek Bridge construction

We finally got ready to move around 10:00 AM and called for a bridge opening. The bridge opened immediately and we were off into the sunny clear day. At 11:15, we smelled a fire, possibly a brush fire, or a fireplace. It reminded us of skiing up north, which we would soon be doing if we had stayed in CT this winter, alas.

When we got to the Atlantic Blvd Bridge, we had exceptionally strong current running against us. We had been warned about this place. We saw a “Safety Boat” in the channel, watching us, and monitoring the traffic. With the engine at 2800 RPMs we were able to do 1.2 kts against the current, and just made it through the bridge!

We went through the “Cabbage Swamp Canal,” a very unattractive name for a very upscale area, with large, fancy houses. Here are a few examples. (Double click on any photo to see a larger view.)

Dreaming of a green Christmas...

This house has a screened in area.
To us, it has that "under construction" look, but I'm sure it's a huge plus in buggy Florida.

Toward the end of the canal, we passed an outdoor restaurant, Chuck waved to a little girl and blew his conch horn. All of the people in the outside seating waved back. Fun!

At 3PM, we anchored in the Pine Island Anchorage, STM 765, with “Lagniappe” and “Maya Bella” (a blue boat with a blue canvas, who we nicknamed “Blue on Blue” when we didn’t know their name), both Canadian sailboats.

Pine Island Anchorage

It was a very windy anchorage, with wind from the NE. As we passed by, Lagniappe told us that they had trouble setting their anchor, and tried several times. He said he "put out 30, then 60". I said, "We always use 100". He said “That’s even better!” I later realized that he was thinking meters and we were thinking feet. So his 30 was pretty much the same as our 100! Oh well… it worked fine for us. Which was good, because many more boats piled into this anchorage before the sun finally set. The next day we’d be moving on to Saint Augustine!