Depart: St
Augustine, FL – Marina Mooring Ball 8:40
Arrive: Cumberland
Island, GA Anchorage 4:00
Distance:
59 nm
I got to bed
later than I like when traveling and the sounds of the city woke me way too
early this morning. I heard a police siren from the city streets at 5:15. Then
I heard the bridge ding-ding-dinging for a 6:00 a.m. opening. After that I
could not get back to sleep, yesterday’s events were haunting me. If I wasn’t
thinking about the mooring ball battle, I was thinking about the dunked kayak
or lovebugs. All too soon it was time to get out of bed so we could get an
early start, or so I thought!
Clark is not
happy with the way our boat batteries are charging, so he decided that before
we could leave this morning, he would need to do some tweaking of parameters
for float mode, etc. To do this he needed a special screwdriver / magnet tool
that he could not find (I found it for him). Then he had to read instruction
pages on what to do. He told me to eat breakfast and he would eat along the way
once we left, so I happily sat down to my breakfast and my book. “Take your
time!”
While I
waited for him to set his battery parameters, I decided to snap a few photos.
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| Castillo de San Marcos fort behind St. Augustine Municipal Marina mooring ball field |
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| Bridge opening for sailboat traffic |
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| St. Augustine, FL |
Clark finally
declared himself ready to go at 8:30. I had already removed one of the two lines
from the mooring ball, so when he said go, I pulled out the second one and we
were on our way. Easy as pie!
Being a
short ride out the St. Augustine Inlet, we were out in the ocean in no time.
Today was
the complete opposite of yesterday in terms of excitement. Plainly stated, it
was boring with nothing to look at until we got to Jacksonville. Then we had a
lot of big boats to look at that were anchored in the ocean.
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| Naval Vessel approaching Jacksonville, FL |
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| Container ship and Trawling Vessel |
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| Even a helicopter |
We could see a cruise ship and a freighter up ahead. "The freighter is right on our cruise line", said Clark. We had to go around and ended up going between the two vessels.
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| "California Voyager" |
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| "Norwegian Pearl" |
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| So colorful! |
I read in the news today that Norwegian cruise line is worried that it will not be able to stay in business. Such a shame!
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| This trawler is covered in birds with a trail of pelicans down the side. |
After we passed all the ships at Jacksonville, it was back to boring again. With the lack of sleep from last night, all I wanted to do was take a nap. I figured that once we got to the anchorage, I would pass out. Meanwhile, I kept drinking lots of iced tea to stay awake.
We found
lots of sailboats in the Cumberland Island anchorage. As we dropped the anchor,
I could see the wild horses on the island. It is a pretty area. We have been here several times before so we did not take any new pictures.
As much as I needed that nap, I never got one. Once we got the anchor down, Clark immediately started looking into his batteries again. Meanwhile, I tidied up the upper helm. As I did that, I heard the flag making unusual flapping noises. I looked and saw it was tangled. I cannot reach it, so as soon as Clark was available I sent him to retrieve it.
The flag had a hole worn in it that had somehow passed over the pole and was slowing ripping the flag apart. It appeared pretty shredded, but now I had a project to work on, so I woke up! I looked at our old flag, the one that came with the boat, but that had the same problem as this one. I thought about using a piece of that to repair the current one, but it was in better shape than the one I wanted to repair so I abandoned that option.
A couple of years ago, AC on "Hour Plan" gave me two-thirds of a foreign flag. I still had some of that material and used it to cut a patch to put on the flag until we can buy a new one. I am hoping it will get us home. I do not expect anyone to be climbing on top of our boat to check out my sewing, so it should be good for now.
After I finished the sewing, Clark put the flag away. As he was checking out his battery charging, he noticed that everything on the outside of the boat, including the solar panels, are covered in salt. He figured that spritzing them with a hose might let them charge the batteries better.
We have precious little fresh water on board, so after he rinsed his solar panels, he suggested I get a bucket to catch the hose water in as opposed to letting it go down the drain. We had enough for two small buckets. We each took one and rinsed the railings and woodwork all around the boat. Afterwards, I used what was left to wash the windows. It is not pretty but at least it is not thick with salt!
After that it was dinner and then blog, so no nap for me! After dinner, Clark took a shower. He was in the shower while the sun was going down, so this is one I took!
As much as I needed that nap, I never got one. Once we got the anchor down, Clark immediately started looking into his batteries again. Meanwhile, I tidied up the upper helm. As I did that, I heard the flag making unusual flapping noises. I looked and saw it was tangled. I cannot reach it, so as soon as Clark was available I sent him to retrieve it.
The flag had a hole worn in it that had somehow passed over the pole and was slowing ripping the flag apart. It appeared pretty shredded, but now I had a project to work on, so I woke up! I looked at our old flag, the one that came with the boat, but that had the same problem as this one. I thought about using a piece of that to repair the current one, but it was in better shape than the one I wanted to repair so I abandoned that option.
A couple of years ago, AC on "Hour Plan" gave me two-thirds of a foreign flag. I still had some of that material and used it to cut a patch to put on the flag until we can buy a new one. I am hoping it will get us home. I do not expect anyone to be climbing on top of our boat to check out my sewing, so it should be good for now.
After I finished the sewing, Clark put the flag away. As he was checking out his battery charging, he noticed that everything on the outside of the boat, including the solar panels, are covered in salt. He figured that spritzing them with a hose might let them charge the batteries better.
We have precious little fresh water on board, so after he rinsed his solar panels, he suggested I get a bucket to catch the hose water in as opposed to letting it go down the drain. We had enough for two small buckets. We each took one and rinsed the railings and woodwork all around the boat. Afterwards, I used what was left to wash the windows. It is not pretty but at least it is not thick with salt!
After that it was dinner and then blog, so no nap for me! After dinner, Clark took a shower. He was in the shower while the sun was going down, so this is one I took!
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| Sunset at Cumberland Island, Georgia |
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