We have the car reserved for 2 today and our shopping list ready. While I went to Publix, Pete continued on to Tractor Supply for propane, PetSmart for Tillie’s food, and Lowes for washers and painter’s clips for the enclosure.
Monday, 5/8/23 ~ Day 4 in St. Augustine ~ If we need a place to stay, this marina isn't too shabby! Pete has been busy with work. I took Tillie for a walk and some training. The training was a disaster, but I got my flowers fix!
Oh yea...I also found an unusual transom boat name AND a sleeping manatee!
Once back and after lunch, I sat up above and wrote the blog.
Tuesday, 5/9/23 ~ Day 5 in St. Augustine ~
Tuesday, 5/9/23 ~ Day 5 in St. Augustine ~
Pete captured the beatuiful sunrise this morning
Pete’s busy work week continues. He did get a call from First Mate’s Office. There is a box that was delivered today with his name on it. Pete reassured her that Justin had ordered the part (the engine water pump) and would be by sometime tomorrow for the install. Around 3, Justin and the part were here, and it was installed. Pete had also requested that he change the filter on the engine as everything else has been replaced. No problem! Justin was finished in about 45 minutes, including running the engine.
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| Tillie and her toys |
We also reviewed all the resources for a possible jump from Fernandina to Charleston, Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. Accuweather, NOAA Weather, Passage Weather all appear to be in agreement. Winds out of the SSE/SE 5-15, with wave heights 1-3 feet (sorry, forgot to note the periods) and possible showers 10-40% chance. If we can do the jump, we successfully avoid Jekyll, Kilkenny, Thunderbolt, GA, Beauford, and St. Johns, NC. We skip 5-nights stays, but more importantly, the shallow low tides of Georgia!
Shortly before dinner, I heard from Amy, SV ROWAN. She has been here in St. Augustine for the past year and a half. Work commitments haven’t allowed for cruising. If she doesn’t have a phone conference with clients in Australia tomorrow, we are going to try to get together.
Wednesday, 5/10/23 ~ Day 6 in St. Augustine ~ The craziness continues with Pete’s work. It was good that we stayed. Now he could really concentrate on the data, reports, and take the conference calls.
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| She wants to help me bring the laundry on board |
I was able to download most of the photos for the blog. I still have more processing, but I am getting there.
Amy was able to pick us up around 6 and we headed over to A1A Ale House in town. Since the skies looked very iffy, we opted to eat inside. It was so good finally catching up. Needless to say, great food and wonderful company makes for a super evening!
Everything is set to leave in the morning. If we depart at 7:30, we will be about an hour shy of low tide. The marina has had major shoaling at the mouth of the harbor since the dredging last fall. I guess the hurricane and all the rains were the major contributors. The marina is currently building jetties on teh southern side of the entrance and extended out to the ICW to help prevent future shoaling.
Thursday, 5/11/23 ~ Day 7 in St. Augustine ~ Tillie had another bad night, waking up 3 times to go out due to loose bowels. Pete had very little sleep, but he did research and thinks that her problems might stem from us allowing her to lick out our yogurt containers. Apparently, dogs can be lactose intolerant. So, not more sharing with Tillie. Hopefully, that is the cause.
As we were preparing to leave, the lovely couple, who are under contract for the trawler next to us, stopped by. This is their first boat, and they have lots of questions. They have our card and we invited them to call us one evening and we would be happy to share information and resources. Today, is their survey and sea trial. Hope all goes well for them. They plan to do The Loop with her. We said our good-bys and headed off around 7:40. Temps are already in the mid 70’s with a breeze from the SSE. We had no problem getting out of the marina. The lowest depth we saw, was 1.6 feet. As Pete made the turn to port to head up the Tolomato River, the engine started to surge and sputter as well as the engine temperature began to climb. The anchor was dropped, the engine cut, TowBoat US called, but didn’t answer the phone or hail, called the marina office, explaining our problem and requesting a slip. They heard our hail and offered to call the TowBoat Captain as he usually doesn’t get to the office before 9.
Tillie wants to meet our TowBoat crew
The TowBoat captain called and towed us back. We were back in our slip by 9, and the mechanic would be stopping by around 10:00. By 11, the seals on the Raycor System were replaced, the engine was run in reverse (to put a load on th engine) for about 15 minutes with no problems, and, ah, I was gently reprimanded for closing the engine’s water intake by mistake.
His calls went well, and it continued to be a busy day for him. I "unprepped" for the mechanics, putting things right once they had left. Since Pete was able to get more painters clips, I was able to secure the enclosure better and hang our name sign on the back. With possible showers in the forecast, I wanted to be prepared. I also spent some time working on the blog. Everything is written up to this point, but there are still photos that need attention. We’ll see. . . .
We have rechecked our resources and the 24-hour jump Saturday, Fernandina Beach, FL to Sunday, Isle of Palms (Charleston, SC) still looks tight but doable!
Friday, 5/12/23 ~ Day 8 in St. Augustine ~ Both Pete and Tillie had a rough night. She was up 4 times needing to use the grass pad in the cockpit. Before she needed him, I had some wild dreams and kept him awake for about 30 minutes, even though he tried to wake me. He’s going to sleep real good tonight. I volunteered for Tillie duty tonight.
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| Tillie supervising our setting the lines |
When Pete paid the bill for today, the manager suggested he pay for 5 days. This way ofice personnel can not give the slip away while we still might have problems. The unsued portion will be refunded. DONE!
Pete had work to do and I opted to work on the blog. By dinner I had the past 2 weeks posted and this week's entry is done up through Thursday.
Justin came by after lunch and spent another 2 hours trying to track downthe problem. Everything has been checked and rechecked. He reviewed the proper wiring for the the pump and filter that was recently changed out. He wants us to really give PEKABU a long sea trial. He is not available this weekend so any problems will need to be addressed on Monday. I guess that it is good Pete booked the slip theough Tuesday. As we once again have a outgoing current, we will take her out tomorrow morning after 10, when the current is more favorable for our exit and enterence to the marina.
Saturday, 5/13/23 ~ St. Augustine to Fernandina Beach, FL
Today: 65 miles 11.8 hours S/M 716.8
Total: 1126.3 miles 190.8 hours
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| Guess this is his spot |
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| Unsusal lighting at the airport |
As we approached “Rosco Row,” there was a large dredging operation on the west side of the ICW. Bob423 had noted shoaling in this area earlier this spring. The amount of boat traffic in this area was notable. We must have been passed by 25 boats, southbound in just a mile of travel. There was one trawler mixed in with this traffic as it passed the dredging. All the small boats had to scoot around him as he hogged the magenta line. As we passed him, I got concerned. No one was at either the lower or flybridge nav stations. I finally saw the “captain” sunning himself on the sun deck and checking his phone, seated about 5 feet from the helm. There is no way he could possibly know what might be happening in front of the boat. I really hope an official boat sees this and either tickets or fines him!
Various parts of the "Dredge Train"
. . . and the skies are darkening
The skies continued to get cloudy and rain could be seen about a mile ahead. We put up the enclosure. I really miss all the zippers. Modifying the old enclosure to fit the new geometry with our new dodger and Bimini now requires about 10 varying lengths of ½ inch molding along with about 30 painter’s clips. The back and half to the sides is already in place. The forward panel requires 4-5 hands, additional molding, and about 15 more painter clips. It not watertight, but about 95% of the rain remains outside. Tillie loves the dips and tries to catch them as they fall.
Once the rains stopped, we opened the side flaps and enjoyed the cooler temps and fresh air. Tillie climbed into my lap and fell asleep.
The current against us at pablo creek
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| Graffitti under the bridge |
We knew that we would be against the current when approaching Pablo Creed new Jacksonville. Our speed fell from 7.0 to 3.3 mph as we passed through the bridge. About a quarter of a mile south of the bridge, I spotted an eagle on the shore with something. At the same time there was another eagle and a osprey circling above the one on sore. The eagle actually was chasing the osprey and when close enough I saw the claws extended towards the osprey. I was too fascinated to look away or grab the phone to video it. Pete was too absorbed in navigating the strong current as we approached the bridge.
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| Brand new heavy lift boat |
Pete's basket of snacks for tonight, and Tillie in her favorite spot on board.
and yes, our little lady is a bit proper and crosses her legs!
Once back in the cockpit we were approaching the Fort George River. We could see lots of smaller boats running about a mile east and paroling the ICW. Then they came south on the ICW in “flocks” of 10 – 15 boats. We must have seen a total of 50+ boats, and 3 or 4 “flocks” that passed us heading south. There appears to be lots of shallows and sandy beached on the various islands in and around the river.
Boats in Ferandina Beach
Made it in time to catch the sunset
Pulled in to Fernandina Beach around 7:30 pm and snagged a mooring ball northernmost end. Just in time to catch the nice sunset. The boat was secure and we were in bed by 9. It was warm and humid so the hatches opened. Temps began to drop after sunset. As we were securing to the mooring ball, there was a tug & barge that was repositioning just north of our position. They must have practiced or certified all night, doing circles about 100 feet from us and periodically spotting us with the flood lights.
GPS anchor alarm went off at 11:20 pm. For some reason the alarm is now very low (not piercing as it has been), but somehow, Pete heard it and jumped out of bed. I soon followed. The boat is still, kind of, in the same place. Pete thinks that he didn’t factor in enough chain on the mooring ball. He usually sets the alarm so that there is only about 5 feet grace beyond the arc of our anchor and scope (anchor line). Well. . .we, and the Tillie, are definitely awake. Our wake-up alarm is about to go off (11:45), so not going back to bed. Since we are up, we finalized everything for leaving11:50 instead of midnight. As Pete went to start the engine, Tillie stuck her head through the steering wheel. He immediately turned the ignition off and put her on the safety lead. When he tried to restart the engine there was NOTHING- no lights on the panel, no engine alarm test, no warning lights. Repeated attempts, and still nothing. By 1 am, Pete was breaking the seal on the helm’s instrument panel. By 2:30, the ignition switch was replaced, & power restored to the helm, but still no joy. Checked internet wires moved, and still nothing. We finally headed back to bed. Will deal with marina reservations & TowBoat in the morning. Our window for ocean travel closed around 8 pm tonight and remains closed for at least the next 8 -10 days. BUMMER!!! (Well. it's better than some other words that might have been more accurate!)
~ ~ ~ /) ~ ~ K & P
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