The plan worked! Sea conditions on Saturday, January 14 were just what we ordered. We ran outside at hull speed, 9 MPH, 8 Kts., and came in at Doboy Sound, just south of Sapelo Island, and snuck up South River about ¼ mile and dropped the hook, a 90 mile day.
Sea conditions as we pass Ossabaw
Sound, 9 miles out.
Sapelo Island old light house Sunset from
our anchorage in the South River
Sunday we woke up to fog so delayed our departure to 8:00 as the fog at
sea lifted. Looked like the fog was
still pretty thick inland from us.
Another day of calm seas allowed us to get to the Saint Mary River
entrance and come inside to the ICW at Fernandina and run the rest of the way
to Jacksonville where there is a free dock where we spent the night.
On Monday we had a good ride to Marineland. At about 11:50, as we came into St. Augustine, the phone rang and it was Annette. "Where are you", we'll be going under the Lions Gate Bridge in 10-15 minutes, "Oh my God, I'm about to drive over that bridge, I'll park and take your picture". And we'll take yours!
We did the 57 mile run in 6 hrs., 40 min., good time on the ICW. SILVER BOOTS was there, the crew from LAST DANCE lives there, and new to be neighbors on Claire's Point, Greg and Annette all got together for dinner.
We did the 57 mile run in 6 hrs., 40 min., good time on the ICW. SILVER BOOTS was there, the crew from LAST DANCE lives there, and new to be neighbors on Claire's Point, Greg and Annette all got together for dinner.
We leave Lions Gate Bridge in our wake and pass to the west of the St. Augustine Light House located where the original channel was from the Atlantic into the Tolomato and Matanzas Rivers.
On Tuesday we moved south through Daytona
Beach and on to New Smyrna Beach. The Ponce
Inlet Light House at Ponce Inlet is between
Daytona and New Smyrna Beach. We will be at
Thursday we continued south down the northern end of Indian River, through Misquito Bay, through Haulover Canal, to an anchorage along side NASA Causeway which goes out to Cape Canaveral. As we went through Misquito Bay dolphins hopped into our wake for a free ride.
As we came out of Haulover Canal the VAB at complex
39 came into view at the Kennedy Space center. We hoped
to see the Atlas 5 launch from our anchorage, but it was
scrubbed when a private plane flew into the prohibited air
space. Send that guy a BIG fine!
Friday we went through the Barge Canal and through the locks over to Port Canaveral to meet a potential boat lift customer, and then went back into the Barge Canal to Harbortown Marina for the night. We did see the Atlas 5 launch
Saturday we fueled up the boat, first fuel stop since leaving home, and then headed west though the Barge Canal to the ICW, and then turned south for Cocoa. Cocoa is one of our favorite stops, they have a free town dock where they welcome boats going up and down the ICW to spend a night. I intended to pick up a part a Travis Hardware, the largest hardware store I've ever been in with more stuff than you can imagine, one whole block of store! BUT, they are closed Saturday and Sunday, so no go. We did go to Ossorio's for some lunch goodies. As the day went on the wind was building from the south, and the town dock faces south, The forecast was for the wind to continue to build, so it wasn't going to be a good night to be tied up to their dock. We went further swouth and anchore behind the 518 causeway in Melbourne.
There is a strong front forecast to cross this part of the state by tonight, and the southwest wind ahead of the front is blowing 25-35. North of Vero Beach we snuck into an anchorage we've been in many times to ride out the storm. At about mid-night the front came through, it was a non event. Once passed we felt comfortable going to bed.
Plans are to leave Vero Beach and head further south on Monday, 1/30. We've had a second cold front come through this morning and it is chilly. Our southern most point will be up the Loxahatchee River, the river that feeds the Jupiter opening to the Atlantic. On our way down we are going to anchor in Pecks Lake for a couple of days, walk on the Atlantic beach and do some kayaking in St. Lucie Park, just south of the Stuart entrance to the Atlantic. We plan to be back at Ft. Pierce on Friday night for the week end. So, for this week we will not have internet service, but the cell phone will work.
We executed the plan, again! Pecks Lake is one of our favorite spots to relax for a couple of days. Sunset the first night.We did walk on the beach both days we were there and I went kayaking in the mangrove channels amongst the birds and sea life at he north end of the lake. There were as many as 14 boats in the lake, most of them sailboats waiting for a weather window to cross to the Bahamas.
Last Thursday we headed down the ICW towards Jupiter, past famous homes belonging to the likes of Tiger Woods. As we approached Jupiter inlet the Jupiter Light House appears to the
inside of the ICW as the ICW dog legs to starboard and the back south. Where the ICW turns back south there is a highway and railroad bridge straight ahead, and the Loxahatchee River. Our destination is three miles up the river and we have arrived one hour before high tide, which today is 1.9'. There is some charted water at 3' that appears to be in the buoyed channel, the reason we wanted to go through that area at near high tide, but yet with a little more water coming behind us if we get stuck. It appeared we had about 5' of water at the shallowest part of the channel past a sand bar. We anchored in 6.5' of water, with a low over night predicted to be -0.4', we should float through with about 6" of water under us, and we did. I met with a new boat lift client first thing in the morning, with our scheduled departure to be at 12:00 when we would have about 1' of water over "0". But at about 10:00 we decided to leave and follow our crumb line out, we should have enough water to get across that shallow area. When we came through inbound we were to the north of center of the channel. As we approached that area, the san bar is exposed, I held to the center of the channel, about 30' south of the crumb line. Well, it wasn't quite as deep in the center and we put the keel on the bottom at dead slow speed. OK, not too surprising.
We put the anchor down and attached it to the starboard quarter cleat, In about 15 minutes we started to float again, and as the tide came in against our bow the boat twisted to port, because of where I had tied off the anchor line. I let out a little more anchor line and the boat moved over to the left about 30', right over our crumb line. There was only about 4" more water so we waited another 30 minutes to give us a little more water before we tried to proceed through the shallow
water. When the water was just starting to cover the sand bar, we
let out a little more anchor line and drove up perpendicular to the
anchor, we didn't want to have to goany more to the south and back into the shallow water to retrieve it, our hope was to twist it loose and then pull it across the bottom towards the boat, then back down some and pull the anchor up to the bow davit. It all worked and we were on our way again.
There have been several days with very light wind. The forecast
outside was for 1-2' waves on a period of 4 seconds, so we decided
to go outside and run north to Ft. Pierce. Well, as those who listen
to wave forecasts, they aren't always what we expect, and they
weren't. They were more like 2-3's and it was choppy, and on the
side, not comfortable at trawler speed. But, if we get up on plane,
the ride would stabilize, we did, it did, and we ran up to St. Luci
inlet at 15 kts. Along the way we ran along the beach we had
earlier accessed from Pecks Lake.
On Sunday, February 5, our new neighbors on Distant Island will come into Ft. Pierce in their boat as they enjoy the Florida sunshine while it is a little chilly at home. We had breakfast with Jim and Ginny on Monday morning before we departed for Vero Beach, Monday night we anchored out and were able to grill a steak for dinner without concerns of bothering any neighbors. Tuesday we were back at Vero Beach Marina and enjoyed dinner with Dino and Elaine.
On Wednesday we moved up to Sabastian and met long time boating friends Phil and Alice at Herams Resort for linner. Herams has an open, beach front restraunt with an atmosphere of the Bahamas.
From Herams we moved up to Cocoa Beach to an
anchorage that was created back in the late 50's
when the Cape Canaveral space center was being
being developed and the city of Cocoa Beach was
going to become a housing area for many of the
workers. A community center needed to be
developed with a sewage treatment facility,
natural gas storage area, high school, and
recreation space. How do you make land in
Florida? You dig up the mangrove marsh, make
land from the dredgings and navigable
recreational water ways where marsh once
was. And so it is that there is now a great
anchorage adjacent to this town facility, right
in the middle of the Thousand Islands area of the
Banana River, a delightful spot. To get there you exit the ICW and go north up behind Merritt
Island. The Banana River is skinny water with some low swing bridges to go through. But once there, it is delightful.
Monday morning, 2/13, we moved over to the free dock at Cocoa for the day and night. Tuesday we motored up to New Smyrna Beach where will be until Friday.
As we wind up the ICW towards home we have now spend three days at Marineland with four sets of friends, one looper we met in 2007, one looper we met in 2009 who lives here, one looper just starting out, and one of our immediate neighbors from Distant Island who are still heading south. On Tuesday, February 21 we are all heading out, two boats going south and two boats going north. Our next stop will be at the free dock in Jacksonville, just north of the St. Johns River. On Wednesday we will be in Fernandina Beach at the Amelia Island Yacht Harbor. The city marina was damaged in Hurricane Matthew and is not open.
Thursday morning we left with HAPPY WONDERER behind us heading for Brunswick where they are going to spend a month and we would get some cheap fuel, $2.20/gal. The wind was blowing hard from the NE, and our course would normally take us through St. Andrews Sound, but with the stiff breeze St. Andrews would be real rough, so we opted to take an optional route through Floyd Creek. We would be doing this a dead low tide, the bad news the water would be skinny, the good news we could see the shallow areas. On our way past Cumberland Island we picked up another new Looper who wanted to follow us through Floyd.
This closes another chapter in our odyssey with ODYSSEE. Another 1030 miles under her keel, now totally 27,033 miles we have put under her keel. She continues to treat us well and deliver us where we want to go when we want to do it.
let out a little more anchor line and drove up perpendicular to the
anchor, we didn't want to have to goany more to the south and back into the shallow water to retrieve it, our hope was to twist it loose and then pull it across the bottom towards the boat, then back down some and pull the anchor up to the bow davit. It all worked and we were on our way again.
There have been several days with very light wind. The forecast
outside was for 1-2' waves on a period of 4 seconds, so we decided
to go outside and run north to Ft. Pierce. Well, as those who listen
to wave forecasts, they aren't always what we expect, and they
weren't. They were more like 2-3's and it was choppy, and on the
side, not comfortable at trawler speed. But, if we get up on plane,
the ride would stabilize, we did, it did, and we ran up to St. Luci
inlet at 15 kts. Along the way we ran along the beach we had
earlier accessed from Pecks Lake.
On Sunday, February 5, our new neighbors on Distant Island will come into Ft. Pierce in their boat as they enjoy the Florida sunshine while it is a little chilly at home. We had breakfast with Jim and Ginny on Monday morning before we departed for Vero Beach, Monday night we anchored out and were able to grill a steak for dinner without concerns of bothering any neighbors. Tuesday we were back at Vero Beach Marina and enjoyed dinner with Dino and Elaine.
On Wednesday we moved up to Sabastian and met long time boating friends Phil and Alice at Herams Resort for linner. Herams has an open, beach front restraunt with an atmosphere of the Bahamas.
From Herams we moved up to Cocoa Beach to an
anchorage that was created back in the late 50's
when the Cape Canaveral space center was beingbeing developed and the city of Cocoa Beach was
going to become a housing area for many of the
workers. A community center needed to be
developed with a sewage treatment facility,
natural gas storage area, high school, and
recreation space. How do you make land in
Florida? You dig up the mangrove marsh, make
land from the dredgings and navigable
recreational water ways where marsh once
was. And so it is that there is now a great
anchorage adjacent to this town facility, right
in the middle of the Thousand Islands area of the
Banana River, a delightful spot. To get there you exit the ICW and go north up behind Merritt
Island. The Banana River is skinny water with some low swing bridges to go through. But once there, it is delightful.
   |
| Going through the mangrove tunnels |
As we wind up the ICW towards home we have now spend three days at Marineland with four sets of friends, one looper we met in 2007, one looper we met in 2009 who lives here, one looper just starting out, and one of our immediate neighbors from Distant Island who are still heading south. On Tuesday, February 21 we are all heading out, two boats going south and two boats going north. Our next stop will be at the free dock in Jacksonville, just north of the St. Johns River. On Wednesday we will be in Fernandina Beach at the Amelia Island Yacht Harbor. The city marina was damaged in Hurricane Matthew and is not open.
Thursday morning we left with HAPPY WONDERER behind us heading for Brunswick where they are going to spend a month and we would get some cheap fuel, $2.20/gal. The wind was blowing hard from the NE, and our course would normally take us through St. Andrews Sound, but with the stiff breeze St. Andrews would be real rough, so we opted to take an optional route through Floyd Creek. We would be doing this a dead low tide, the bad news the water would be skinny, the good news we could see the shallow areas. On our way past Cumberland Island we picked up another new Looper who wanted to follow us through Floyd.
So here we go, the other two boats right in our wake.
The channel is narrow in some spots, maybe only 150 ' wide. We followed the outside of the curves as the tide goes out to find the deepest water and had 8-10' for most of the passage.
But then again not everywhere! This is an inside curve where there was only a channel about 50' wide and very shallow, to a point we were pushing through the pluff mud to get through. See that green day marker, that marks the east edge of the channel. Note the tide line on the piling about 4' above the grass, that's where normal mean high tide is in which case the mud would be covered with water and we might be tempted to get a little closer to that green, and probably be on the bottom. See what looks like a tire mark near the bottom of the picture, that was cut by an outboard motor when the boat got too close to the green while running fast. But no rough water!
Fueled up in Brunswick and now alone, we anchored for the night in the Fredrica River inside of St. Simon Island.
Friday we headed for Darien where there is a free town dock with power and water. Again we were running the creeks at low tide, don't go where the birds are standing!
One thing we wanted to see in Darien was Fort George, the first English settlement in Georgia on the first bluff in from the Atlantic along the Altamaha River, a region rich with lumber. Darien was a lumber town with tide driven water wheel saw mills, very ingenious. The fort is constructed of wood and never fought a battle. Today, the town is struggling. Some of the cute shops that were hear three years ago are gone. The shrimp fishing fleet is active and that appears to be the biggest industry in town. As we left town on Sunday morning, we had one last look of the fort from the water.
You've noticed that the background in all of the recent pictures is marsh. We understand that 70% of all salt water marsh land is along the coast of Georgia. With an average 8' of tide twice a day cleaning all the nutrients from the marsh, no wonder the fishing and shrimping is so good along this coast. At days end we were tucked behind Blackbeard Island in Blackbeard Creek anchored for the night.
We're now about 105 miles from home via the ICW, a little too much for one day. So on Monday we got into South Carolina and anchored behind Daufuski Island for the night and then finished our trip Tuesday getting home about 2:00. We came into Distant Island Creek at low tide and got a real good look of the rock sea wall we put in this last summer, and we even found a loon in the creek on it's way north.
This closes another chapter in our odyssey with ODYSSEE. Another 1030 miles under her keel, now totally 27,033 miles we have put under her keel. She continues to treat us well and deliver us where we want to go when we want to do it.
