Days 68-69 - 12 thru 13 February

Quotes from the log of Windreka:

Tuesday, 12 February @ Fort Pierce City Marina - N 27 degrees 27.044 minutes, W 080 degrees 19.348 minutes. Rainy, windy night with gusts to 35 knots from east, Temp 70s, showery all day, wind moderated to <10 knots by evening. Lunch at Java Charlie's nearby. Added 56.9 gallons of diesel fuel @ $3.48/gallon = $177.59. Dockage for 3 nights @ $76/night. Total = $228. Shopping at Publix and West Marine for misc items.

Wednesday, 13 February @ FPCM. Clear, light wind NW <5 knots @0700. Rain at noon. Coffee at Java Charlie's. Install MOB (man overboard) strobe purchased at West Marine yesterday. Purchased new 6 volt lantern battery at local building supply store. Waiting for overnight USPS delivery due yesterday, but not delivered by local post office. Called local post office and promised package would be delivered today. (NOTE: USPS only promises overnight delivery costing $20 to "many" locations...guess Ft. Pierce is one of the "few" locations USPS can't get to in one day!) Alternately rainy and sunny all day. Wind SW 10 - 15 knots. Barometer 2957 rising. Temp 64 degrees in evening.

Day 67 - 11 February

It was a liesurely start to a long day that took us from the Cocoa Village Marina to the Fort Pierce City Marina. We got a delayed start because we had to fax some financial paperwork to our retirement fund financial manager at Morgan Stanley. We finally departed at 0830 and headed for Fort Pierce. It was another windy, blustery day and we arrived at the Ft. Pierce City Marina with a strong east wind blowing at 25-30 knots.

There was a new, well-marked channel leading from the ICW to the Marina. We passed the Ft. Pierce Manatee Center as we approached the entrance to the City Marina. Once behind the marina breakwater, Joe had to make a U turn to approach the fuel dock on our starboard...or right for all landlubbers who may be reading this. Our friend, Greg and Freddy from the marina were right there to help with our docking lines as we topped off our fuel tanks.

After refueling, we let the wind slide Windreka back as we aimed her across the thoroughfare to tie up behind My Destiny. It turned out to be three rainy and windy days and nights at the Ft. Pierce City Marina to wait for less wind and better weather. The good news is we had "all-you-can-stand" hot showers and great internet access...and if we could have found our misplaced coaxial cable...free cable TV. Of course, there was no place nearby where we could buy a new one. We did take a local cab to the nearest West Marine store to make what Sarah calls, our daily West Marine deposit. We also replenished groceries and perishable food items at the local Publix grocery store.

After our stay at Fort Pierce, we reckon we may be one more day on the ICW before heading off shore!

Day 66 - 10 February

Today began earlier than usual. We had to get through the New Smyrna Beach Highway Bridge before it closed for the day at 7AM. Like many of the ICW bridges, this one is also going through a reconstruction. In this instance the bridge was being repaved and once the paving crew began work, that was it...the bridge was closed all day until the workday ended at 5PM. So we rose early and got the anchor up by 6:15AM and departed before sunrise to make the 6:40AM opening of the bridge. We made it although Windreka "found the bottom" briefly at a temporary unlighted mark at a bend in the Ponce de Leon Inlet. Once again we were grateful for a large diesel engine and a big 3-bladed screw to back us out of the mud. We were also grateful for our bow thruster to help point the boat back into deeper water and keep us from ending up like our friend on the right!

After we cleared the bridge we experienced increasing wind over the course of the day. It was a windy and blustery day with gusts to 40 knots from the south....right behind us. It reminded us of the true value of "following seas" as in the term "fair winds and following seas" that many folks use to wish someone well. Anyone who has sailed or steered a sailboat in following seas knows how helpful it is when the wind and water come from directly behind. It makes the person at the helm and the crew feel a little like Dante in The Divine Comedy as he goes from one level and terrace to the next. By the time we reached the end of the day, Joe was pretty tired from fighting the rudder and trying to keep Windreka on course through the narrow and shallow channel. We didn't touch any more today, despite the following seas. So, by all means, don't hesitate to wish your friends "fair winds" but please...no "following seas"...unless you really wish them bad luck!

We motored past Cape Kennedy where we could see in the distance the launch complexes and the space shuttle vehicle assembly building. It was the first time Joe had been back in this area since the early 60s. At that time the Mercury Atlas was the launch vehicle of choice and the Mercury Astronauts had yet to begin their space flights. Of course, there were so many changes to the area that the old Cocoa and Cocoa Beach were impossible to identify. Nevertheless it was nostalgic...despite the following seas!

We crossed over from the Mosquito Lagoon and into the Indian River and the wind kept blowing! We eventually got to Cocoa where we parted company with Greg and Judy on My Destiny for the rest of the day. They motored on to Melbourne and we turned into the Cocoa Village Marina where Bill, the Dockmaster responded to our request for a slip and guided us in to the privately marked channel leading from the ICW to the marina. Bill also met us at the assigned slip to help with our lines and get us tied properly up for our short stay. After a short while, Joe's son and his wife met us for dinner and a pleasant visit. Joe and Gretchen live in Orlando which is about an hour from the ICW and Cocoa and they drove over to meet us at the Marina and go to dinner with us at the Cocoa Beach Boardwalk.

After dinner Joe and Gretchen dropped us off at the marina and we got ready to catch up with Greg and Judy at Fort Pierce tomorrow. It looks like we'll be at Fort Pierce for several days while we let the weather pass over us.

Day 65 - 9 February

Our route today took us past Daytona and NASCAR Heaven! We passed through in the middle of speed week culminating in the Daytona 500 later in the week. The DirectTV blimp was all over the area along with airplanes dragging huge banners beind them advertising a number of different things. We were amazed at the sudden increase in the number of power boaters we encountered today, but then we recalled it was the weekend. Obviously, everyone was enjoying the brief spell of nice weather. We got as far as New Smyrna Beach and stopped at a small anchorage at Rockhouse Creek just north of the New Smyrna Bridge...also under reconstruction. This time the nature of the reconstruction was repaving and the bridge would not open after 7AM and earlier than 5PM! Yes, that's not a typo...the bridge was closed all day and only opened early and late in the day. It's a good thing we knew about the extremely restricted hours...and it was the first time we ran into this situation.

We noticed some fancy artwork decorating the supports of one of the bridges today. We also noted the large number of condos.

We found out that NASCAR events aren't the only competition in town. Or maybe NASCAR also sanctions sailboard races and Optimist races which we passed on the ICW

The anchorage at Rockhouse Creek was small, tight and buggy, but we lowered our anchor at the entrance to the anchorage and it was a quiet and uneventful night. The next day we awoke early and got underway in the dark before sunrise.

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

Day 63 - 7 February

Today we learned the eleventh commandment..."Honor thy red and green marks!" More on that later. Today was a cool and clear day with the wind from the west as Greg and Judy on My Destiny and Sarah and Joe on Windreka departed our facing slips at Brunswick Island Marina at 9AM. Our first stop was the fuel dock to top off for our trip to Florida.

After topping off our diesel tanks, we got underway at 10AM and headed south and across St Simons Sound. We left on a high tide to have enough water under our keels when we worked our way through the winding creeks and marshes of Georgia. But it wasn't enough. We set a new record for the trip by touching bottom TWICE today! It wasn't easy but we rose to the task. The charts showed the deep water on the wrong side of a pair of navigation buoys and so we ignored the standards...red right returning, green right going, etc...and our instincts. Sure enough the water got really thin and next thing we knew we bumped...not hard and not a major problem...but really annoying since we had to reverse engines and back off the low spot to realize we had done something really stupid. So, the eleventh Commandment is "Honor thy red and green marks." However, we know the Corps of Engineers is inadequately funded to keep the shoaling under control and maintain the so-called 12 foot controlling depth of the ICW properly dredged. Sorry, we don't have any photos of the excitement since we were having too much fun to document the event. There were no witnesses but the birds and fish around us and I don't think they'll be too helpful if anyone wanted to reconstruct the events.

The next-most exciting event today happened as we were sailing past the Kings Bay Submarine Base. We were approached by a fully armed US Coast Guard boat that approached us at high speed as we were motoring slowly by the Naval installation in the shipping channel. The polite and professional "Coasties" went out of their way to make certain they didn't scare us any more than your ordinary sailor and sailboat armed with cannons and other suitable weaponry might do to an unarmed recreational sailor. After they finished inquiring about our welfare and how well we were enjoying our sail, they asked us to keep to the outside of the shipping channel so the nuclear submarine they were escorting home to Kings Bay wouldn't be late! We thanked them for their dedication and service and promply moved out of the channel as the big black submarine slid past us. We sleep sounder knowing our Coast Guard, our Navy, and our military forces are keeping watch.

Toward the end of our days travels, we passed some watermen at work on the river on their boat. As we turned to follow the creek up to our anchorage, we passed some of the wild horses that inhabit Cumberland Island and we resolved to come back to visit the Cumberland Island wildlife preserve when the weather is a bit more pleasant. As this is being written a light rain is falling and the sound on the hull and the sound and motion of the water under the boat is relaxing...enough to remind us that we are very fortunate to be able to spend time on the water. Now if the darned anchor will only hold, everything will be fun and games!

Days 57 thru 62 - 1 thru 6 February

We spent the last week at Brunswick Landing Marina with friends Greg and Judy whose boat, My Destiny, has been at Brunswick Landing since they returned from the Bahamas last year. We had a lot of minor things to do on both our boats and most of the week was spent working on our boats. As someone said, if we're not fixing two things a day on our boat, we're falling behind!

We did take one day in Savannah, GA which turned out to be the first real "shirt sleeve" weather we've had so far. It was nice to walk around without jackets and soak up the sun. We took a bus tour of the historic center of Savannah led by a knowledgeable and personable tour bus driver and guide. Denise, of Old Town Trolley Tours (http://www.historictours.com/), your knowledge and cheerful disposition made it a delightful experience...thanks again! Here are a few of the photos we took during the tour...

Above...the Pirates House is one of Sarah's recollections of Savannah.

Left...the Candler Oak is a live oak tree that is over 200 years old...we should all be this healthy after living that long! Below left...the Cotton Exchange on the Savannah River...this elevated walkway is where the cotton buyers and sellers would evaluate the bales of cotton as they were loaded on ships. Below right...the Haitian Monument commemorates the African Americans who fought to recapture Savannah from the British in 1779.

Below...a tale of two houses...on your left is the Mercer House, the setting for much of the action in the book and movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. On your right is the oldest house in Savannah.

One day is not enough to enjoy Savannah. For example, we saw only a little bit of the city's famous squares, the jewels of the city...Franklin, Ellis, Johnson, Reynolds, Warren, Washington, Telfair, Wright, Oglethorpe, Columbia, Greene, Orleans, Chippewa, Crawford, Pulaski, Madison, Lafayette, Troup, Chatham, Monterey, Calhoun, Whitfield...I think I listed all 22 of them. Each of them commemorates someone notable in the history of Savannah.