Coasting

Ah, St.Augustine. That was while ago. We're in Beaufort, NC right now. In between was a beach day on Cumberland Island, Georgia. With Maritime Forest, dunes and swamps, ruined mansions, and a huge beach that disappears over the horizon. And feral horses for the semi-wild touch.

We recommend a side trip up the Darien River. That 8 miles is enough to filter off some of the commuters and the river runs through a protected area of saltmarsh with oxbow turns and a broad horizon. The free dock makes it easy to drop in and walk the town, as long as you arrive within an hour either side of the tidal slack. We were met by the Habourmasters and chatted about the local scene and history for 20 minutes or so and the current had built to 3 knots or more. It worked out well for a mid-day arrival and an afternoon of walking the town and a Reproduction Pre-Colonial British fort, followed by a stop at an unusual wine bar, a big seafood meal a few doors down, back to the wine bar, and a late morning departure back down river just before high tide. Georgia's virgin Cypress and Yellow Pine forests were in large part floated down river to this town and shipped out. It was all gone by the 1920's and so is the infrastructure. Just a few brick engine or mill supports and some silted in ponds to be seen. The town now hosts a shrimp fleet and just set up a freeze packing system for jellyfish destined for Korean markets. The shrimpers can catch them with the same trawl gear hauled at the surface instead of on the bottom. They ship a million pounds a week. In Beaufort, SC there was quite a bit of self congratulating going on for recently refusing to allow the same sort of operation. Waste water and the Alum used to reduce the water content of the jellyfish flesh is a big sticking point. By-catch is a huge problem with bottom trawling and surface trawling requires turtle exclusion devices, as these creatures feed extensively on the jellyfish.

We did see a big seagoing turtle on our next day out in the ocean. We left a nice anchorage in the Crescent River and as we headed down the Sapelo Sound the weather looked just right for an outside hop. Once we rigged for downwind the wind went down, of course. So the diesel filled in and eventually we picked up enough breeze to hold a nice motor-reach at good speed. So good that we could skip the Savannah River inlet at Tybee Roads and go in at Port Royal just at sunset. It was a 12 hour day, but saved 35 miles of ditchwork. We dropped anchor in the Beaufort River, below the fixed bridge about mile 540. Our turnaround mile was 1021 near West Palm Beach. They do add up, even at 5-8 per hour, every hour, many, many hours. Which brings up another point that has surprised us. Do you think you'll ever need hearing protection on a sailboat? On certain older boats little thought was given to sound damping the engine compartment. It's a diesel Auxiliary after all. In and out of the marina, a few hours from home an afternoon when the wind dies... no problem, right? It's not news that 8 hours in 90 decibels of racket will beat the crap out of your auditory system. We've resorted to earplugs and a pair of my shop muffs that were in the tool kit. You can check the level with an app on your smart phone, you may be surprised.

In Beaufort, SC we finally caught up with friends Roger and Patsy, prepping their recently acquired trawler for the trip back north to the Hudson River Valley. We spent a few days there re-provisioning, laundering, and helping out with some of their projects and then headed out again. The overnight anchorages in Toogoodoo Creek, Dewees Creek and Georgetown harbor were comfy.

Anchored in Dewees Creek, photo taken from the ICW

The ride up the Waccamaw River is a standout favorite. The slack water moment moves up the river and we could keep up using the light tailwind and the headsail rolled out. The anchorage at Enterprise Landing was beautiful on a clear night with a moon just one day shy of full. The whole area is a forest preserve of cypress and live oak, the last wild looking scenery before re-entering the man made canals and Garage-Mahal residences around Myrtle Beach. Thank goodness for three days of a following breeze and roller furling headsails. The current in the ICW that runs through salt marshes close to the coast is variable. You'll have a boost for an hour and a bust for three. Or the other way round. More isolated stretches of ditch can be guessed at by the distance to the closest inlet and the tide state there, but between Myrtle and Beaufort, NC it's pretty interconnected with many small inlets between the big ones. As it was we made it to Southport in one day, 66 statute miles. This was necessitated by the tide in the Cape Fear River. We experienced that on the way down as a sleigh ride and didn't want to fight it on this episode. We were up early and caught the last of the fair current up to the cut over to Carolina Beach, Wrightsville Beach and another few hours to a marina in an excavated basin, in anticipation of some stormy weather. We caught a break again as the front moved through without much more than a shower. Quick fuel top off and another 50 mile day to Spooners Creek, the mudhole surrounded by high priced real estate that gave us an anchoring lesson in December. Forewarned, we left ourselves plenty of room to back down and let the Vulcan muck-dive for solid holding, which it did just fine.


So today we just had a short hop to Beaufort. It's cool and breezy and we're spoiled. A day ashore sounds warmer than bucking a damp breeze. Supposedly, the town has avoided being burned by the Union Army and we went in search of older buildings. St. Augustine was a big disappointment in that regard. The Brits burned it in 1702 and it's gone up in flames a few times since, so almost no 18th century stuff exists except the stone fort. The same is true of Darien, GA. It's the second oldest town in the east at 1736 or so, but the Yankees torched it at the close of the Civil War, leaving one brick warehouse shell from 1813. Beaufort has one house from 1709, a few from the 1780's and plenty of Victorian homes in a mix all through the village. Plenty of tourists on this Easter weekend and the bar music is wafting out over the harbor and our anchorage among the various boats, from pristine to derelict. The Chesapeake is 4-5 days travel away. And spring is traveling with us.

Enjoy

And, whoosh! Another couple of weeks slide by. 

But Florida has finally relented and granted us some T-shirt weather. The Palm Beach area is clogged with impressive Naval Architecture as well as silly stucco & glass extravagances that don't even float. The former is to be preferred, in our opinion.

Famous Dead Guy's Boat

We will head North in the ICW without actually backtracking since we sailed down in the Atlantic from Ft. Pierce to Lake Worth. That was our only real opportunity to get outside with all of the considerations of distance, daylight, and inlet currents in alignment. The big day started with a transit of the Ft. Pierce inlet with an outbound current of 1.5 Knots and a few standing waves. We had seen friskier conditions in New Jersey and made the step out with care. The leftover swell from the north was a bit more than I hoped for, and after some bouncy moments raising the main we turned downwind and rolled out the headsail to fall in with the waves and breeze. The whisker pole did duty, but had an oscillation that seemed unnecessary, so I rigged the lazy sheet to a bow cleat as a foreguy and enjoyed some 20 minutes of deep wing and wing until the pole folded up. Not too surprising considering it was a cheapo, spring pin type, almost fully extended and a bit slender for the size of the boat. We rolled in the headsail and finished out the day as a motorsailer, hitting the Lake Worth inlet just about slack water for a flat ride in at 1630 hrs.

But that was a month ago. This day, 2/22, we motored up the ICW between condos and marinas, drawbridge after drawbridge, sometimes in a parade of 3-4 boats until we reached the St. Lucie River junction. Out of curiosity we turned up river to anchor near Stuart. There wasn't quite enough curiosity to dinghy in for an overpriced dinner and tourism, so in the morning we motored right back down the river and turned north again with the idea of making Vero Beach before our fellow North East travelers, the Jones Family, left their mooring. Vero Beach has no inlet, but a deep water creek off the ICW leads to the Municipal Marina with inexpensive moorings and decent facilities. A free shuttle stops there and a great many snowbirds get that far and park. So many that it is policy to double up on a mooring as folks come in and wait for an opening. We got lucky with a ball to ourselves for three nights. The walk into town features Live Oak and Spanish Moss lined streets, leading to a nice beach with enough public access between the not-too-big resort hotels that it feels less exclusive than it probably is.

We caught up with Reese and Anita, Nina & Lala over lunch in the rain, dinghies along side and the Captain's Lounge. They are having a blast and may stay another week or more, giving credence to the 'Velcro Beach' nickname we've heard since Beaufort, SC.

We walked the town, the beach and the neighborhoods and cast off to move onward before the grasping tendrils of convenience could ensnare us. Besides, we had tourists of our own to ensnare. Mitch and Julie live near Orlando. Mitch has had bouts of boat fever in his youth and always got sidetracked (or saved) by things like family and career, and Julie grew up around boats in the Keys. They tracked us down and visited on the way down, so we offered to take them out on the way back. It happens to us lots of different ways, but sharing an activity is a great way to rediscover one's own enjoyment of the same. We took down the bimini so the sails would be visible and met them at the Melbourne Harbor Marina for a day out in the Indian River. Perfect conditions, mild temperatures, tacking up river to set up a sweet downwind run under Asym spinnaker and dinner at the restaurant a few steps from the slip. It was so nice to sail for the fun of it again. Thanks M&J!

The next day we heard the safety broadcasts by the Coastguard warning of an exclusion zone for a NASA launch. The Falcon 9 was scheduled again for 6:46 in the evening. This was going to be perfect! We reached the Addison Point bridge and dropped anchor within sight of the rocket, 8.4 miles from the launch pad about 5:00 pm and waited with as many cameras as we could contrive. And waited. Nothing. We checked the Kennedy SPace Center website and saw the countdown move later and later and then change to "TBD". In the morning the story came out. Some fool boater had gotten into the safety zone out in the Atlantic. While the Airforce chased his dumb self out, they were holding the liquid oxygen fueling process. The fuel goes in at the last moment, and they did ignite the engines at 7:21 but the system bailed out due to helium bubbles somewhere they shouldn't have been. Boaters... Jeez. Reschedule couldn't be less than 48 hours, so up came the anchor and off we went. Have I mentioned the anchor?

The ground tackle upgrade has been a very good idea. The boat came with a dead windlass, a 35 lb. CQR and a 16 lb Aluminum Fortress. The CQR is just the marginal size for a 37', 19,000 lb boat. Certainly not storm size, and the fortress is just barely 'lunch hook' gauge for Juniata. The design and holding is excellent, we've kedged off with it twice now, and it's nice and light to handle in the dinghy, but it did fail to bite through a layer of twigs and leaves in a very protected cove off of the Magothy River and let us drag uncomfortably close to shore. Sometimes weight is important for that sort of thing. At any rate, we opted for the 44 lb. Vulcan pattern by Rocna and an all chain, 5/16" G4 rode lifted by a Maxwell windlass with a capstan, and BIG wire to run it. We have been very pleased, even in 35+ knots of wind, completely exposed the boat stayed put. It's hard to put a price on that.  Who the heck needs a capstan? After kedging a 19,000 lb boat off a sand bar with the jib winch, one could be surprised at how deep the kedging anchor has been drawn. I have never pulled 1/2" nylon as tight as that before, and had to pull it almost that tight again with the windlass capstan to retrieve the kedge. 

Where were we? Ah, backtracking. After the rocket-non-launch we motored up to Ponce de Leon Inlet above New Smyrna and found our Rockhouse Creek spot just as it was on the way down, except more boats. But we got to watch an eagle eat his fish dinner on shore. And another repeat anchorage just below St. Augustine the next night set us up to pick up a mooring at the Municipal Marina today.

We expect to be here a few days for a visit to Jacksonville and a rendezvous with Ron & Alex whom we met in Beaufort, SC. And an oil change. And some old buildings. And fresh shrimp.

Enjoy

Taking Our Time

And, whoosh! Another couple of weeks slide by. 

But Florida has finally relented and granted us some T-shirt weather. The Palm Beach area is clogged with impressive Naval Architecture as well as silly stucco & glass extravagances that don't even float. The former is to be preferred, in our opinion.

Famous Dead Guy's Boat

We will head North in the ICW without actually backtracking since we sailed down in the Atlantic from Ft. Pierce to Lake Worth. That was our only real opportunity to get outside with all of the considerations of distance, daylight, and inlet currents in alignment. The big day started with a transit of the Ft. Pierce inlet with an outbound current of 1.5 Knots and a few standing waves. We had seen friskier conditions in New Jersey and made the step out with care. The leftover swell from the north was a bit more than I hoped for, and after some bouncy moments raising the main we turned downwind and rolled out the headsail to fall in with the waves and breeze. The whisker pole did duty, but had an oscillation that seemed unnecessary, so I rigged the lazy sheet to a bow cleat as a foreguy and enjoyed some 20 minutes of deep wing and wing until the pole folded up. Not too surprising considering it was a cheapo, spring pin type, almost fully extended and a bit slender for the size of the boat. We rolled in the headsail and finished out the day as a motorsailer, hitting the Lake Worth inlet just about slack water for a flat ride in at 1630 hrs.

But that was a month ago. This day, 2/22, we motored up the ICW between condos and marinas, drawbridge after drawbridge, sometimes in a parade of 3-4 boats until we reached the St. Lucie River junction. Out of curiosity we turned up river to anchor near Stuart. There wasn't quite enough curiosity to dinghy in for an overpriced dinner and tourism, so in the morning we motored right back down the river and turned north again with the idea of making Vero Beach before our fellow North East travelers, the Jones Family, left their mooring. Vero Beach has no inlet, but a deep water creek off the ICW leads to the Municipal Marina with inexpensive moorings and decent facilities. A free shuttle stops there and a great many snowbirds get that far and park. So many that it is policy to double up on a mooring as folks come in and wait for an opening. We got lucky with a ball to ourselves for three nights. The walk into town features Live Oak and Spanish Moss lined streets, leading to a nice beach with enough public access between the not-too-big resort hotels that it feels less exclusive than it probably is.

We caught up with Reese and Anita, Nina & Lala over lunch in the rain, dinghies along side and the Captain's Lounge. They are having a blast and may stay another week or more, giving credence to the 'Velcro Beach' nickname we've heard since Beaufort, SC.

We walked the town, the beach and the neighborhoods and cast off to move onward before the grasping tendrils of convenience could ensnare us. Besides, we had tourists of our own to ensnare. Mitch and Julie live near Orlando. Mitch has had bouts of boat fever in his youth and always got sidetracked (or saved) by things like family and career, and Julie grew up around boats in the Keys. They tracked us down and visited on the way down, so we offered to take them out on the way back. It happens to us lots of different ways, but sharing an activity is a great way to rediscover one's own enjoyment of the same. We took down the bimini so the sails would be visible and met them at the Melbourne Harbor Marina for a day out in the Indian River. Perfect conditions, mild temperatures, tacking up river to set up a sweet downwind run under Asym spinnaker and dinner at the restaurant a few steps from the slip. It was so nice to sail for the fun of it again. Thanks M&J!

The next day we heard the safety broadcasts by the Coastguard warning of an exclusion zone for a NASA launch. The Falcon 9 was scheduled again for 6:46 in the evening. This was going to be perfect! We reached the Addison Point bridge and dropped anchor within sight of the rocket, 8.4 miles from the launch pad about 5:00 pm and waited with as many cameras as we could contrive. And waited. Nothing. We checked the Kennedy SPace Center website and saw the countdown move later and later and then change to "TBD". In the morning the story came out. Some fool boater had gotten into the safety zone out in the Atlantic. While the Airforce chased his dumb self out, they were holding the liquid oxygen fueling process. The fuel goes in at the last moment, and they did ignite the engines at 7:21 but the system bailed out due to helium bubbles somewhere they shouldn't have been. Boaters... Jeez. Reschedule couldn't be less than 48 hours, so up came the anchor and off we went. Have I mentioned the anchor?

The ground tackle upgrade has been a very good idea. The boat came with a dead windlass, a 35 lb. CQR and a 16 lb Aluminum Fortress. The CQR is just the marginal size for a 37', 19,000 lb boat. Certainly not storm size, and the fortress is just barely 'lunch hook' gauge for Juniata. The design and holding is excellent, we've kedged off with it twice now, and it's nice and light to handle in the dinghy, but it did fail to bite through a layer of twigs and leaves in a very protected cove off of the Magothy River and let us drag uncomfortably close to shore. Sometimes weight is important for that sort of thing. At any rate, we opted for the 44 lb. Vulcan pattern by Rocna and an all chain, 5/16" G4 rode lifted by a Maxwell windlass with a capstan, and BIG wire to run it. We have been very pleased, even in 35+ knots of wind, completely exposed the boat stayed put. It's hard to put a price on that. The only time it didn't set was in another tiny basin, surrounded by condos and full of fluffy mud. I had lowered it without the boat moving, and backed away. I believe it settled upside down and the mud was so soft that it slid on it's shank like a keel. We only had room to pull a few yards and when it wouldn't set, we tried again. This time with some way on to lay out the hardware, and it hooked up immediately. I had a float and retrieval line rigged for the depth and some slack and the anchor dove down through that muck until it found hard ground and the float spent the night two or three feet under water. So even with a good design, some technique will always be required. Who the heck needs a capstan? After kedging a 19,000 lb boat off a sand bar with the jib winch, one could be surprised at how deep the kedging anchor has been drawn. I have never pulled 1/2" nylon as tight as that before, and had to pull it almost that tight again with the windlass capstan to retrieve the kedge. 

Where were we? Ah, backtracking. After the rocket-non-launch we motored up to Ponce de Leon Inlet above New Smyrna and found our Rockhouse Creek spot just as it was on the way down, except more boats. But we got to watch an eagle eat his fish dinner on shore. And another repeat anchorage just below St. Augustine the next night set us up to pick up a mooring at the Municipal Marina today.

We expect to be here a few days for a visit to Jacksonville and a rendezvous with Ron & Alex whom we met in Beaufort, SC. And an oil change. And some old buildings. And fresh shrimp.

Enjoy

The turnaround.

We spent a few days anchored out in Lake Worth, down near the first of many, many drawbridges between there and Miami. We watched the weather, nursed our coughs and came to the conclusion that it really wasn't going to get any warmer no matter where we could have gone. Two days of ICW to Biscayne Bay and the Keys with 20+ bridges and then nowhere to tie up without a waiting list. The cold fronts were so close together there was no chance for the Gulf Stream to lie down and let us cross. So with news of our friends Chris & Eric turning up at Lake Park we poked back in to the marina and caught up with them. Our slip was next to the day trip fishing charter and we received the bounty of a party that didn't want their fish. 

The fish were Porgies, Yellowfins, Puddingwife or something and numerous others I can't remember. They all filleted nicely and fried up firm and flakey. Competition from these fellows at the dock was intense: thanks to Eric for the photos. 

On Sunday Chris took us up to the Jupter Lighthouse Park, where a long standing afternoon music jam takes place. I had a few old time tunes on the museum porch while Laura got to take the 146 foot lighthouse tour. And today as we started back North on the ICW we passed the same park and watched the water change to turquoise as the incoming tide from Jupiter Inlet mixed with the rivers' flow. 

It's just about a 35 mile hop to the anchorage near Stuart where we stopped but it is the start of the journey back. The Bahamas will just have to wait. There's so much to stop and see that we missed on the rush down that there's no regrets. 

Enjoy,

Welcome back.

Mercy, what a circus the past few weeks were. Travel, blizzard, canceled plans, travel, zigzag Florida with the band for three shows, hop on the Cayamo Cruise for a week and 3 more shows, hop off in Miami and rent a car to drive back to West Palm Beach and reboard Juniata with.... ??!!?? Yes folks it's the Flu. Congratulations. You've won a week full of lethargy and mucus! Trips to the pharmacy! Extended marina bills! Eyeball busting coughing jags! But there are palm trees and sunshine. And because we are such relentless optimists, that counts for a lot. 

Our berth at Lake Park in the background.  

Noodle Salad in the davits marks the sick room slip. 

So we are out of here in the next day or so. Higher paying traffic is due in from the  Miami Boat Show and we'll resume anchorage life.  Still flipping between going farther south or waiting nearby for a crossing to the Abacos. 

Enjoy,

Be right back

We are off the boat for a couple of weeks for gigs and stuff. More later. 

Next stop?

Weather or Knot

Yes, leaving the mid-Atlantic in mid-December is going to be a race against winter. We sprinted through Georgia in dreary grey chill. The empty salt marshes were quiet and soggy, stretching on for many miles. The tidal flows that accumulate 7 & 8 foot tides can make for long days at sluggish speeds or the occasional shortlived boost. We had the former on average for the three days it took to bust through. So at last we reach the State of Florida and anchor near Fernandina Beach for the night and awake to 37 degrees F. And a day that wouldn't bust more than a tease of sunshine. Ah well, advertising is so often illusory.
Had a fair current down to the St. John River and crossed it on a strong outgoing tide. As we headed up the next leg of the ICW we found heavy flow against us again. At the Atlantic Beach Bridge, the first to be encountered on that leg we hit the maximum ebb flow. A quick look at the Active Captain database would have noted this challenge but that was one day that it didn't happen. We had used it for the shoal areas of NC, SC, & GA but snoozed on this leg. As we approached the bridge and felt the speed drop I pushed up the throttle more and more. A big motor yacht was close enough behind us that backing out would have been a big problem. We slowed to about one knot and crept through the passage with swirling eddys all around. There was still some rpm to spare but I would advise a schedule adjustment to anyone that can't hold about six and a half knots through the water.

We took a slip in Jacksonville Beach for two days to visit my Dojo headquarters. (SoBudoKai and Chintokan.com  for info) Visiting my second family and working out for the first time since the shoulder surgery was rewarding and challenging at the same time. Still temperatures in the 30's at night though. And a deadline for a short break is approaching so we must press on. 

After two more days of motoring and anchoring out, including a kedge-off session below St. Augustine, we stopped at Titusville Municipal Marina to meet up with friends Mitch & Julie for seafood at Dixie Crossroads and a great evening catching up with them, aside from dropping the iPhone overboard while tying up in the slip. 10 feet of salt water claimed another electronic victim. Perhaps insurance would have been a good idea after all. Another 50 mile run today finally found us in the 75+ and sunny conditions that we promised ourselves each day along the way. This evening's anchorage is about ICW mile 925 and even though rain is forecast for tomorrow it felt like vacation today.