Day 64 - 8 February

Seacamp Dock at Cumberland Island looked like an interesting place to anchor and go ashore. However, we decided to defer a visit to this Park and National Seashore until a return visit since it was late and we were tired. It was a chilly evening...temperature in the mid-40s...and we got the anchor up and got underway by 8AM. The plan for the day was to motor to St. Augustine, FL and anchor near the Bridge of Lions which was undergoing extensive reconstruction. We entered Cumberland Sound behind one of the tugboats pushing a barge from the Kings Bay Submarine Base. Shortly afterwards we turned into the Amelia River, near Fernandina Beach and were in Florida.

Passing the mooring field and anchorage near Fernandina Beach, we noticed a mast sticking up above the water and presumably a sailboat resting on the bottom of the Amelia River beneath it. There is always a story behind each of these sightings and we were left to wonder about what might have happened. Occasionally, there is a boat hard aground on the shoreline or on a sandbar. Some of these boats will be rescued and sadly, others are abandoned and will just fall apart where they came to rest.

There are some BIG houses in Florida along the ICW. Presumably, there are also some BIG mosquitoes since many of the houses have screen enclosures around the swimming pools. Others have private marinas where some BIG power boats are kept and maintained.

Later things got a little more exciting for us as we encountered some strong tidal currents that pushed us along at up to 11.5 miles per hour...considerably faster than the 8.5 miles per hour we are used to on the ICW. As we approached the McCormick Highway Bridge near Jacksonville we observed a barge occupying about half of the channel under the bridge. As with many of the older bridges, there was reconstruction work going on with this one, but a barge in the channel was a new twist. The photo gives you some idea of the excitement as My Destiny passed through ahead of us with about 10 feet of clearance between the barge and the port side and 10 feet of clearance between the bridge abutment and the starboard side. Fortunately we both made it through without incident.

We arrived in St. Augustine and anchored at the Bridge of Lions across from the Castillo de San Marcos after 9-1/2 hours of cruising. We covered nearly 70 miles. The weather was very pleasant with a temperature in the 70s and a light east wind. The Bridge of Lions takes its name from the statues of the lions guarding the bridge.

The Great Cross at the Mission of Nombre de Dios near the site of the first Mass in North America