Depart: Cumberland Island Anchorage, GA, 7:55
Arrive: Intercoastal Marina, St. Augustine, FL 4:00
Distance: 69.5 NM
The Cumberland Island anchorage served our needs nicely with one exception - bugs! While Clark stood on the bow bringing in the anchor and washing off the muck, he did quite a dance trying to keep the bus at bay. He gives me hand signals to tell me how to steer the boat to assist with raising the anchor. I joked that I had trouble with the wildly waving arms signals today.
Coming into Florida we found quite a bit of industry and commercial vessels.
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| Pretty Blue-colored Tug |
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| Fishing Fleet |
Fernandina Beach welcomed us with a highly odorous paper mill. By the time we passed the location, my eyes burned and my nose itched. When I mentioned something to Clark, he said, "That's why we don't stop here."
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| West Rock |
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| Fernandino Beach Paper Mill |
As we approached the notorious shoal area at Amelia River bend, we saw the sailboat, "Island Hopper", attempting to transit the area. Clark haled them on the radio and said he wanted to pass. The owner sounded relieved when he said, "Please, you go first and I'll follow you."
Clark had downloaded the Bob423 recommended route, so he had the preferred route through the shoaling on his chart. We had a little caravan with Sunset Delight in the lead, followed by "Island Hopper", and "Home Too" bringing up the rear. When we parted ways, the owner of "Island Hopper" said, "Thanks for saving my bacon. I would be aground right now if I had followed my chart."
Through this general area we passed several damaged sailboats.
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| Crushed Sailboat at Paper Mill |
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| Grounded Sailboat |
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| Sailboat in the Marshes |
At the Kingsley Creek Railroad bridge, Clark tried his hand at getting a down-the-tracks shot.
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| Kingsley Creek Railroad bridge |
Then we found a boat that appeared to be wrecked with a message written on it in big print.
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| "Thank you for dingy" "This boat is not Abandoned!" "Keep Off" |
Passing through Jacksonville, we saw numerous commercial vessels.
We had another area of concern on today's travels. Once again Clark followed a Bob423 recommended route through the shoals. The chart showed us traveling over land, but the water was deep.
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| Following Bob423 Path through shoaled area |
We moved from industry to residential and saw some interesting sights.
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| Elaborate dock structure |
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| Green House |
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| Boat Tent |
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| Palm Valley Outdoor Bar and Grill |
Desperate for some groceries, we looked for a marina in the St. Augustine area that would put us near a store. That plan would have worked well if it had not been for the heavy rain and lightening storm we experienced shortly after docking. We got in and tied up to the dock about ten minutes before the storm hit. We hoped it would pass quickly but it decided to take its time moving on.
The owner of the Intercoastal Marina lost his phone into the water as he helped "Home Too" tie up. Since he had to go to the phone store, he offered to drive us to Publix. We gratefully accepted the ride. The only catch was all four of us had to squeeze into the back seat of the car. Cathy sat on Franklin's lap for the short ride to Publix.
By the time we paid for our groceries, it was getting quite late. Clark came up with the idea of going into St. Augustine for dinner. We got a Lyft ride back to the boats to drop off the food and called for another ride to take us into town. We ate at the A1A Pub, walked to a Ben & Jerry's ice cream store for a sweet treat, and after strolling around for a while, called for a Lyft to take us back to the marina.
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