Our Current or Most Recent Trip

We ended up staying at New Smyrna Beach Marina for one more day (Friday) as the winds really picked up, and making it to Fort Pierce Marina in three days would not be a problem. We had lunch in town which as usual meant we didn’t need much for dinner. We did manage to go for a bit of a walk in search of a few groceries – the major purchases were some cookies & kale – sublime to the ridiculous.

Our original plan was to anchor on Saturday night and stay at the Vero Beach Marina on Sunday night. We left two messages with the marina who apparently never answer their phone but supposedly do call you back. Not so in our case which turned out to be just fine.  After the rotten weather on Thursday and Friday, the forecast for the next five days was good.

The most interesting part of Saturday was seeing the huge vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral come more and more into view.

We saw a lot of manatees but since only a very small part of their snout (?) breaks the surface of the water to breathe, it was pointless to try taking pictures. We could see a change in the pattern on the water as one was about to surface.

The Haulover Canal is obviously a great place to fish as it was full of small  fishing boats, many in the middle of the channel, they didn’t seem to be in a hurry to get out of the way. The picture is the view behind us as we came through the entrance to the canal. The banks of the canal  also had lots of people fishing, probably especially busy as it was a beautiful sunny Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend.

 

We anchored near Cocoa on Saturday night.

It was nice to linger over our morning coffee as we aren’t moving today. It rained a bit before we got up and has rained and and off all day but the temp is 22C so when we ventured out it was quite pleasant. I got laundry done, good thing as we were starting to get low on clean underwear. It’s very quiet at the marina today, the office is closed for the holiday.

Of course just as we got ready to leave a bit early for our 7:30 dinner reservation the heavens really opened up but it didn’t last for long. As soon as we arrived at the restaurant we were told they were sold out of the turkey dinner, they had sold 100 more dinners than last year, yeah sure. We survived the disappointment, had a bottle of wine and good  non-turkey meals.

There weren’t a lot of people about aside from the restaurant but Canal Street was nicely lit up for our walk back to the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

We booked to stay at the New Smyrna Beach Marina over US Thanksgiving several days ago to make sure we got a spot. The forecast was for rainy windy weather on Thanksgiving Day so we are staying for two nights.

It rained last night as forecast but was sunny by morning and stayed that way all day, Bob wore shorts. Lots of crab pots on and off, the odd one slightly in the channel so you had to pay attention. Here’s a picture of a small crab boat checking on its traps.

We came through three bascule bridges today, two opening on demand and one every thirty minutes but even for the 30 minute one our timing was good so we didn’t have to wait for long. Kind of funny, only one side opened on one of the bridges, it looked injured, but it was a very pretty shade of blue.

This was also a red letter day for Bob, he got to use the boat horn for the first time since buying this boat. We were heading towards the fairly narrow opening of a dismantled bridge. There were three paddle boarders meandering towards the same opening totally oblivious of our presence or ignoring us. Bob blew the horn and they finally turned around and then moved over – we smiled and said thank you as we passed them.

We saw the beautiful Ponce de Leon Inlet lighthouse and even from a distance it was impressive. We got to the marina around 2:30 and are next to a beautiful 47 foot sailboat (Tartan 4700) from Ottawa. We got invited on board for drinks, another interesting couple we hope to run into again in the Bahamas.

Historic Canal Street is just around the corner from the marina so we went for a walk and were happy to find a nice looking restaurant open tomorrow. We didn’t think anything would be open on Thanksgiving. We have reservations for 7:30, that’s the earliest we could get, I hope we stay awake.

Pulling the anchor up this morning provided us with the smelliest mud to date – yuk. The rubber gloves we got for fending off on the canal walls, which now seems so long ago, came is especially handy today. The good news is that the mud rinses off the gloves very easily if you do it right away. It was a warm morning, meaning no heater and clothes layering required.

We passed St Augustine but didn’t stop as we’ll be back here with Linda md Chris in January. We had to wait for the bascule bridge to open so Bob did a meander through the mooring field. We saw a pretty unattractive catamaran we last saw near Lady’s Island, it was easy to recognize, a slightly pukey orange all over – but fun seeing boats we’ve seen at other stops.

Nothing out of the ordinary today, we saw a few more beached boats, no way of telling if it was Matthew or Irma damage. There was a chance of bad weather tonight so we ended up at a marina attached to a resort – the less expensive place was all booked up when we called. We took the shuttle to the resort which is right on the Atlantic. We got there around 4:15 so rather than shuttling back and forth we had a slow drink at the restaurant  by the water and watched the waves roll in. They started serving dinner at 5 so we had dinner there. I think it was our most expensive meal to date but it was good. After a eating lot of seafood on this trip, we both went for red meat -medium rare – yum.

Nice sunny day today and we saw lots of dolphins ! I finally got a somewhat decent picture but you’ll still have to zoom on it.

We saw more evidence of major $$$$$$$ in the US. Passing Jacksonville we saw the largest private yacht in the world complete with a “small” motor boat and a sailboat sitting at the stern  – see, I’m learning to use proper boaty terms. Also along parts of the ICW were huge mansions with their own boat docks. 

We stopped for the night, along with about six or seven other boats – I love company – at Pine Creek . The creek winds around an island so there are lots of spots to anchor.  We anchored near mid creek about 90 minutes before low tide and then  watched a mud bank revealing itself near us.  We were pretty sure we’d be okay as we draw only 4.5 feet but Bob decided to go go exploring in the dinghy with his handy dandy depth gauge. Also, we have to provide pictures of the bow and stern of our boat to Fort Pierce Marina where we are leaving the boat for December, so he was able to take those pictures. We decided to move the boat a bit as insurance and to have a restful sleep.

 

It got windy during the night but reduced by morning so it was only 8 knots when we left. We made it through Jekyll Creek but saw even less water than at Hell Gate which is the shallowest part on the ICW. The next major bit was crossing St Andrew Sound which was quite wide. We had wind/waves from behind for quite a bit of it so it wasn’t too bouncy even though there was some wind.

Today was not particularly scenic. We passed a US nuclear submarine base and at Fernandina, which just into Florida, saw docks which were piled with damaged boats, we’re pretty sure from both Matthew and Irma.

We pulled into the channel for Amalia Island Marina at about 90 minutes before low tide. Bob moved slightly out of the centre of the channel and we bounced off the bottom for a few seconds, he revved the engine and had us quickly back in the middle of the channel. We were on a an outside dock and could easily see and smell the water continuing to go down.

We went for a longish walk to West Marine, which didn’t have what Bob wanted but it was an interesting walk. Most of it was through residential areas that seemed to be all African American families. It was a mix of small houses, some not in great shape and slightly bigger houses in better shape once we got closer to the mall. We passed quite a few small churches which all appeared to be individual congregations, not part of any mainstream church. My favourite was The Spiritual Lighthouse of the Miracle Deliverance Inc. I’ve included the sign on their building but it might be hard to read.

It was actually warm enough for us to have lunch in the cockpit today. We’re pretty sure this was the first time on the trip that we’ve been able to do this. We’ve either been en route during lunch or it’s been too cold to eat outside. Minor boat maintenance for Bob today, just cleaned out the engine water intake strainer, no minnows this time, just a small weed.

Had dinner at a Thai restaurant in historic downtown. There is a train track close to the marina and we’ve seen a couple a freight trains go by. As we were returning from dinner getting close to to the tracks we heard the train, then saw it stopped quite close to where we cross the tracks. Luckily it didn’t start to move again until about 10 minutes later. I had visions of having to wait on the other side for it to pass.

Off to an early start tomorrow to transit Jekyll Creek at high tide, another major shoaling area. Continue reading “Day 74 – Nov 18, 2017 – Brunswick, GA”

Bob was reading up on Brunswick and it had also been recommended by Ursula so we decided to do a short trip today, just 9 nm, and spend a couple of nights here. We arrived shortly after 10 so had the whole day to tootle around. Brunswick has at least one very large cellulose plant and in the past just driving by here was an odiferous experience. I think technology has reduced or gotten rid of the odors as we haven’t smelled anything. You can see the big smoke stacks and plant from the marina.

 

 

The marina is very friendly. Free laundry and happy hour every day at 5, they provide beer and wine, you are asked to bring some munchies. This is a large marina which is a “hurricane hole”. We spoke to people at St Simon’s who moved their boat here for Irma. A couple we spoke to at happy hour said only one boat sustained some damage during Irma. We have never seen so many catamarans, outside of the Caribbean, as are docked here. Many of them are huge but the marina charges them for just length even though they are usually very wide.. We also heard at happy hour that there is at least one person here who lives on their cat full time and never takes it out. I guess it’s like a house trailer on water.

The marina is just a couple of blocks from the historic downtown, we walked there for lunch and to pick up just a few groceries. It was actually warm once you got a little ways from the river. We made sure we didn’t munch much at happy hour, didn’t want to ruin our dinner on board.

 

 

Ah, a lovely quiet night on the boat and in the morning the marina dropped off a paper and two muffins. Too bad I didn’t see the bag, they left it on the outside of the boat without knocking, until I had finished my coffee.

We used the courtesy car to visit the grocery store and the hardware store. We broke down and bought a small ceramic heater that we can use when were at marinas. Of course the weather will start to seriously warm up now that  we got this plug in heater. We don’t like to use the propane heater for too long as it does emit an odour and is meant for much larger areas but it has been really good to take the chill off the cabin when we first get up.

This area was the site of large cotton and rice plantations complete with slave labour. There was a historic park near by with are two small slave cabins but they were closed today. Oh well, at least we got a nice walk out of it. The trees with moss hanging off the branches are gorgeous but we both agreed they could look creepy at night, especially in poorly lit areas.

We enjoyed our ceramic heater tonight !

 

 

 

 

The wind picked up in the early morning so for those of you who have slept on the waterline on a boat, you know it gets noisy with the waves slapping on the boat. When Bob looked at the weather forecast there was a small craft wind warning but in general they don’t affect us much on the ICW except when crossing wide channels/rivers, especially if the channel opens to the Atlantic. No dolphins again but when we were getting ready to pull up the anchor, I saw cows on shore at the water’s edge – totally unexpected but despite feeling like we’re in the middle of nowhere, there are houses along the shore of the next bend in the river.

Today’s route included the usual shoaling warnings and one of those “ try to do in a rising or high tide” channels. As it turns out we would be going through that area close to low tide. However, we found some low water, 9’ from the waterline,  in an area that was not marked as being shallow and the problem channel with the warning had higher water.

The weather continues to be cool but mostly sunny. We are now stopped at  marina at St Simons Island and will stay here for two nights. We had a delicious dinner at Coastal Kitchen which is right at the marina. We managed to score an inside slip, transients are usually placed on the long outside dock, so we are looking forward to a very quiet non wave slapping night.