2019: Florida to Georgia

3/23/2019 – 3/25/2019

Depart: Jensen Beach Anchorage 9:40

Arrive: Vero Beach Private Dock 1:20

Distance: 28 nm

 When deciding where we should head for tonight, Clark offered the city marina in Fort Pierce as an option so we could attend the farmer’s market. Since that was the only reason to stop at Fort Pierce, I nixed that idea. I said, “Including the dockage fee of around $100, those would be the most expensive zucchini I ever purchased! No, thank you!” Instead, we decided to go to Vero Beach and stay at a friend’s dock for free.

The highlight of today’s travels came when Clark spied a sea plane practicing touch-and-go on the water.

Sea Plane in Air

Sea Plane Landed on Water

We met Don through a mutual friend in New Jersey. Don is a gracious host and great company with his numerous stories to tell. While here, we had a chance to do laundry, buy groceries, clean the boat inside and out, and complete various and sundry boat chores. Besides visiting Don, Clark planned a multi-day stop in the Fort Pierce / Vero Beach area because he wanted to have a service person come check out our stiff steering on the upper helm. All day Saturday was spent with the mechanic on board making adjustments. It helped only some.

Sunday night, to thank Don for his hospitality, we went out to dinner. Even though we arrived at 5:15, the first restaurant we tried had a too-long waiting list for a table. We left there and went to the Plan B restaurant, which turned out to be closed on Sundays. Don had no Plan C in mind, but after some thought offered up two choices – Thai Food or a Ribs place.

Clark said he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of Thai, so ribs it became. We ate at “Wilkes 14 Bones BBQ” where they served Southern-style barbeque. With Clark allergic to port, ribs seemed like a questionable choice, but he was able to get a juicy steak while Don and I savored the “Signature” Ribs dinner.  

3/26/2019

Depart: Vero Beach Private Dock 10:00

Arrive: Cocoa Beach Anchorage 4:15

Distance: 48 nm

ICW MM 105 to 982

Clark declared that it was time to move on. I told Don how much I enjoyed our visit and wished I could just stay there, but it was time to go. We traveled familiar territory today. Other than two dolphins playing leap frog next to the boat, we saw nothing new on this stretch of the journey. Unfortunately, we did not get any good pictures or video of the dolphins. They did rolls to show us their white bellies and actually jumped over one another in the water beside the boat.

3/27/2019

Depart: Cocoa Beach Anchorage 1:00

Arrive: Titusville RR Bridge Southeast Anchorage 4:15

Distance: 21 nm

Unlike yesterday’s run-of-the-mill boat ride, today was rather exhilarating. While Clark went through his normal engine checks and prepare-to-depart activities, I stood and watched the sky become darker and darker. The wind continued to pick up velocity. I could tell a storm was brewing and would be hitting us soon. I told Clark, “I don’t want to leave!”

If we had gotten out earlier in the morning, leaving would have been prudent. However, with the storm barreling down on us, staying turned out to be the right course of action.  As the storm rolled in, the winds picked up, the sky turned black, and thunder rumbled in the not-too-far-away distance. Two minutes later, we had fog so dense that visibility had been reduced to near zero. Then the hail started to fall.

Clark surmised that we were in the midst of a hail storm because of the great splashes occurring in the water around us. With a slight wind shift, we stood and watched as small chunks of ice, the size of large marbles, pelted the cock pit. Wind speeds of around 50 mph added to the excitement.

Hail Hitting the Water

Near-zero Visibility

As the hail pounded the boat, Clark worried about his newly completed varnish work. That appears to have survived the storm, but the front panel of our upper-helm full enclosure did not fare so well. Clark found a golf-ball-sized hole in the panel with the Eisenglass broken into three pieces. We found two of the three shards of “glass”, and using “Tear Aid” tape, we patched the whole in the glass.

Although we had a respite long enough to patch up the front panel, our bad weather was not over yet. We had two more storms pass through. Each of them brought wind and rain, but fortunately, no more hail.  When we had a chance to survey the situation closer, we found that we had more front panel damage. Whether from wind or hail, the zipper teeth had pulled away from the fabric in a couple of places. We had yet more repairs to be done.

After lunch, we checked the radar to see the weather pattern. We saw no more storms headed our way. I knew Clark was anxious to add to our “miles traveled tabulation”, so we agreed to pull up anchor and move the two hours we hoped to move in the morning to the Titusville area. Clark had called earlier and was told by the Titusville Marina that, although they had no slips available, if necessary, we could come in and tie up to their fuel dock.

Stormy Waters underway

As we bucked the wind, heading north, I could not imagine trying to come into and tying up to a dock. We opted not to go for the fuel dock because it was exposed to the fetch of the north winds. Foolishly, I thought anchoring would be the easier option. Had it not been for an abundance of ill-placed crab pots at the anchorage we hoped to use, it probably would not have been quite so difficult as it turned out to be.

At 3:30 or so, when we attempted to anchor among numerous sailboats and an equally large number of crab pots, the wind blew steady at 35-to-40 knots and gusted to around 45 knots. We had the anchor down and it grabbed hard. Then Clark saw a crab pot way too close to the boat and aborted the process. Suddenly he wanted the anchor up and, although it worked hard, the winch was no match for the force of the wind.

I was at the helm and put the boat in forward but still the winch was not up to the job. Finally Clark pushed up the speed on the throttle to compensate for the wind and managed to pull the anchor back on board. Having had no success at this choice of anchorage, Clark decided to try another one a little further along. I expect the man watching our maneuvers from his nearby sailboat was happy to see us leave.

Reading the reviews on wind protection on Active Captain, we chose the Railroad Bridge East anchorage as opposed to the west anchorage. Although we tucked ourselves in behind a chunk of land, we still had some rocking. We had spent almost an hour getting anchored for the night. Given the rocking, Clark did not like the apparent lack of protection. I, on the other hand, thought it was just fine and much better than the first, crab-pot-infested, choice.  We had no sailboats here. Ours was the only boat in this anchorage for the night.

3/28/2019

Depart: Titusville RR Bridge Southeast Anchorage 9:15

Arrive: Palm Coast Marina 6:00

Distance: 64 nm

As we traveled today, we had gusty winds of 30 to 40 knots. On the VHF Weather, we heard high-surf advisories for the day. Clark decided to head for the Palm Coast Marina today as we needed to add water to our tanks, find a pump out for the holding tank, and take long, hot showers.

Our travels took us under Haulover Bridge and along the Haulover Canal. As we approached the bridge, I noticed dark patches in the water that I assumed were dolphins. Once we entered the canal, I realized that those dark “lumps” were actually manatees. We saw too many to count in the canal waters.

Today’s sights included some familiar scenes.

Lighthouse at Ponce de Leon Inlet

Daytona Beach

Sunken Sailboat near bridge
(why don’t they remove this obstacle!!)

On the grounds at Palm Coast Marina

When we finally docked at the Palm Coast marina, I could not have been more ready to call it quits for the day. Traveling nine hours today made up for the short day yesterday, but I had had more than enough for one day. I planned on throwing together a quick dinner, taking a hot shower, and calling it a night. How quickly I changed my plans!

We had a very pleasant surprise shortly after we tied our lines. Robin and Charlie, (“The Lower Place”), whom we met at Faro Blanco this winter, came knocking at our boat to invite us to join them and several other “Loopers” for dinner at a nearby restaurant - Mezzaluna. Forgetting all about all the chores we needed to attend to, I immediately said, “Yes!” We had another surprise when we got to the restaurant where we found Dana and Doug (“Misty Pearl”), whom we also met this year at Faro Blanco, were included in the gathering. That is an amazing part of boating – you don’t know who you will see or when you will see them on the water. We met Kathy and Steve on “Red Pearl” tonight also.

European Village where we ate dinner

Mezzaluna Pizza

                    Loopers at Mezzaluna Restaurant

  “The Lower Place”, “Red Pearl”, “Sunset Delight”,
                 "Gammel Dansk" and “Misty Pearl”

After dinner, we walked back to the marina. Robin, Kathy, and I stood and talked for another 30 minutes or so before heading off to our boats. When I got back to “Sunset Delight”, I found Clark preparing to fill the water tanks. I had completely forgotten this very important job still needed to be done. I helped him get setup and then headed off to grab that hot shower I so looked forward to. After he filled the water tanks, Clark hosed the excess salt off the boat. After all that hard work, he too got that hot shower he craved.

3/29/2019

Depart: Palm Coast Marina 8:25

Arrive: Jacksonville Free Dock (Sisters Creek) 3:30

Distance: 54 nm

Because we were tied up at the fuel dock at the Palm Coast Marina, we were told we would need to leave by 8:00. However, since we needed to get the holding tank pumped out, we did not depart until 8:25. “Red Pearl”, “Misty Pearl”, and “The Lower Place” had already left to continue their travels by the time we pulled away from the dock.

One nice thing about having a slightly faster boat is that we can catch up to the slower folks. On our way to tonight’s spot, we passed all three of those boats (saying hello as we went). “Red Pearl” and “Misty Pearl” dropped off at St. Augustine while we and “The Lower Place” continued on to Jacksonville.

 “The Lower Place”

We were in for one more surprise boat encounter. At Faro Blanco this year, we met Eric and Jen on “Slow Lane”. Surprise, surprise! We found them along the way today – also headed for a free dock in Jacksonville just not the same one we targeted.

“Slow Lane”
approaching Jacksonville

We even got a picture of our boat out of the deal as Robin on “The Lower Place” took our picture just after we passed them.

“Sunset Delight”

As we came into the Jacksonville, in addition to Looper / pleasure craft, we saw a lot of industrial / worker boats in the area.

Freighter near Jacksonville, FL

Tug at Work

As “The Lower Place” and “Slow Lane” carried on further down the St. John’s River, we turned into Sisters Creek to look for space at the free dock situated there. Several folks currently on the Great Loop were there to help grab lines and tie up our boat. When we were done, we had left room for one more boat if one happened to come in later.

After securing our lines, and while I prepared dinner, Clark went off the trade boat cards and names with these new acquaintances. Among the boaters he met were two, very-new-to-boating and the loop boaters, Nina and George on a catamaran named “Breathe”. They were two of those that helped catch our lines. Besides meeting people, Clark managed to get a couple of pictures for the blog.

Cruise Ship Leaving Jacksonville
passing Sisters Creek off St. John’s River

Sunset as seen from the Jacksonville Free Dock

Later, when I was washing the dinner dishes, Nina knocked on the boat to give us their boating information. She and George joined Clark and I on board “Sunset Delight” for a delightful chat that lasted until way after “looper midnight” – a lovely way to end the day.

3/30/2019 - Florida to Georgia

Depart: Jacksonville Free Dock (Sisters Creek) 8:50

Arrive: Crescent River Anchorage #2 (near Doboy Inlet in Georgia) 6:10

Distance: 54 nm

Nina and George on “Breathe” waited until we left this morning to throw off their lines. That way we could avoid having to pass them along the way.

“Breathe” docked at Jacksonville Free Dock

Shortly after leaving Jacksonville, the view changed drastically from freighters and cruise ships to marshland.

Into the marshes we go

Although it is not very clear in the picture, Clark actually saw and photographed an alligator crossing the river today.

Only the alligator’s head is visible in the water
as it makes its way to shore

In the Fernandino Beach area of today’s travels, we saw some interesting sights.

What is that up ahead??

Closeup of Boat Suspended in Air

Stinky Paper Mill

Fishing Boats

Tug

 Plant

Work site

Camouflage Boat – “John Paul DeJoria”

“Peace, Love, and Happiness Foundation”

Range Marker that looked like something
from Star Wars at a distance

As we approached St. Mary’s Inlet, Clark decided we had seen enough sights on the ICW, it was time to take it “outside”.

Heading out St. Mary’s Inlet
into the Calm Waters of the Atlantic Ocean

As we approached the St. Simon's inlet, Clark saw a tug and called him on the VHF radio to inquire about passing. The tugboat captain said, “Pass on the ocean side. I’m just traveling in a circle waiting for another boat to get here.” Clark inquired about the two barges in the area and was told by the captain, “Yeah. I’m towing both of these barges around with me.”

Tugboat with two barges in tow going “in circles”

After way too many boring hours of nothing to look at but water and one (it had to have lost its way) trap four miles offshore, we turned towards land and headed back to the ICW at Doboy Inlet in Georgia. Clark has a book on the inlets along the coast. Doboy Inlet was not included in the list. Some inlets are no longer navigable. Although not in the book, Doboy Inlet is usable.

Clark read the do’s and don’ts on Active Captain and we made our way in. It got a little “dicey” for a short while as we started seeing depths near the two-foot mark. Moving closer to the green markers brought us back to deeper water and easier breathing. After that we had no other issues.

Lighthouse at entry into Georgia at Doboy Inlet

As soon as we got off the ocean, I went down to the galley to start cooking dinner. Clark said we had about 7 nautical miles, i.e. about one hour, for me to use my electric cookpot before we shut the engines down. An hour later I had dinner prepared and eggs cooked for egg salad sandwiches for tomorrow’s lunch.

It took two attempts to get the anchor where Clark felt comfortable. We anchored in 16 feet of water which, because of Georgia’s huge tide swings, will drop to 8 foot at low tide.  The problem – behind us we had lower water that, at low time, would only have us a couple of inches off the bottom. That being too close for comfort, he decided to reposition the anchor so we don’t find ourselves sitting on dirt at midnight. I told Clark I would much rather move the anchor now than at midnight.

Once again we are anchored with no WiFi and way too many pictures to upload to make use of my cell phone hot spot. While I worked on the blog sans WiFi , Clark played his guitar. We plan to be at a marina tomorrow night, so I hope they have good WiFi and I can get caught up on blog updates.

Sunset at Crescent River Anchorage