Georgia On Our Minds

On Wed. the 7th we traveled on the “outside” (the Atlantic Ocean) instead of the ICW, the “inside”. We went through the St. Mary’s Inlet out to the big water and had to go a long way to get past the jettys. We motor-sailed awhile until the winds shifted. We were able to go with sails alone for part of the day at least. We went in at the St. Simon’s Inlet – we had to share the channel with this big guy coming in.

We anchored between two islands – IN GEORGIA! We saw 10 ft. of water when we anchored around 5pm. When we went to bed it was showing 20 ft. The tidal action is still a novelty to us.

The next day we left the anchorage a little before 8am to have the tide in our favor as we were going to be on the inside. We’d heard a lot about this part of the ICW having problems with depth and not being that well marked. We went past Brunswick, GA and were on the Mackay River which led into a series of small rivers and sounds. It was very meandering and marshy. We picked up a swarm of huge greenish flies that only bit occasionally. We’d heard it would start to get buggy around here so we have our bug spray handy (thanks, Sandy!) Around 4:30 we anchored off St. Catherine’s Island in Walberg Creek with two other sailboats. The best thing about this spot was we picked up a really strong wifi signal. The wind really picked up (the second night in a row for that) and with the tidal current keeping us from pointing into the wind it wasn’t that pleasant. Paul was afraid the anchor line might be wound around the keel but thankfully that didn’t happen. Check out the swirling water, definitely not what we’re used to anchoring in back home!


On Friday we left early to get through Hell’s Gate, a notoriously tricky spot, at high water. We passed the mouth of the real Moon River, made famous by the Johnny Mercer song. We saw dolphins, a few shrimp boats and an island populated by wild hogs.


I guess Ginger wasn’t all that thrilled with the scenery.

I don’t think we’ve ever seen a realty sign like this; three private islands could be yours!

We came in to the Thunderbolt Marina in Thunderbolt, GA which is about 6 miles from Savannah on Friday. We’d planned to spend a couple of days seeing Savannah anyway but now we had another reason to stop there. Paul discovered this morning that our alternator went out and this marina has a yard that could do the work. Our refrigeration is giving us problems too we’ll have that checked out as well. This used to be a Palmer-Johnson operation and is now a repair facility for some huge yachts. This is the marina that treats you right. They bring a small box of Krispy-Kreme doughnuts and a morning paper right to your boat – very nice!


Since it was Friday afternoon, the work couldn’t be done until Monday so after one night in the marina we headed to a nearby anchorage, Herb River, for Sat. and Sun. nights and planned to come back to the marina at least once. Saturday night was very calm but Sunday was another story. It was definitely an unusual Birthday/Mother’s Day for Mom as we weren’t even able to get off the boat. There were thunderstorms and high winds; even heard of tornadoes not that far south of us. Going to church and eating out after didn’t happen but Paul promised to take me out today instead. We’ll definitely take a tour of Savannah before we leave the area too.

All for now from the Live Oak Library in Thunderbolt, Georgia.

Goodbye to Florida

From St. Augustine we were on the Tolomato River part of the ICW (it’s named after an ancient Indian tribe). We motor-sailed with just the genoa since there were a lot of turns in the river and that was easier to manage. It was refreshing to see a lot of natural areas along the shoreline but as we neared Jacksonville, it was one mansion after another again. At Jacksonville we picked up the St. John’s River which is well known for its’ strong current. You can see the tidal current going past this buoy.

We went past an industrial area with shipbuilding and anchored just off the river between two islands near Broward Bridge. There was a really strong current plus a stiff breeze – one coming from one way and one from the other. It wasn’t the greatest anchorage but not a lot of options here. There was no going to shore for the doggy trip in the morning; when the tide came up the shoreline disappeared!

On Sunday we headed the 4 miles back to the ICW. We opened the Sister’s Creek Bridge and were traveling at 9 knots going through the bridge aided by the current. Sister’s Creek became Saw Pit Creek. They really look more like lakes than what we’d think of as creeks – very wide open. There were lots of egrets and heron and dolphin sightings. We crossed Nassau Sound and were on the S. Amelia River. We traveled 21.3 miles by the time we got to Fernandina Beach which is actually on Amelia Island. The familiar aroma of paper mills was in the air! We hooked up to a mooring ball and had to wait to go ashore as there was a Blessing of the Fleet and boat parade going on. Here are some of the shrimp boats in the parade.

We happened to be here for the last day of the 45th Annual Shrimp Festival. The town was mobbed, a lot like Menominee, MI during the Waterfront Festival. We got some shrimp from food booths manned by local groups, walked through the juried art show and enjoyed live music. It was quite a party, complete with pirates and their ladies!

Evidently the tide in Fernandina Beach is the most dramatic in Florida – a 7 ft. fluctuation, definitely the most tidal effect we’ve seen. The depth at our slip went from 13 feet to 20 feet. If they didn’t have floating docks it’d be pretty ridiculous trying to get on and off your boat.

We got a slip here for Monday night and planned to head out on Tuesday but the winds were supposed to be pretty strong out of the northeast so we decided to wait. So we went back out on a mooring ball on Tuesday. As it turned out I’m glad we stayed because we got to see Jim and Lou again and have lunch together. They were on their drive back “up north” to Richmond, VA after wintering in Bonita Springs, FL. There are a lot of historic buildings here, cute shops and lots of restaurants so it was definitely a worthwhile stop.

It’s time for another sunset. This is looking out at the mooring field from the Fernandina Beach Harbor Marina.

THIS N THAT

We’re seeing a lot of boats from the east coast now, mainly Maryland, Delaware and Rhode Island. They’re heading back home from spending the winter in warmer places.

We noticed we’re starting to hear southern accents again. You just don’t hear that further south in Florida because so many residents are from "up north" and you don't meet many native Floridians.

The State Bird of Florida, the Mockingbird, is very entertaining to listen to. They really put on a show. The first time we heard one we couldn’t believe it was just one bird as they have such a large repertoire of songs!

I checked to see when we first arrived in Florida and it was November 28th. No wonder it felt like we were here a long time – we were. On to Georgia!

St Augustine

After Daytona Beach, we stayed one night at a marina in Palm Coast, FL. We had planned to anchor out but there were no good options. It was a motor trip; the winds were directly out of the north. We were on the Halifax River part of the ICW until about Ormond by the Sea when it became the Matanzas River. Here is a view of one of the docks at Palm Coast from a nearby bridge. We’re the second boat from the left. The new dinghy just takes up a bit more room on the stern but we like it a lot. The ride is much more stable and much drier.

One our way to St. Augustine, we went past Fort Matanzas, a research reserve with a lot of natural area and Rattlesnake Island. We saw a lot of dolphins along the way. The river became very winding near St. Augustine. Once at St. Augustine, we sat on the south side of The Bridge of Lions for 30 min. waiting for the opening with 5 other sailboats. The goofy bridge tender wouldn’t open because no one officially called him on the radio in time (even though he could see us all sitting there) so he made us wait until 3:30. I guess work has been going on at the bridge since 2005. Here are some of the boats going under the bridge; the lift part of it is temporary. They must have removed the decorative lions during construction as I didn’t see any.

We anchored on the north side of the bridge in Matanzas Bay and spent three nights there. The marina charges $10/day for use of their dinghy dock and facilities. It’s a fairly calm anchorage and convenient to the marina but the best part is the great view. We’re the middle boat in this view of the anchorage. This is the view of Castillo de San Marcos at dusk. The cross you see isn't actually at the fort, it's a bit further north and marks the spot where Pedro Menendez de Aviles actually landed.



There’s so much history here; it was really neat to be so close to this historic site in our very own boat! St. Augustine was established in 1565 by the Spaniards and is the oldest permanent European settlement in the continental United States. The fort, Castillo de San Marcos, was completed in 1695. The fort is surprisingly long lasting; the main reason being the rather rare form of limestone the walls are made of. It's called coquina, spanish for tiny shell. It contains millions of microscopic air pockets making it compressible. When cannonballs hit the fort, they burrowed in, instead of shattering the wall. Rather like if you shot a BB gun into styrofoam.

There’s a great view from up on the gundeck. The schooner under sail is “Freedom” a charter that takes tour groups out several times a day.


These horse-drawn carriages wait on Avenida Menendez for passengers. There were three more parked behind these two. Em’s brother Bob would have loved this. The aroma in the air was reminiscent of Mackinac Island!

We took the Sunshine Bus over to Anastasia Island to tour the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum. We actually climbed the 219 steps (equiv. to 14 stories) to the top. My (Em’s) legs were fine going up but felt like rubber by the time we got back down. On the ride back over the bridge we had to wait while it opened for three sailboats. Kind of interesting being on the other end of that process!

Here’s the 165ft. lighthouse and a view from the top looking toward the ocean (that isn’t our anchorage). They did a fantastic job on the restoration of the lighthouse and the museum. If you're interested in more information on the lighthouse, here's their website: http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/



We’re heading toward Jacksonville later this morning; there isn’t much of Florida left!

Palm Beach to Daytona Beach

On Monday morning, the 21st, we took the cut through to the ocean. The winds were pretty light so we motor-sailed. The northerly winds were supposed to turn more to the west but that never happened (that’s because we were heading north I suppose). It was a pretty uneventful 9 hours on the water (no running aground; no sails tearing; no Sunday drivers and not a lot to see). We took the cut to the ICW at Ft. Pierce and anchored near a tiny island with one other sailboat and spent a very peaceful night. Since ABC was about the only network we could receive, Em was able to watch “Dancing with the Stars” so that was a good thing!

On Tuesday we fueled up at Ft. Pierce and headed north on the ICW. There were only three bridges today; the first one we needed to open and the other two were 65 ft. so no problem. We decided to only go the 2 hours to Vero Beach. We’d heard it was a nice place to stop and Paul somehow picked up a cold so we didn’t need another long day. There are mooring balls off the Vero Beach City Marina for $11. They were full but they had us raft off another boat, with a nice couple on s/v Mariah. They were heading below for a nap as they’d done an overnight sail all the way from Key Biscayne. There were two familiar Loopers boats here, “Another Compromise” and “Distant Shores”. We haven’t seen them since we parted ways back in Mobile, AL in November so it was fun to catch up. They had both spent time in the Bahamas where fuel was $5.30 a gallon!

This was how we spent two days in the Vero Beach mooring field. The Mariah was attached to the mooring ball and we were attached to them.

This is somebody showing off sailing around the mooring balls - it's not us!

We spent two nights at Vero Beach hoping Paul’s cold would improve. The winds really picked up Wed. afternoon. I was nearly stranded on shore doing laundry but got a ride back with our “neighbors” on Mariah. Paul was still not in great shape Thursday morning but we headed out anyway. The ICW here is the fairly wide Indian River. After 5 ½ hours on the water, we anchored in the Melbourne, FL area on the eastern shore with eight other boats. We got wet twice on the way, but most of the time it was a beautiful sunny day. It’s been in the low 80s with low humidity and really breezy out of the north. Em immediately checked the tv reception and was pleased that we get ABC pretty well. It wouldn’t be pretty if she couldn’t watch the new episode of “LOST”. Last night “American Idol” was very snowy and kept cutting out – kind of annoying! I just like to keep a connection with my “previous life”!

On Friday we left the anchorage just off the Indian River at the mouth of the Banana River about 9am. We were actually able to sail almost the whole way to Titusville – the first time that’s happened on the ICW. It’s still the Indian River here and it’s very wide with the channel well marked. We were headed north and the winds were easterly so that worked; we even sailed under the three fixed bridges. There were two that had to open for us; one the typical bascule type and the other a swing bridge. This is the Titusville swing bridge, we don't see many of these.

The Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island was off to our right. You can see the huge Vehicle Assembly Building for miles. We’d toured the Center some years back so didn’t make the effort to take the tour again.

We anchored just off the Titusville City Marina mid-afternoon Friday. You can use their dinghy dock free for the first week; they charge $2 to use their showers. We saw another “Restless Wind” sailboat there. We saw a “Restless Spirit” last fall but never the exact same name as ours. That reminds me that we were mistakenly called “Reckless Wind” by a lock tender back in Alabama when he misunderstood us on the radio (or did he?) The good news was that it was a very calm night; the bad news was that we still couldn’t pick up a wifi signal (that’s why I got so behind with this blog!)

Here are two entries in our “sad boat contest” from the Titusville anchorage. Some of them are unbelievably neglected.

On Saturday morning we followed the ICW across the Indian River to the Haulover Canal which is a one-mile rocky cut between the Indian River and Mosquito Bay with one bridge to open. We saw lots of families kayaking and fishing. That led us into Mosquito Lagoon which was much nicer than it sounded; we were on it about 8 miles. We saw dolphins, picnics along the shore, lots of recreational boaters but they had to go slow as it was a manatee zone. This was a scene along Mosquito Lagoon with New Smyrna Beach in the background.

We had planned to stop there but decided to keep going since it was early. We saw the Ponce de Leon inlet (the cut to the ocean) and Lighthouse off to the east. This was a charter boat we encountered on the ICW near there. Most of the passengers were on the port side and it was listing a bit; it looked like a party!


We had to take the Ponce de Leon cut and it was like rush hour on the highway with all the Saturday traffic. There was dredging going on too to watch out for. This is a view looking aft. I think there are 7 boats visible.


A few of the larger cruisers will slow down to give you a slow pass but all of the little boats just roar on by. We heard on the news there was a boating fatality not too far north of us when two boats collided head on. It wasn’t hard to imagine that happening with all the traffic.

After the cut we were on the Halifax River part of the ICW. After 7 hours on the water we arrived at Daytona Beach. We anchored in about 8 feet of water just off the channel with a few other boats. We had a fairly peaceful night but at 6:18 am we were nearly rocked out of our berth by a wake. It was pretty violent; some plates even flew off a galley shelf! We never saw what caused the wake but when it’s flat calm like it was it doesn’t take much I guess. On Sunday we took a long dinghy ride to shore and looked around Daytona Beach. We checked out the Halifax Harbor Marina and found a West Marine store. Guess what – we bought a new inflatable dinghy! Paul had been looking at them for awhile now and decided to go for it.

On Monday, the 28th, we came into the marina for a pump-out, fuel and a slip for the night; first time at a marina in about 2 weeks – it’s huge with SIX shower and laundry buildings in different parts of the marina. We picked up the new dinghy and here it is. It’s a 10ft. West Marine brand RIB (rigid inflatable bottom) made of PVC which should be a smoother ride plus it won’t leak! PVC isn’t very desirable in this climate so it was less expensive but in our area it’s not a problem.


Here are some stories from the local news that you probably won’t hear in Wisconsin:

There were two shark bites over the weekend in New Smyrna Beach (the Shark Bite Capitol of the World – 20 per year). Both victims were surfers who hopped off their boards onto small sharks – ouch!
There was a dolphin accident at Sea World. Two dolphins collided during a mid-air jump and one was fatally injured – how sad.
There were 92 swimmers rescued from rip currents over the weekend on Daytona Beach. One 19-year old man is still missing.

Heading North

The repaired sail was ready on Friday, the 18th. We took the bus to and from UK Sailmakers and used the 2-wheeled cart to transport the sail which saved our backs. They trimmed 9 inches off the leach (the back side of the triangle) to repair the torn area.

It felt great to be on our way again on Saturday. We were actually glad to leave the Miami area. We felt rather in the minority speaking English; almost like we were in a foreign country! It took almost two hours to make our way through the Port of Miami and out into the Atlantic. Here are some of the sights we saw:

We went under the Rickenbacher Causeway Bridge. That's the Miami skyline on the left; about five cruise ships were docked on the right.

It was interesting to see how they load the massive container ships. This one was from St. John's; others had Nassau and Majuro on the stern.

We passed these condos just as we were heading out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Further up the coast was Miami Beach; high rise after high rise!

We were able to sail most of the way heading northeast with an easterly wind. No worries about running aground here; we saw depths from 310 to 583 feet (this is per the charts; our depth meter was stuck at 195 feet). We think we may have been getting a boost from the Gulf Stream because our knot meter showed 5.2 and the GPS showed 7 knots; it’s sort of hard to tell for sure. We came through the inlet at Fort Lauderdale and into the ICW.

We hooked onto a mooring ball next to the Las Olmos Bridge in Ft. Lauderdale, “the yachting capital of the world”. There are an amazing number of HUGE yachts here, most flying the flag of the Cayman Islands. Paul thinks they register them outside of the U.S. for the tax advantage. It was $30 for the mooring ball which gave you access to the dinghy dock and marina facilities. Here’s a view of what they call “the miracle mile”. Million dollar yacht after million dollar yacht!

No sailing on Sunday; we stayed on the “inside”, the ICW. The view along the way was like lifestyles of the rich and famous! We haven’t seen mansions like this since Naples. Here’s a nice one with a dock for your yacht. This one wasn’t for sale but a lot of them were.

It probably wasn’t the best idea being on this stretch on a weekend; lots of “Sunday drivers”. The county we’re traveling through, Broward County, has the most registered vessels in Florida, 42,000! One power boater cut us off as we were coming through a bridge and Capt. Paul was just a bit upset with him. We used our horn but the guy was totally oblivious. Here’s some of the Sunday boat traffic on the ICW.

We needed to have a total of 19 bridges opened. The first one was the Las Olmos in Fort Lauderdale and the last was the Flagler Memorial Bridge near Palm Beach. A lot of them open on request, you call them on the marine radio, and others open every quarter hour or half hour. I thought this was one of the nicer looking ones, the Ocean Avenue Bridge:

After making 42 nautical miles we anchored in a large mooring field/ anchorage on Lake Worth in 10 ft. of water. The winds picked up and it rained some but no problems with the anchor holding.

Farewell to the Keys

On Sunday the 13th we unhooked from mooring ball E-4 and headed out of Boot Key Harbor for the second time. The last time we were here we were on the end of Q Row – Q-10, so E-4 was a whole lot closer to the dinghy dock which made Em very happy (and that’s important!)

We fueled up at Pancho’s again, this time diesel was $4.45/gal (it was $4.08 a couple of weeks ago). This is the most we’ve ever paid for diesel, the good thing was we only needed 11 gallons.

We headed out into Hawk Channel which runs between the barrier reef and the islands but we’re technically in the Atlantic Ocean. We saw one depth of 34 ft. but average depth was around 20 ft; the water’s a gorgeous turquoise color. Winds were very light so we motored with the main up; the genoa (the foresail) was in and out. We had a very close encounter with dolphins; two of them were swimming right at our bow just below the surface. It would have been a very cool picture but by the time I got the camera out, they were gone!

We listened to the Brewers beat the NY Mets on XM Radio on the way. Since we were listening to baseball when we began this trip in September, it seems funny that now it’s baseball season again and we’re still out here cruising.

Here’s the view at sunset from our anchorage at Rodriquez Key off Key Largo. It was a spot recommended to us but it was wide open (not very protected) and no chance to go to shore; just two other sailboats anchored there overnight.

Of course the winds really piped up by the time we anchored. We set the Fortress anchor but when we noticed it was dragging we put out the Bruce which did a fine job for us. Paul decided to sleep in the cockpit and keep one ear alerted to the depth alarm anyway. I slept okay until 3:30am when the rocking got to be a bit too much to be comfortable. The “cold” front they’d been forecasting for days arrived during the night.

On Tuesday we were able to sail quite a bit of the way to Key Biscayne heading northeast in gusty winds. That’s the good news; the bad news is that the wind ripped the genoa along the leach side. We knew that these sails were nearing their end so we weren’t that surprised. After that we motor-sailed with just the main. We got a kick out of seeing three of these yachts towing their “little boats” – kind of like the big RVs towing their cars on the highways!

This was a strange sight to see out in the middle of the water. There are 7 of these homes left in "Stiltsville". They were built one mile offshore as gambling wasn't allowed any closer to shore. Before Hurricane Andrew in 1993, there were over 20 structures still standing and were under private lease until 1999. The Biscayne National Park Service has established a "Stiltsville Trust" to try and restore the structures and eventually open them for park use. Now that would be a water view!

We’d planned to anchor in No Name Harbor off Bill Baggs State Park but it was pretty crowded; about a dozen boats were in a very small space. We were unsuccessful getting the anchor to grab because we couldn’t let out much line so we headed to the second choice, Hurricane Harbor. This is actually more like a canal with a basin that’s available for public anchoring but no shore access as there are private homes all along the wall. The Bruce held well in the brisk winds but the Captain had another night of sleeping with “one ear open” for any changes.

Here’s a view of the Miami skyline from Biscayne Bay. It reminded me of being on Lake Michigan and seeing the skyline of Chicago in the distance.

Here’s the view from where we anchored in Hurricane Harbor.

On Tuesday we headed over to Dinner Key Marina on the mainland, a huge place with room for 582 boats. We hadn’t planned to spend any time in Miami but the ripped sail changed that plan. We arranged for the sail repair place to pick the sail up at our dock; they said it would be $300 and done in a couple of days. The marina was around $100 for one night; April is getting to be an expensive month!

The “cold front” felt great! The high temp of 69 degrees actually broke a record: the lowest high temp for April 15th since they’ve kept records! It got down to the 50s at night; good sleeping weather.

We’ve now moved over to the mooring field at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club – adjacent to the Dinner Key Marina. It’s a very short dinghy ride to their dinghy dock. They charge $25/day with use of their facilities so we’ll hang out here until the sail is repaired. The boats are really close together but I guess that’s not a problem. No one uses a dinghy; the sailing club provides transportation to and from your boat. What may be a problem is there’s a crocodile on the loose. They’re protected (alligators are not) so they’re working on getting him moved out of the area. We’ll keep an extra close eye on Ginger! Speaking of, here she is in her new cooler “do”:

Since we’re now out of the Keys, here are some factoids on the Keys:

The Keys are called “the islands you can drive to”
42 bridges connect 126 miles of the Keys
The longest island is Key Largo at 30 miles long
Key is derived from Cayo, the Spanish word for island
The highest point in the Keys is in Islamorada at 18 feet above sea level

That’s all for now - I'm all blogged out! I thought I'd better take this chance to give an update since we're right across the street from the library.

One More Day in Marathon

We decided to stay an extra day at Marathon – “the heart of the Keys” for two reasons: we wanted to take a snorkel trip and some fellow Loopers arrived in Boot Key and we wanted to spend a little time reconnecting with them.

On Saturday we took the 1pm snorkel trip on the “Starfish” which takes you out about 5 mi. to the Sombrero Reef Marine Sanctuary and Lighthouse. We thought it was pretty reasonably priced at $28/person plus $6 if you want a wetsuit. Before we left, we got to meet “Lumpy” a manatee who frequents the area, this is Lumpy getting a drink (this is a no-no but I guess they really like it). I did get to touch this one (another no-no).


Here’s a picture of the power catamaran, Starfish. They can take as many as 40 passengers; on Sat. we had 15 people plus a crew of three.


This is Capt. Steve and his son, Tristan. Steve was very knowledgeable about the area and lives aboard his sailboat so Paul enjoyed talking with him all the way out to the reef. He was nice enough to give us a ride back to our dinghy and Carolyn, one of the employees, picked us up on her way to work so that worked out great for us “no wheels” people.


We took our time getting out to the reef as there was a group of dolphins ready to put on a show. The one furthest out of the water was the baby of the group. We’ve seen dolphins quite often but never saw such a little one.

I wasn’t able to stay in the water that long; I was feeling a bit claustrophobic with the mask and snorkel plus the waves that far out were a bit intimidating – I probably need to practice first in a swimming pool! But what I did have a chance to see of the underwater world was just beautiful. The coral and plant life and brightly colored fish are truly God’s handiwork! It was 15 – 20 ft. deep and the water was crystal clear. There are mooring balls at various places along the reef to protect it from the damage from anchors – a pretty neat system. The State of Florida and the federal government have been working together for over 25 years to protect the marine environment in the Keys. The Keys National Marine Sanctuary is North America’s only coral barrier reef and the third longest in the world. Here’s some of the group in the water and a group of yellowtails going crazy after Steve threw food overboard for them.



We’d first met Mark and Linda of the m/v Lolligag, a Nordic Tug 32, back in September in Chicago where they began the Loop. The last time we saw them was back in the Kentucky Lakes so it was fun to get together. We have been able to keep up with each others’ trips through our blogs which is great. We each dinghied over to Burdine’s for dinner Saturday night, had a great meal and the smoothest dinghy ride in memory on the way back. The only bad thing was our nav. light (the red and green one in the bow) must have come loose and went overboard while we were climbing up on the dock because it was nowhere to be found when we needed it in the dark.

We really are planning to leave Marathon, "the heart of the Keys" tomorrow!