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| Sunrise over the Georgia on the St. Mary's River |
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Birds, the only action at
Fernandina City Marina |
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Look closely. See the scrapes along the columns
and the caps dislodged by the rising docks |
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| Two sailboats washed ashore |
Another raising anchor at sunrise. I have to admit, these sunrises are incentive to be up and out so early.
As we passed
the Fernandina Beach Marina, initially things didn’t look that bad. Upon closer
look, many of the cement pilings were angled, scrapped and the tops
misaligned. The water raised the
floating docks to the top of the pilings. Banners were posted stating that the
marina, fuel docks, transient slips, mooring balls and dinghy docks were
closed. Active Captain published that
they will be closed until spring. We saw a sunken ketch in the mooring field
with only part of the masts showing and two sailboats completely up on shore.
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| Dredge lines being towed in serpentine and shallow waters |
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| Canal through an area south of Fernandina |
The first 2
hours or about the first 12-15 miles of the ICW were very tricky to
navigate. There is a lot of shoaling
and, in some places, I don’t think we could have traversed at low tide. Even following the
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| Tides way out! |
notes of previous cruisers and the soundings by Bob 423,
there will be
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There are 7 channel markers in this area.
Proof of the twists and turns |
some places that have about 4 foot of water at low tide. The magenta guide line on the GPS also
decided to disappear in a few spots.
Those difficult spots without the magenta line were on the South Amelia
River, just west of the low fixed bridge. I knew we couldn’t go under it, but
was unsure where the ICW went from there. I took me about 5 minutes to locate
Red 46A and continue our journey. The
other crazy intersection was at the St Johns River. We were just coming around the final curve
and hail the Sisters Creek Bridge for an opening when we notice it has been
replaced with a new fixed bridge with 65-foot clearance. Thrilled that we
didn’t embarrass ourselves by hailing a nonexistent bridge tender, we entered
the St Johns River. On the south side, they are dredging and reinforcing the
banks. New day markers have been placed and at first glance, it was confusing.
Following the marks, we did ok.
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| Skeleton of a majestic tree |
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| A dolphin's tail! |
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| Additional storm damage |
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| White Pelicans |
The rest of
the ride was through some beautiful country. Even at almost low, we had 7 feet
under the keel. Being Veteran’s Day,
there were a lot of small boats, cruising up and down the ICW and many other
just enjoying the fishing.
You know what
they say about cruisers should never have ridged plans! Well, we were trying to
get into the marina by 4 so that I could pick up our rental car. Unfortunately,
we fought the strong currents most of the day.
Four o’clock became 5. Knowing that Jay was waiting at the
Comanchee Cove Marina, to drive me to pick up the rental, we docked ourselves. The
dock hands were busy with docking the boats that came in just before us.
When I
returned, no lights were on in the boat.
The electrical cords would not reach the pedestal with us bow in. So, we started the engine, undid our lines,
exited the slip, turned around and backed into the slip.
With the electric hooked up, I turned on the
air conditioner. It stopped after a few
minutes. All that bouncing and
side-to-side movements created air bubbles in the supply hose. Pete was able to
bleed the lines and get it back working.
Unfortunately, he also called Garmin and told them of the error code we
received when the radar ceased functioning. They told us the magnetron is shot
and we need a very expensive repair or a slightly more expensive new unit. Wonderful!!!!
Pete fell
asleep reading and I am crashing and burning, so I bid you all, “Good night!”
~ ~ ~ /) ~~ K
& P
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