TerBarb South – Part 6

On Monday, Jan. 14 we waited for half tide before leaving Brunswick Landing Marina, heading out at 9 am. It’s windy with temperatures in the 50’s. As we exited the East River into St. Simon’s Sound it is lumpy and bumpy, especially as we turn and head south. Winds are out of the NW at 25 mph. There are two ways to go. The choices were: (1) when crossing Jekyll Sound you need to head east and then west sort of like a V on it’s side and you enter the ocean for a short period of time, as there is shallow water trying to go directly across. This would have been an extremely rough ride – or (2) take Umbrella Cut which is shallow and twisty and about 5 miles longer. For me there was no contest. We take Umbrella Cut. Later we talked with some boaters who crossed the Sound and they were none too happy. We arrive at Fernandina, FL at 2 pm. The last time we were in Florida we bi-passed this town. The marina has an inside basin and a long dock right on the ICW; however, the inside basin was all mud at low tide by the docks. Therefore, everyone had to tie to the long dock right on the ICW. The sun is shining but it is still windy. Fernandina is a beautiful old town. On main street is the library, post office, lots of shops and restaurants. The town fathers have preserved a lot of the older buildings (1890-1920) and are beautifully designed and maintained.

On Tuesday, Jan. 15 we are underway at 8 am under sunny but chilly skies. Also, the wind is blowing out of the NW at 15-20 mph and is “pushing” us all day. It is a pleasant ride. We leave an hour after low tide and there is 4-5 feet of water until Nassua Sound. We carry 3 feet through the sound and keep a sharp lookout for new markers. We are able to sneak under the Sister’s Creek Bridge (24 ft) before crossing the St. John’s River. Just prior to entering the River there is a major blind spot on the ocean side. This is especially true if there is a cruise ship import. The St. John crossing is short and flat as it is approximately 5 miles to the inlet. We stop for fuel at Palm Cove Marina and the further south we go the more expensive the fuel is ($3.68/gallon with Boat US discount). We continue and enter a 10 mile long man made canal where we are protected from the winds that are now at 25 mph. We have been carrying current most of the way and we begin to stem current about 4 miles from St. Augustine Inlet. This is a good thing. The wind is blow out and now the current is flowing out, which makes for calm seas. We are tied up at St. Augustine Municipal Marina for the next week. Today, we did 10 bridges - two with minimal clearance (24 feet and 37 feet) one railroad bridge (which was already open), six bridges with 65 feet of clearance and finally the Lions Bridge right next to the marina. They have built a temporary bridge next to the Bridge of Lions while they rebuilt this bridge. So far they have removed the roadway and are working on the support for the bridge. They have been working for two years and there is still two more years to go before completion.

St. Augustine is a beautiful city. There are a lot of things to do and see. We walked to the Sailors Exchange, which is a building housing all types of boating stuff (both old and new), however they were closed. So we took a tour of San Sabastian Winery, along with some samples. We did buy some red wine!! Our roller coaster ride of weather continues. One day it is 50 and cloudy (rainy) and the next it is 75-80 degrees and sunny. Sometimes we have both in the same day. We also tour Flagler College. This was originally built as the Ponce de Leon Hotel in the 1887. The electric in the hotel was designed by Thomas Edison and the windows and light fixtures by Tiffany. It is a beautiful college now and the women are housed in the original hotel. The men’s dorm is a block away on either side of the main building. It is beautiful. When originally built it was designed to have separate activities for men and women. The men had their smoking room and a special place to pay the hotel bills (women were not permitted to enter these places) and a beautiful sitting room for the ladies with blue furniture and chandeliers and of course the men did not enter this area. Tuition at Flagler is currently $18,000 a year. It started as an all female college and is now co-ed. When the building was originally built in the late 1800 it had indoor plumbing, running water, and electric lights. Now that might not sound like a big deal today, but back then this was extremely advanced.

On Friday, Bob & Pennie Knapp of Yapewi YC (see picture below) came over for a visit. It was really nice to see them. They now live in Palm Coast just south of St. Augustine. We had a really nice dinner at Seafood Cowboys over on Anastasia Island, which is across the ICW on the ocean side. This is where St. Augustine lighthouse is located.

As I said St Augustine is a really nice town to visit, however the marina is not very well protected. It is just south of the inlet and there is no bulkhead to protect the boats from passing wake or waves generated by the wind. Saturday and Sunday it was extremely windy – 35 mph with gust at 45 mph. This made for a bouncy two days and nights. However on Monday, around lunch time it calmed down) at least for a little while. It is still windy but the winds have shifted somewhat to the E and hopefully it will stay calm for a while. We will be leaving on Tuesday morning as long as we have semi-calm seas.