We both slept well last night since we only had 3-4 hours sleep the night before. I think I slept 9 hours.
After breakfast and a relaxing morning, I talked Laura into talking a walk around Brunswick to loosen up the legs a little. It was supposed to rain during the afternoon so we "bit the bullet" and bundled up for the 52 degree temps and 15 mph winds.
We both warmed up about a mile into the walk and it wasn't too cold. Our walk was only 2 miles but my legs were getting tired as we approached the marina. It was a nice to breath the fresh air and I was glad we did it. I took this picture after we returned to the boat. Doesn't look like south Georgia in November, does it?
I worked a few boat projects in the afternoon and it actually never rained but it stayed very windy. Around 3:30pm I decided it was guitar and cocktail time so took a small glass of tequila into the cockpit with my 12-string for a little music. Laura joined me for some nice harmony.
A short while later we showered and changed (into slightly better clothes than sweatpants) and walked up to the clubhouse for happy-hour with the other boaters. Brunswick Landing Marina offers free beer (24/7) and free wine during happy-hour Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. It usually runs from 5-6:30pm and many of the boaters attend to mingle and talk about where they have been or going.
Everyone brings a dish to share and the food was pretty good. I ate well enough that we didn't need dinner. Laura struck up a conversation with our dockmates who were new to cruising. We found out they went around Cape Hatteras because the Dismal Swamp was overgrown with duckweed. I asked why they didn't take the ICW through the Virginia Cut past Coinjocks like we did. They didn't know about it. Oh boy. They need to get better information on where they are going. Instead of 2-3 beautiful days down the ICW staying at nice anchorages every night, they sailed 2 days around one of the worst capes on the east coast. I really didn't know what to say...
We returned to the boat and relaxed watching something on Netflix.
Thursday, November 14th (Day 49)
We were up early and out of the marina by 7am. I wanted to get past Fernandina today and sometimes the tides really slow you down.
The north wind helped us all day as we used the jib to increase speed. This section had a few problems areas that we were very familiar with. Jekyll Creek is a notorious shallow spot but was dredged this summer so I wasn't too worried about it. But... three tugboats towing a dredge and all it's pipe were coming through the narrow channel and we met them right in the middle. If the tide hadn't been up 7 1/2 feet, they would have definitely pushed us out of the channel and aground. As it was, we were down to 6 feet under the boat even though I tried to stay close to the pipes and the channel. Here's a picture Laura took as we were going by all the equipment. The whole thing was about 1/2 mile long.
After passing through Jekyll Creek, the ICW goes way out into the ocean to get around the shallow areas in St. Andrews Sound. We heard boats talking on the marine radio about 6 foot confused seas in that section. I decided to try a new route that I had heard about from reading the ICW Facebook pages. I downloaded the route to my phone and followed it around the shallows to bypass the ocean passage. Check out the picture below which is from our chart-plotter after we went through.
The black line going to the right side is the ICW through St. Andrews Sound. Notice how it goes out into the ocean, then back to Cumberland Island. All of the little yellow drops are hazards you have to watch out for. Because of the storms yesterday and high winds this morning, it was pretty bad. Instead, we followed the dotted purple line that arcs left and ends up in the same place. It was an excellent time to try the alternate route because we were at high tide and up 8 feet from the low. No problems and it was fun to follow a new course.
The next few hours the tides really pushed us along and we average 6.5-7 knots (or normal is about 5.5) all the way to Fernandina which is just over the Florida border. We motored into Florida right at noon. Winds were still over 15 as we navigated the shallows south. I decided to stop early today because we couldn't make the next good anchorage before dark. We anchored at 2:45pm in the South Amelia River about 45 miles north of St. Augustine - our destination tomorrow.
Throughout the day we checked the weather and it seems we are right on the edge of this cold front. Only 50-100 miles south of us the temps are in the 70s while we never left the 50s. But, 100 miles north of us the temps are in the 40s. Tomorrow it will be warm!
We are sitting in the salon with the heat running off our new Honda generator while writing this. Laura baked bread today and is making Lasagna for dinner. That should keep us warm.
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