Thursday, November 8, 2012

November 5, 2012 St Augustine, FL Comachie Cove Harbor

Eight hours and 60 miles later we arrived in St Augustine and spent two nights at the Comachie Cove Yacht Harbor.  We are currently at mile 717 of trip.  We were on the water for (8) hours.  The weather was windy and cool most of the day.

My Boat US membership expires next week and since this includes unlimited towing it is essential to renew.  I now am current with a Gold membership!  Sounds highbrow but the cost is moderate and like so many other insurance policies you hope to never need it.  I also added a maintenance dose of biocide to the diesel fuel.  Since it is organic there are some special things to consider when using diesel.

South Amelia River, Nassau Sound, Saw Pit Creek and then Amelia Island were interesting places.  Our problem is we are usually on somewhat of a time constraint when heading south on Fiu.  We need to slow down and stop to visit some of these fun places. We have decided to hike on Cumberland Island on the trip back north to Osprey.

Crossing the St John's River between the ocean and Jacksonville can be quite difficult.  I liken it to crossing a six lane highway with tidal currents that make it seem like you are floating in a washing machine!  The harbor traffic can be busy and the cut to the ICW is narrow especially at low tides.  The currents are very unsettling for the next (5) miles downstream.  Patience and concentration are good qualities to exhibit here. There were dozens of dolphins in this area of the ICW.  Again, those mammals torment me with their breathe holding abilities and therefore, a lack of good pics!

Comachie Cove has a loaner car and if you sign up for the last slot in the afternoon you get to keep the car all night instead of two hours!  We drove to town, parked and walked the streets on the pedestrian walkways with the many shops and eateries!

We have pics of a manatee at our dock.  It seemed extra slow and had some parallel healed cuts on its back.  I will include those pics on this page.

Captain Sid








November 4, 2012 Fernandina Beach, FL

Tempest and Fiu were rafted together in Wally's Leg anchorage.  We always enjoy Ken and Marie's company!  There were plenty of "no see ums!"  After a good night's sleep we Weighed anchor at 7:15AM and were on our way to Fernandina Beach, FL.  A pump out and some diesel at the Jekyll Harbor Marina and then we were on our way again!  We past Little Cumberland Island, beautiful by the way. We past the submarine base in Georgia with a guard speed boat right there to cut us off if we strayed too close.  The buoys here are very confusing.  This is partly true because larger ships come in from the sea, including the subs.  In this case the red bouys are on the left as we head south on the river toward the ocean.  However, the ICW has red on the right when heading south.  The change over can be confusing.

The last couple of miles past the sub base in Georgia is the entrance to St. Marys.  This river separates FL from GA.  Just past the inlet is Fernandina Beach, FL.  The town is quaint but the two factories run 24/7 with their smokestacks belching out a foul smelling smoke.  The anchorage is on the river and if the wind direction is just right it can be a long night trying to sleep!

The 51 miles traveled today were easy except for a little bit of work sorting out the channel markers near the sub base.  At this point we are at ICW  mile 717.  Osprey Marina, where we started is mile 373.  We are 344 miles into our trip of 579 miles to Vero Beach and 821 miles to Marathon and Boot Key Harbor.

Will attached pics later, come back to these postings without pics.

Captain Sid