Thanksgiving in Palm Coast

11/24-11/29 - We released the mooring ball and were on our way for the 9:00 a.m. bridge opening. We had a short run today to Palm Coast. We pulled into our free dock around noon. MTOA Port Captains, Phil and Sara Lowe, arranged a dock for us in the neighborhood. Thanks guys, you are teriffic Port Captains. Our friends on Second Star, Michael and Jana LaPorte just purchased a home in Palm Coast and we spent several days with them. They prepared a great Thanksgiving dinner and fellow gold loopers Dan and Biddi on Biddi and the Beast also joined us. It was a day of great food, great drink and great company.

On Friday, we took Michael and Jana to pick up their boat at Green Cove Springs where it was stored for the summer. They spent the next couple of days bringing it to their dock at Palm Coast. We stayed in their home and then spent a couple more days with them before finally heading out on Tuesday morning. We plan on meeting up with them within the next couple of weeks and then crossing together to the Bahamas. We had picture perfect weather the whole time we were in Palm Coast.

Passing under the Bridge of Lions as we departed St. Augustine

Dolphin crossing on our bow

Fort Matanzas

A shot of Matanzas Inlet

Our free dock at Palm Coast for the next 6 days

Cocktails out by the pool on Thanksgiving - Michael and Jana's new home

Michael and Jana, our host and hostess on Thanksgiving

Second Star departing Green Cove Springs on its way to Palm Coast

On to St. Augustine

11/23 - We had a short 2-hour run to St. Augustine. The weather was perfect – sunny without a cloud in the sky and in the high 70’s. We saw many dolphin today and several played at the bow and in our wake for 15 or 20 minutes. Linda tried to get the perfect picture – but without much luck. We pulled into the mooring field at St. Augustine Municipal Marina just before noon. The mooring field is something new at the marina, installed since we were last here in March.

We spent the day wandering the streets of old town St. Augustine, stopping in many of the shops to browse and having both lunch and dinner before returning to the boat. A very enjoyable day.

Sunrise in the anchorage at Pine Island

Anchorage as we headed out - You can just make out a sailboat
on the ICW in in the center of the picture

One of many dolphin that played along side us today

Approaching the Bridge of Lions and our mooring in St. Augustine

The St. Augustine waterfront

Castillo de San Marcos

A shot of the pirate ship (on the right) from the marina breezeway

While having lunch along the waterfront at an Irish pub
we took a shot of Monk's Vineyard in the mooring field

Gerry having a cold one

A typical street in St. Augustine

Christmas Lights

Back in Florida

11/21-11/22 – We spent another day (Sunday) at the Cumberland Island Anchorage. Gerry had been fighting a nasty cold for the last several days and we decided another day of rest was in order. On Monday morning we decided to press on and headed out of the anchorage well before 8:00. Within an hour we were back in Florida and passing Fernandina. We were entertained for a while by a transmission on the VHF between a vessel from Dubai and the U.S. Navy. It should be noted that there is a huge military presence in this area including King’s Bay which is home to the Trident Nuclear Submarines. When the Navy (Warship 45) called a vessel from Dubai named the Avian Star, the captain indicated there were only 2 on board and that their cargo was 14 tons of paper. However, the Navy vessel kept approaching the Avian Star and the captain got very upset with them and told them to keep away from his boat. As you can imagine, that did not go over well with the Navy and they told the Avian Star to reduce speed and prepare to be boarded. The Avian Star refused and said they were not terrorists and that they were being harassed by the U.S. Navy. Heated dialogue continued back and forth for quite some time until, unfortunately, we were out of range and could not hear most of what was being said. However, we heard bits and pieces from the Navy boarding party as they were inspecting the Dubai ship. (We were never really sure if this was a Navy exercise or a real event).

We spent the night in an anchorage at Pine Island. Gerry did a bit of fishing and even caught 3 fish. He was excited to be back in Florida so he could fish again. He bought a license when we were here before and it was good for 1 year. He’d been looking forward to using it again. As luck would have it, the license was purchased on November 22 right outside of Panama City – so it expired today!!

Departing the anchorage Monday morning

Passing by Fernandina

We saw lots of white pelicans along the way

This is a shot of the current at the Atlantic Beach Bridge. 
This is looking forward as we approached the bridge.  We
were going through on an ebb tide and the guidebooks
indicated the current could be as much as 5 knots.

We saw several bald eagles.  Here's one in a tree.

Yup ... back in Florida .... lots of big homes

An interesting boat house ... looked like the top part was
designed as a treehouse

The captain and his fish

A Day at Cumberland Island

11/19 - We spent a relaxing morning and then around noon picked up Dan and Biddi in the dinghy and headed to Cumberland Island. We slowly wandered down the path through the canopy of trees on the way to the beach. At the beach we had a little picnic, the men took a nap and the women walked along the shore. A nice day with perfect weather.

Arriving at Cumberland Island

Dan, Biddi and Gerry on the sea trail

Headed for the beach



Let's have a picnic




Men at work



A 1-legged stance

Birds on the beach

Anchorage at dusk with a rising moon

Time, Tide and the Magenta Line

11/17 – 11/19 - To say that Georgia has a huge tidal swing would be an understatement. Traveling in parts of the ICW in Georgia are only recommended on a rising or high tide. Unfortunately, you can’t travel everywhere at high tide. This makes for an interesting journey. The journey the last 3 days has been beautiful. When we were through this area northbound in the spring, we had rainy and foggy weather. The scenery was very nondescript – in fact, it was hard to see anything. This time, the weather has been gorgeous and we’ve gained an appreciation for the beauty of the low country.

With that said, we must also say that some of our travels were challenging. When anchoring in Walburg Creek, we exited a different way and found extremely low water (less than 1 ft under our keel.) We went through areas named Hell’s Gate and Little Mud River, both of which had very thin water in a couple of spots. When anchoring in Frederica River we exited the southern end and found a lot of shoaling and our depth gauge dropped to 5 feet (we draw 4 feet). The Jekyll Island area proved interesting as we went through that area around low tide. A little while later in the Cumberland Sound area we ran across a trawler that had been aground for 2 hours before finally getting off on a rising tide just as we arrived. Seems they had followed the magenta line on the chart. Unfortunately, as most of the guidebooks and online sites tell you, the magenta line is not right on the charts. They stress that you should honor the marks. He had failed to do this and ran aground. (Note to non-mariners:  The magenta line is the line on all charts that indicates the recommended route to take on the ICW.)

We reached our destination for the day (Cumberland Island) around 3:00. We settled in and then took the dinghy down and went over to visit our friends Dan and Biddi on Biddi and the Beast. We last saw them in Annapolis at the boat show. It was great catching up on each other’s adventures of the past month.

Cruising down the ICW

Passing Hell's Gate - Very shallow water

As we passed by a small creek, we noticed a sailboat aground.
Looked like maybe the anchor drug during the night and the
tide went down and the boat was in the marshgrass in the morning

Our sidetrip on the Frederica River

Fort Frederica

Another one of those thin water areas

Passing by Jekyll Island.  The area in front of the marshgrass
was all mud -- it was low tide

Approaching Cumberland Island

Fellow Gold Loopers - Biddi and the Beast

Sunset on Cumberland Island

Georgia on My Mind

11/15 - We departed the anchorage late this morning. We had reservations at Thunderbolt Marina (right outside of Savannah) and they told us not to arrive before noon and so with only a 2 hour run, we departed around 10:00.

Once arriving at the marina, Gerry contacted Island Outboards to have them come and pick up our outboard to perform its 10 hour service. Once that was taken care of we called Enterprise to have them pick us up for our rental car and then headed into Savannah to do a little sightseeing. We walked along the waterfront and had a late lunch at Tubby’s (we decided it wasn’t as good as the one in Thunderbolt). We drove around awhile checking out some of the older homes and tree-lined streets. It is a very picturesque city.

11/16 – We spent the day exploring Savannah. There was a threat of rain and so we decided to do the trolley tour first in case the forecast rain materialized. The tour was 90 minutes long and very interesting. There certainly is lots of history in Savannah. Also, the tour guide was very knowledgeable but didn’t resort to all those cutesy jokes many guides seem to use. I took lots of pictures and will post some below – but some will be “mystery” pictures as I can’t remember all the names of the buildings/parks.

After the tour we browsed the City Market area for awhile and then ended up at Paula Deen’s Lady and Sons restaurant for a late lunch. We had the buffet and sampled the southern-style cooking. After our sightseeing we did the essential stuff – provisioning (needed wine) and a few groceries and Gerry needed some new spreader lights. We got back to the boat well after dark. We’d had a busy day – and it never did rain.

Cruising into Georgia

Causton Bluff Bridge -- It was being repaired and the
workmen waved as we passed underneath

Tubby's -- along the waterfront where we ate

The statute of Florence Martus - She waved at all the ships passing the
lighthouse on the Savannah River.  It is estimated she greeted more
than 100,000 vessels.

Statute of the Olmpic Cauldron for Sailing

The Mercer Mansion -- site of the murder written about in
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 

A lovely old mansion

The oldest oak tree in the area

Inside of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

Stained glass window in the church

Outside of the Cathedral

While this is now a boutique, it was originally the first showroom
of the Ford Motor Company