St. Augustine, FL to Cumberland Island, Georgia

3/17/2017 - St. Patrick's Day

What with one thing and then another, the time got away from us this morning, and we did not leave our dock until 10:30. We, of course, made the morning trip up to visit the restrooms. Clark took a couple of pictures along the way.

Pirate Ship at dock in St. Augustine, FL

View of St. Augustine

When we finally left St. Augustine, we followed Steel Oasis out of the marina.  As we puttered along in their wake, Clark took in the weather and conditions and suggested we travel “on the outside” for part of the trip. I enthusiastically agreed that taking the ocean route would be the better option, so we headed out the inlet.

Last Look at St. Augustine

Heading out of the Inlet

After exiting the inlet, we turned at a 90-degree angle to follow the Florida Coast.  The boat we followed out of the inlet, Steel Oasis, took an angle more like 45 or 60 degrees. Clark thought perhaps he headed towards the Carolinas. We may never know since we did not know them.

Boat traffic is quite a bit different on the ocean. It comes in larger sizes.

Captain Sam towing a barge full of pipes (not shown)

Big Boat from Panama
Really felt very small next to this one.
As we passed, I looked out the window - up, up, up
all I could see was gray hull!

We traveled for about four hours along the Florida coast and found it a pleasant change from the slow-speed-no-wake areas, small boats buzzing around, and continually watching for shallow water.

Clark chose the St. John’s River inlet as our passage back to the ICW.  The vessels here were quite impressive in size as well as those on the ocean.

Ships at St. Johns River Inlet

Jacksonville Ferry

US Naval Ship Sacagawea

US Naval Ship Sacagawea

US Naval Ship Sacagawea

After entering the inlet and finding our way back to the ICW, it was back to being annoyed by the items I mentioned above. However, Clark did find another railroad bridge and had another shot at the elusive perfect track picture.

Approaching Open Railroad Bridge

“Looking Down the Track” shot

Looking Back at RR Bridge

Looking at Google Maps to get an idea of distance, I was dismayed to see that we had many miles to travel before we called an end to today’s travel. Clark had picked out two choices depending on time, etc. The first was picking up a mooring ball in Fernandino Beach, and the second was stopping at an anchorage near Cumberland Island.

We arrived at Fernandino Beach at 5:30, and the first thing we noticed was the smell of the paper mill. Having suffered from allergy problems all day today, the last thing I needed was to have my sinus passages further irritated by the smell of that plant.  

Stinky Paper Mill in Fernandino Beach

We heard a few stops ago that we would not be able to stay at a dock at the Fernandino Beach marina like we did last time we passed this way. The marina was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew last year. Signs hung from the pilings of the marina declaring everything CLOSED due to STORM DAMAGE.

Signs read “STORM DAMAGE”,  “Fuel Dock Closed”, “Pump-out Closed”, “Docks Closed”, “Moorings Closed”

Fernandino Beach Marina - Closed

Bright Red Closed Signs all along the marina

 STORM DAMAGE signs at marina

Even though the signs said otherwise, having called the marina two days back, we knew that we could grab a mooring ball if we so desired. With the time change, however, we still had plenty of daylight left. We continued on to Cumberland Island for the night. 

Unfortunately, had we been definite in our plans to anchor here, we could have traveled on the ocean the entire way to St. Mary's inlet. That probably would have cut an hour off our overall travel time. Then again, we would have missed some great photo-ops! We arrived at Cumberland Island soon after passing Fernandino Beach Marina, scouted out the area for a place to drop anchor, and had ourselves set up for the night by 6:30 – almost exactly eight hours after leaving St. Augustine. 

Cumberland Island Private Dock

Cumberland Island - ramp doesn't quite make it to the dock

Cumberland Island - visitor's dock

Strange Place to Park a Jeep

Closer look at Jeep on Dock

Another dock at Cumberland Island

Having visited the island and seen the wild horses just last year, we did not go ashore. Instead I worked on making dinner, and Clark tried to remove some salt from the boat with a small bucket of water. Even while wiping the salt off the windows and railings, Clark still found time to capture some gorgeous sunset pictures.

Anchorage at Twilight

Progressive Sunset