Where did the warm weather go?? I know that it is cold in York, but today was just uncomfortable on the water with the temps never getting out of the 50's and 18-23 knot winds out of the NW all day long. it was a miserable day on the water.
I have an application on my Iphone for maritime navigation with charts and the internal GPS on the Iphone. It is a miniaturized version of the chart plotter on the boat. Here is a pick of what the boat did at anchor last evening. Much of the time, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction of the tidal current. The boat seemed to wander around until the current changed direction with the tide change and was in sync with the wind. Note the spike at 12 o'clock in the picture above. this probably happened sometime around 4AM. The good news here is that the anchor held well, even with 20 knot winds and a 2 knot local current. For the record, we have about a 45lb Ronca 25 Anchor that was just installed on the boat the day before our departure. We also have 25' of 3/8" high strength steel chain and about 170' of anchor line. In this pic, we were anchored in about 15' of water at high tide. We had 120' of "rode" out. I love this Iphone app as it gives me peace of mind as I try to figure out whether or not the anchor is holding! Obviously, the Ronca 25 is doing a great job!
We planned for a late start this morning. There is a fixed bridge about 3 miles south of our anchorage (look at pics from yesterday), and high tide was around 9:30AM this morning so we decided to hang out for a bit as we had concerns about having adequate clearance under the bridge until a few hours after high tide. The anchor was raised and we were underway by 10:15 AM. When we arrived at the bridge about 10:35, the boards were showing 64' (see pic below). Some bridges are conservative, but I don't have any history from which to judge, so we decided to wait for lower tide.
When we finally went under the bridge about 11:45AM, the boards were showing a "scoosh" more than 65'. I should have scraped the top foot of the VHF antenna, but we never touched it..so we could have probably slide under at 10:45...BUT, not knowing, we could have also lost the wind instruments at the mast head..decided to be conservative...Unfortunately, this put us in the dark at the other end this evening.
Here is Brunswick, Ga on our starboard side as we waited for the bridge.....
and St. Simons Island on our port side....
Here is the lighthouse at the south end of St. Simons Island..the Atlantic Ocean is straight out on the right side of this photo.
Today, our journey took "Twice Blessed" down the west side of St. Simons Island, the out into St. Simons Sound, then behind Jekyll Island via Jekyll Creek. We ran aground here at MM 683. One of the guides that we use, "Skipper Bob's", recommended bearing to the left side of the channel at this location. We found 3.5' of water even though it was several hours before low tide. It took a few minutes to back off and "feel our way" back toward the right side of the channel where we found 7.5' of water. This is about the 6th time that we have run aground in this past week. Although I have paid for a towing service through Boat US, I have not yet needed to use it. We were warned going in that Georgia would be the toughest part of this trip for shoaling and poorly maintained cuts and canals...This appears to be exactly how it has unfolded!
After we got "unstuck", our path took us out into Jekyll Sound and just out into the Atlantic ocean before we were able to turn back in and head behind Cumberland Island. This is the last landmass in Georgia.
This is the bottom end of Jekyll Island....
and the top end of Cumberland Island. These sand cliffs are stunning!
We cruised down the Cumberland River, finally dumping out into the Cumberland Sound. This is a major ship channel with some Navy installations, but we did not run into any major traffic today, just a lot of cold air and brisk winds! We did come across a major dredging operation....
And this strange structure at a Navy facility. I have no idea what it is..does anyone have a clue?
At 4:13PM this afternoon, we finally crossed the state line into Florida. The sun was shining and Vic and I basked in the warmth that overwhelmed us as we crossed into "snowbird" territory....
Here is Vic working on her tan....
And me trying to pilot the boat into warmer waters!
This fort was on the Florida side of the Cumberland Sound, at the north end of Amelia Island.
The last part of our journey took us down the Amelia River behind the town of Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island, then into Sawpitt Creek as we crossed behind Talbot Island..then into Sisters Creek where we watched the sun set.
Here is a good shot of the Jacksonville skyline while there is still some sunlight.
The port of Jacksonville is silhouetted by the last rays of the evening sun. It is 6:53PM and we are still 5 miles from our destination. We also still have to engage a drawbridge, cross the St. John's River (the main ship channel into Jacksonville), and cross under two fixed bridges on a rising tide...I am definitely nervous at this point.
The Sisters Creek drawbridge operator saw us coming and had the bridge up so that we did not have to slow down..then we were out into a very choppy St. John's River about 5 minutes after sunset. The wind was blowing directly down the river from the NW and it was a short but rough trip to the south side and Pablo Creek. As soon as we entered the Creek at MM741, there was a 65' fixed bridge. The boards were lighted (it was now getting rather dark), but it was fairly easy to cross underneath and see where we were going..we really could not see the top of the mast..would there be a crunch? Well we got through unscathed and then on to the next bridge at MM 743. This one showed 64' at the bridge. We really had no choice but to continue. Once again, we did not even scrape!..phew!..I was sure that this would be the one...By now it was really dark, and with no moonlight, Vic was forward holding onto the forestay with a small flashlight and trying to help me pick my way the last two miles into the marina. We made it, but just missed an unmarked wooden structure on our starboard side. We arrived at the marina at 7:40 PM, stopped at the fuel docks and topped off..then we motored down to a "T-head" and tied up for the night.
One of the deck hands recommended a little restaurant at the end of the marina, Billy's Boathouse Pub. There was good music and food. W stuck around for an hour or so and then headed back to the boat.
I almost forgot our bird photo for the day. We found another pelican nesting ground just behind Jeykll Island.
It is 12:54AM as I am finishing this post tonight. Vic has already crashed. I would like to as well, but I have learned that if I don't get this done before I head to bed, that I will lose it tomorrow. As I wander back through some of the older posts, there really has been a lot going on. After a couple of days it just gets away from me....must be my advanced years!
Tomorrow we will try to get away early. Local high tide is around 12:30PM. We should be able to get at least 3 fixed bridges behind us before we run into any tide problems. Our hope is to get down to the MM 835 and Daytona Beach and find a good anchorage or transient slip space....now all we need is some warmer weather..but at least it is not in the 30s (although Jacksonville will see 45 tonight!).....
Hi Paul. I'm still very much enjoying this trip with you and Vic! I think the Cumberland Sound area has the St Mary's nuclear submarine base. It is called P-50 on our air nav charts. I've flown over it several times with ATC and dockside they do have some odd looking "drive-thru hangars" for the subs to park underneath when then have hatches open to load and unload "stuff". That strange dual hulled trellis structure you saw out in the sound is probably similar. Hides the surfaced sub from prying satellites/acft. BTW, as you dealt with all the Georgia shallows my stomach was getting in knots too! Also, is there a light at the top of the mast that would help with those late evening/night bridges?
Posted by: Dave B | 10/21/2009 at 07:17 AM
Dave,
You are likely right. Submarine cover makes a lot of sense. I think that i am done with the fixed bridges this evening, at least until I get down to Marathon. I have a bunch of restricted draw bridges tomorrow, but am ready to run the gauntlet tomorrow..glad that you are enjoying the journey with Vic and me..but I will be glad to get to Longboat Key..getting tired..
Paul
Posted by: Paul White | 10/21/2009 at 08:06 PM