We have made it to Florida and since Tuesday we have been wearing shorts most of the time - what a relief! It is so nice to have the hatches on the boat open and be able to use the outside space all day long rather than huddling on the dodger or down below in the cabin. I feel like I spend half of my blog talking about the weather, but we really are 'in it' all the time, so it is a pretty big part of the cruising life. That, and 'maintenance of the week' seem to be recurring topics.
Last Saturday morning we left St. Mary's and headed down to Cumberland Island with our buddy boat Leeloo. Cumberland Island is one of the barrier islands off Georgia and it is a National Park. It is a beautiful, almost magical place, with a great variety of flora and fauna from the fine white sand on the ocean side beach, over the dunes to the amazing big trees and ferns, to the swamps on the west side. We saw wild horses and turkeys and on the way out of the inlet we saw what looked like pigs on the beach. It is one our favourite places and we were happy to be able to take a few long walks on the island. To top it off, admission is only $4 per person and it is good for seven days. Too bad we couldn't stay that long!
The first day we were there We took a walk over to the ocean side beach and then down to the south end of the island where there are ruins of an old estate. It was still pretty cold when we set off, and raining a bit, so we were dressed in our rain gear and fleece, but as we walked it warmed up and we were all stripping off various layers when we were sheltered in the trees and then putting them back on when we got out into the wind again.
On Sunday morning we took the jib down and Dave got help from Mario to take the furler off, ready to send back for repairs. We had been in contact with our other buddy boat, Slow Waltz, who had left Charleston later than us and was catching up, and just before lunch they showed up and anchored near us, so that afternoon all six of us went to shore for another big walk. We encountered some wild horses on the trail to the beach and they were within a few feet of us, which was a bit unnerving, but pretty cool. That night we had happy hour on Slow Waltz and traded stories from the past week.
We had decided to go outside the next day, for a short hop, to get a break from the ICW, but we didn't plan an early departure as we didn't want too much current against us going back in. As we went out the St. Mary's inlet the current was with us and we were doing about 9 knots over the ground. For about half an hour the seas were pretty rough, even though there was no longer any wind. There were still waves from the winds of the last week, and when you have wind against current things can get pretty choppy. We were glad when we got clear of the inlet channel and turned south.
Because we didn't want to get to the St. John's inlet with a big current against us, we actually had to slow down to about 4 knots as we motored south. It's too bad there wasn't any wind, because it would have been a nice relaxing sail, but regardless it was a good offshore trip. The sun was shining and it was in the 70s (Farenheit). As we went into the inlet, we smelled fuel and when Dave went down to check, he discovered a fuel leak at one of the connections near the engine. He worked to fix it as I navigated into the inlet and military helicopters followed us overhead (practicing their takeoffs and landings apparently).
We got back into the ICW and anchored just south of Jacksonville for the night, near some islands just off the channel. We got all of the fuel cleaned out of the bilge and collected in an oil jug and got things cleaned up before we had supper and turned in, ready for an early start the following morning. While Dave was troubleshooting the fuel leak, he discovered that we had somehow transferred fuel from our starboard tank to our port tank, so when we woke up early the next morning, we spent some time trying to figure that out. He found that a return valve had been knocked out of position (probably when he did a tune up on the valves when we were stopped at Cumberland Island) and the diesel was returning to the port tank instead of the starboard tank. He put the valve back in the right position and we set off for St. Augustine.
The plan was to arrive in St. Augustine early so we could have some maximize our time there since we would be paying for a mooring. We set off with our two buddy boats just before 7 a.m. when it got light. There was a bit of fog and as we started on our way the fog got thicker. We were travelling in a narrow cut and at some times we could barely see the two sides of the cut, let alone what was in front of us. We were the lead boat, and I was on the helm and Dave was watching the chart and helping me keep on course. Luckily the fog started to lift after an hour and a half and we were able to relax a bit. Once the fog cleared, it was a beautiful sunny day, and by the time we got to St. Augustine we were in our shorts. We had finally found the warm weather we have been chasing for weeks!
We arrived in St. Augustine just after a bridge opening and had to wait almost an hour for the next one, so while we waited Dave put one of the bikes together and we had lunch, in preparation for him to bike to the UPS store to ship the furler as soon as we arrived. We picked up a mooring south of the Bridge of Lions, got the dinghy down and the engine on and he zoomed off to shore with the furler. I stayed on the boat and wrapped Christmas presents and cleaned. When Dave got back we both went in for a shower before heading out for a drink and supper with the crews of Leeloo and Slow Waltz.
St. Augustine is a really fun town and a great place for cruisers to stop. The mooring costs are reasonable and the marina services are good (showers, fuel dock, pumpout boat, wifi, laundry) and it is right downtown. It is a good town for walking and there are tons of things to see and do from historical tours to ghost tours to shopping as well as tons of restaurants and bars. We tried to split our time between 'chores' and 'fun' while we were there.
Wednesday was mostly chores, so we could get them done before our visitors arrived. Dave spent the entire day in the sail locker, doing epoxy and fibreglass on the aft holding tank, while I did laundry, mailed Christmas parcels and got my hair cut. That night we did a potluck dinner with our buddy boats aboard Leeloo.
Thursday morning we were up early so Dave could do a bit more epoxy and I could finish cleaning up ready for the arrival of our friends Gina and Matthew (who flew to Orlando from Annapolis and then drove up to St. Augustine in a rental car). Figuring out where to put everything was a bit of a challenge, since the cockpit locker had to be emptied so that Dave could do the holding tank project, and the V-berth (where our guests sleep) was full of even more stuff than usual. Luckily we figured out that since we couldn't use the toilet in the aft head, we could temporarily store some things there, so we managed to tuck most of the stuff away, although we still have the bikes and the jib on deck.
Gina and Matthew arrived around noon and after a trip to the grocery store and West Marine with their rental car we had some lunch on the boat and then walked over to visit the fort. According to the talk by park ranger Jill at the fort, the fort has never been captured by force, even though the Spanish (all 1500 town residents and soldiers) were under seige by the British for 51 days once before reinforcements from Cuba arrived. There is a great view out to sea and over the town from the upper walls, so you can see why they put the fort in this location. It's a pretty impressive structure, made of coquina, which is a kind of concrete made with crushed shells, that apparently 'gives' when cannon balls hit it, rather than breaking apart, making for a pretty impenetrable fort. We learned that the moat was a dry moat, where they kept their livestock while under seige, since the square inside the fort would have been really crowded if it had to hold all those people plus the animals!
We had a nice visit with Gina and Matthew, hanging around the boat enjoying the great weather, walking around town, taking a trip over to a beach close to (but not on) the ocean and going out for dinner. They left on Saturday morning to start heading back, and after saying goodbye, Dave and I watched most of the Christmas parade (it's still weird to be thinking about Christmas when there are palm trees around) before setting off to do some more errands.
In the afternoon we took a tour at Flagler College, which used to be a hotel, built by Henry Flagler (partner in Standard Oil), but is now a liberal arts college. The hotel was decorated by Tiffaney and they have the biggest private collection of Tiffaney stained glass windows - many of which are in the cafeteria. The place looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie - it must be pretty incredible to eat all of your meals there! We weren't able to tour the residences, but all first year students live in residence in what used to be the hotel rooms, and based on the cafeteria and the foyer, they are probably pretty interesting too!
A few more chores, one last shower, a quick supper and we went back to town to see another 'parade' celebrating the British occupation of the fort, with 're-enactors' marching through the streets followed by people with candles and lights. We had a last drink in town with our buddy boats before heading back to Romana for a good sleep, exhausted from all the activity.
The next blog will probably come from South Florida somewhere. We're gearing up to leave the US for the Bahamas, so we have lots to do in the next couple of weeks in addition to continuing to head south.
Last Saturday morning we left St. Mary's and headed down to Cumberland Island with our buddy boat Leeloo. Cumberland Island is one of the barrier islands off Georgia and it is a National Park. It is a beautiful, almost magical place, with a great variety of flora and fauna from the fine white sand on the ocean side beach, over the dunes to the amazing big trees and ferns, to the swamps on the west side. We saw wild horses and turkeys and on the way out of the inlet we saw what looked like pigs on the beach. It is one our favourite places and we were happy to be able to take a few long walks on the island. To top it off, admission is only $4 per person and it is good for seven days. Too bad we couldn't stay that long!
The first day we were there We took a walk over to the ocean side beach and then down to the south end of the island where there are ruins of an old estate. It was still pretty cold when we set off, and raining a bit, so we were dressed in our rain gear and fleece, but as we walked it warmed up and we were all stripping off various layers when we were sheltered in the trees and then putting them back on when we got out into the wind again.
On Sunday morning we took the jib down and Dave got help from Mario to take the furler off, ready to send back for repairs. We had been in contact with our other buddy boat, Slow Waltz, who had left Charleston later than us and was catching up, and just before lunch they showed up and anchored near us, so that afternoon all six of us went to shore for another big walk. We encountered some wild horses on the trail to the beach and they were within a few feet of us, which was a bit unnerving, but pretty cool. That night we had happy hour on Slow Waltz and traded stories from the past week.
We had decided to go outside the next day, for a short hop, to get a break from the ICW, but we didn't plan an early departure as we didn't want too much current against us going back in. As we went out the St. Mary's inlet the current was with us and we were doing about 9 knots over the ground. For about half an hour the seas were pretty rough, even though there was no longer any wind. There were still waves from the winds of the last week, and when you have wind against current things can get pretty choppy. We were glad when we got clear of the inlet channel and turned south.
Because we didn't want to get to the St. John's inlet with a big current against us, we actually had to slow down to about 4 knots as we motored south. It's too bad there wasn't any wind, because it would have been a nice relaxing sail, but regardless it was a good offshore trip. The sun was shining and it was in the 70s (Farenheit). As we went into the inlet, we smelled fuel and when Dave went down to check, he discovered a fuel leak at one of the connections near the engine. He worked to fix it as I navigated into the inlet and military helicopters followed us overhead (practicing their takeoffs and landings apparently).
We got back into the ICW and anchored just south of Jacksonville for the night, near some islands just off the channel. We got all of the fuel cleaned out of the bilge and collected in an oil jug and got things cleaned up before we had supper and turned in, ready for an early start the following morning. While Dave was troubleshooting the fuel leak, he discovered that we had somehow transferred fuel from our starboard tank to our port tank, so when we woke up early the next morning, we spent some time trying to figure that out. He found that a return valve had been knocked out of position (probably when he did a tune up on the valves when we were stopped at Cumberland Island) and the diesel was returning to the port tank instead of the starboard tank. He put the valve back in the right position and we set off for St. Augustine.
The plan was to arrive in St. Augustine early so we could have some maximize our time there since we would be paying for a mooring. We set off with our two buddy boats just before 7 a.m. when it got light. There was a bit of fog and as we started on our way the fog got thicker. We were travelling in a narrow cut and at some times we could barely see the two sides of the cut, let alone what was in front of us. We were the lead boat, and I was on the helm and Dave was watching the chart and helping me keep on course. Luckily the fog started to lift after an hour and a half and we were able to relax a bit. Once the fog cleared, it was a beautiful sunny day, and by the time we got to St. Augustine we were in our shorts. We had finally found the warm weather we have been chasing for weeks!
We arrived in St. Augustine just after a bridge opening and had to wait almost an hour for the next one, so while we waited Dave put one of the bikes together and we had lunch, in preparation for him to bike to the UPS store to ship the furler as soon as we arrived. We picked up a mooring south of the Bridge of Lions, got the dinghy down and the engine on and he zoomed off to shore with the furler. I stayed on the boat and wrapped Christmas presents and cleaned. When Dave got back we both went in for a shower before heading out for a drink and supper with the crews of Leeloo and Slow Waltz.
St. Augustine is a really fun town and a great place for cruisers to stop. The mooring costs are reasonable and the marina services are good (showers, fuel dock, pumpout boat, wifi, laundry) and it is right downtown. It is a good town for walking and there are tons of things to see and do from historical tours to ghost tours to shopping as well as tons of restaurants and bars. We tried to split our time between 'chores' and 'fun' while we were there.
Wednesday was mostly chores, so we could get them done before our visitors arrived. Dave spent the entire day in the sail locker, doing epoxy and fibreglass on the aft holding tank, while I did laundry, mailed Christmas parcels and got my hair cut. That night we did a potluck dinner with our buddy boats aboard Leeloo.
Thursday morning we were up early so Dave could do a bit more epoxy and I could finish cleaning up ready for the arrival of our friends Gina and Matthew (who flew to Orlando from Annapolis and then drove up to St. Augustine in a rental car). Figuring out where to put everything was a bit of a challenge, since the cockpit locker had to be emptied so that Dave could do the holding tank project, and the V-berth (where our guests sleep) was full of even more stuff than usual. Luckily we figured out that since we couldn't use the toilet in the aft head, we could temporarily store some things there, so we managed to tuck most of the stuff away, although we still have the bikes and the jib on deck.
Gina and Matthew arrived around noon and after a trip to the grocery store and West Marine with their rental car we had some lunch on the boat and then walked over to visit the fort. According to the talk by park ranger Jill at the fort, the fort has never been captured by force, even though the Spanish (all 1500 town residents and soldiers) were under seige by the British for 51 days once before reinforcements from Cuba arrived. There is a great view out to sea and over the town from the upper walls, so you can see why they put the fort in this location. It's a pretty impressive structure, made of coquina, which is a kind of concrete made with crushed shells, that apparently 'gives' when cannon balls hit it, rather than breaking apart, making for a pretty impenetrable fort. We learned that the moat was a dry moat, where they kept their livestock while under seige, since the square inside the fort would have been really crowded if it had to hold all those people plus the animals!
We had a nice visit with Gina and Matthew, hanging around the boat enjoying the great weather, walking around town, taking a trip over to a beach close to (but not on) the ocean and going out for dinner. They left on Saturday morning to start heading back, and after saying goodbye, Dave and I watched most of the Christmas parade (it's still weird to be thinking about Christmas when there are palm trees around) before setting off to do some more errands.
In the afternoon we took a tour at Flagler College, which used to be a hotel, built by Henry Flagler (partner in Standard Oil), but is now a liberal arts college. The hotel was decorated by Tiffaney and they have the biggest private collection of Tiffaney stained glass windows - many of which are in the cafeteria. The place looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie - it must be pretty incredible to eat all of your meals there! We weren't able to tour the residences, but all first year students live in residence in what used to be the hotel rooms, and based on the cafeteria and the foyer, they are probably pretty interesting too!
A few more chores, one last shower, a quick supper and we went back to town to see another 'parade' celebrating the British occupation of the fort, with 're-enactors' marching through the streets followed by people with candles and lights. We had a last drink in town with our buddy boats before heading back to Romana for a good sleep, exhausted from all the activity.
The next blog will probably come from South Florida somewhere. We're gearing up to leave the US for the Bahamas, so we have lots to do in the next couple of weeks in addition to continuing to head south.