More About Saint Augustine and Boating matters

Today is Monday, February 13, 2012. Bob left at 7:30 to see about our Suzuki 6hp 4 stroke outboard repair. He is not particularly happy about the situation, but what we more or less at the mercy of the repair shop. After  They charge $100/hr for repairs. Bob has identified the problem, but he doesn't have the parts to repair it. He says it's a 10 minute job for someone who does outboard repair on a daily basis.  I'm here on the boat waiting for his call.

While he is gone, I will continue cleaning bright work and windows. These were on my list for yesterday; however, the weather was just too cold to clean outside. Today the weather remains unseasonably cool, but better than yesterday. Tomorrow should be back to normal for this part of Florida --70s.

Yesterday we took a long walk through the historic district. This is Marblehead, MA, done Southern style. Like Marblehead the houses are close to the street. Although there are a few clapboard buildings, most are stone.

Later today we plan on going to the Flagler Museum which is close by. Fort San Marcos is also nearby. During  tours of the fort, the cannon is discharged.  I'm not sure I really want to tour the fort. Seeing it from the outside seems enough historic military installations for me.


Here is Bob's account of

Mooring Fields at St. Augustine, FL 

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Pass this around to boaters who plan on visiting St. Augustine, Florida.

 

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Changes in mooring and anchorage areas...

 

The north and south (plus the Salt Run) mooring areas are shown in Red. You can no longer anchor in these areas or the Sebastian River entrance.  The mooring fee is $20 a night.

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Take note you can anchor 1/4 mile up from the first bridge (coming in from the north) of the ICW. This area has good depths but like the mooring fields (it also) remains open to winds and tidal current.

 

For outboard repairs and replacement parts see "First Coast Honda" located 1-3/4 miles up from the St. Augustine Marina. They will pick up your motor at the dock.  Telephone 904-829-1450 ask for Tom he is the mechanic at their boat place.

 

The free Wi-Fi at the marina docks has very poor signal strength. You can use the A1Alehouse.com free internet and maintain a speed 55 mbps

Saturday, Februrary 11, 2012 Saint Augustine--day 2

Yippee, today is laundry day. After 10 days, it was time. While I am busy getting quarters, and spending them on detergent, washing, and drying, Bob is on the boat taking care of dingy issues and supervising pump out by the marina staff. When we're done, we sit down at the table to address the major issue of the day--what to do about the Suzuki outboard. We know this is going to be one of those problems that will take $$$ to solve. Bob called the local Honda Suzuki deaerl who also does repairs. Immediately someone was dispatched to pick up our ailing motor.

The first words out of the man's mouth were, "Do you use marine gas or get it at the service station." Well of course we had to answer service station gas. He shook his head. " Well, that's the problem. Ethanol. We'll have to sand blast the carburetor, yada yada...." After the guy left, Bob said. "Did you notice he didn't have a single callous. He's no mechanic. He's a salesman."

I never looked at his hands. I was figuring $75 for his perfect hair cut and designer T-shirt---not the usual for a mechanic.

After that we went to the marina office and paid for another day on the dock. We will probably go out in the mooring field tomorrow and await delivery of our perfectly repaired motor. I'm hoping that will be sometime on Monday. But then, I've never been a realist.

Next is a walk to the locally owned grocery recommended by marina staff. Stewart's Produce is only 0.8 of a mile from the marina. Just cross the Bridge of Lions and walk 3 blocks. We found an excellent meat department with homemade sausage and beautiful steaks. The locally grown produce was outstanding also. The prices on the meat and veggies are very reasonable. Canned items are outrageous--over $3.00 for a jar of Ragu Spaghetti sauce.

We got back to the boat and had a sub sandwich with fresh tomato and cucumber. YUM.

Now I'm writing on the blog and Bob has gone walk-about. He always finds the most unusual people. Just as I finish this sentence, Bob hops on board and begins recounting his adventure...more to follow.

 Here's one of the lions of the famous Bridge of Lions

Cornucopia as viewed from the Bridge of Lions

Saint Augustine Municipal Marina

The Bridge of Lions

Friday, February 10--Jacksonville to Saint Augustine

Bob pretty much sums this up in his narrative which follows.  Getting up at 02:30 to catch the favorable ebb tide is not my idea of fun. I did spell Bob a couple of times in the straight stretches approaching Saint Augustine, but he had a long day.

I was happy when we got to St. Augustine Municipal Marina because it has real showers and a laundry. Ten days of cruising has made for a lot of dirty laundry. A nice hot shower without worry of running out of water is always welcome.

 Not a bad run at all...

 

LEG-6 10 FEB 2012 (Friday)

 

We departed the Jacksonville Landing at 3:25 AM and reached the end of the Saint Johns River by 6:00 AM right smack at slack hour. I did not have to advance the engine throttle for this entire course. Just set the engine and transmission to engaged position. Our speed was 8 mph (7 knots) while the engine remained at 1,000 RPM.

 

After floating around the RED #25 buoy waiting for morning twilight (for some 40 minutes) and consuming our early breakfast. We found the entrance to the ICW, which runs diagonally off the Saint Johns River and then heads directly southbound.

 

 

The two orange square boxes (in the photo above) are the free dockages provided by the City of Jacksonville. The one on the left is the Jacksonville Landing and on the right Metro Center near the sports stadium.

 

It is a 20 mile run down river to pick up the ICW. However the Saint Johns River, ship buoy channel is well lighted. We had thought there would be no traffic, but we ran into an inbound container ship and then another large vessel making their way inbound to downtown Jacksonville. We yield our right of way to the tug boats and then ducked outside the green side of the channel.

 

The rest of the ICW course southbound to St. Augustine is (36 miles) once back into the ICW you pass many mansion's and moderately built private homes. All having their own waterways instead of streets and of course boat piers with boat hoists.

 

  

The only difficulties on the approach to St. Augustine is you must stay close to the land after passing under the new bridge. (The old Bascule Bridge) was replaced with a modern 65 foot highway span.

 

You must turn toward the inlet (as if your going seaward) and then acknowledge your next ICW mark.  You can see the both the red and green inlet buoys, but should not confuse these with your ICW marks. Then it is a straight run directly under the "Bridge of Lions" to the town marina. Full services and fuel are  available, but nothing for boat and motor repairs and/or ground tackle needs.

 

CONCLUSION:

It is highly recommended to pull off the ICW and make the 20 mile run into Jacksonville. You will not regret having done the same.  It is also recommended you don't leave Sister's Creek and attempt to enter into the next southbound ICW passage, without having daylight hours (at least for your first time) there are shoals which bare at low water (on both sides) and you only have a flashing green light to port and non-lighted Red Nun situated to your starboard. We also discovered there is another new fixed span bridge about 1.2 miles into the southbound passage on the north end. 

 

 

 

If you enjoyed the photo movies of Jacksonville?

We'll put together a photo movie set for St. Augustine; once we explore the local community.

 

Bob

Fernandina Beach to Jacksonville

Up bright and early and started engine at 07:15. Then we were off to Jacksonville. Looking at the charts and reading the Waterway Guide, I decided the only serious problem would be the railroad bridge on Kingsley Creek. It is open until an approaching train trips the closing mechanism. Unfortunately for boaters, there is no warning signal. The bridge just closes. I read where this happened a couple of weeks ago and a sailboat was badly damaged. Fortunately, no one was hurt. We listened for train whistles to warn us of any rail traffic nearby. Once we cleared the bridge, I felt that we were through with problems for the day. Well, I was mostly correct to think that.

We continued on, and once in the Saint John's River, traffic increased. A tug pulling a huge --and I do mean huge as photos will confirm-- barge filled with trailers.

Here's what Bob had to say about our encounter:

The four story barge in these photos was hauling tracker trailer trucks. It was huge even at a distance and we had to give way. The tug captain calls on 16 to ask you take note. It's not like Boston where they will run you down without ever warning you. In order to make their turns and swing barges through the bends of the river, several visual and lighted ranges are established. 

 

If ever your contacted (appreciate) the fact the skipper is concerned enough to contact you and then roll over to VHF Channel 10 or 13 and confirm back, that you will move outside the channel marks. As for bridges we have acknowledged all Florida bridges communicate on VHF Channel 9 and/or one long and two short blasts of the horn.

 

We'll send another photo set of the "Jacksonville Landing" once we get the photos rounded up. We moved up stream to the Jacksonville Landing early this morning, which is located immediately to the starboard, under the "Blue Bridge" and this bridge is not only blue during the day, but at night with bright blue lights.

The first night in Jacksonville, we stayed at the Municipal Marina. $8.56 was the cost for water and electricity. When we arrived, there we no other boats on the dock. While Bob finished up docking and shutdown, I went register.  Jamie, a young fireman at the Marine Fire Station at the head of the dock showed me the automated system. Insert credit card, Choose dock and slip. That's all there is to it. 

That evening we walked down to Jacksonville Landing for dinner at Vito's Italian Cafe. Wow, was that nice!--a real napkin and 2 glasses of Chianti, bruschetta, and a steak salad left me quite happy. Bob enjoyed his eggplant Parmesan and sent his complements to the chef.  We took the water taxi back to the Cornucopia and had a blast chatting with the crew and passengers. 

The next morning we decided to move down to the dock at Jacksonville Landing. The tide had us pushed hard against the dock. Another boater helped push us off, but we still got a bad scrape along the starboard. 

We went under the blue bridge and docked without incident right below Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub, one of the many restaurants and cafes at the Landing. Again we were welcomed with free 

72 hour docking. Jacksonville understands that boaters will spend money when they are welcomed--it's sort of like free parking at the mall. 

Jacksonville is definitely a place we will visit again.

Jekyll Island to Fernandina Beach, Florida.

Saturday, February 4, the engine turned right over, and we pulled up to the fuel dock. We added another 31 gallons to the tank for a fill-up. Then when Bob started to crank the engine for us to get under way -- nothing. He took the flashlight and a screw driver and jumped the starter. Later he decided the problem was the neutral cutoff. If the lever isn't perfectly positioned in neutral, the safety override prevents starting.  However the most exciting part of the morning was my taking the boat off the dock and into the channel. Really not such a big deal, but I don't have much experience at the helm in those situations.

Bob guided the boat through the difficult zig zags of the Cumberland Dividings. His narrative will explain more about the actual pilotage.

The channel is well marked, but experienced ICW boaters advised us to stay well off the marks in Georgia because of shoaling. 

 Kings Bay Naval base is home for submarines. There is tight security and a pa

 Ships docked at Kings Bay

 Dredging operation at Kings Bay. this goes on constantly because of the large naval vessels coming in to dock.

 This  ketch near Fernandina becah  was flying the Confederate battle flag. The correct flag would have been the Confederate naval ensign which is a circle of white stars on a blue background

Paper mill at Fernandina Beach.

We chose to skp the mooring field at Fernandina beach and anchored just off the Red 10 marker. We've been fortunate in our anchorages  with good depths and holding ground.

Total miles for the day 

Sunday, February 5 We decide to stay put because of dreary weather. Bob got caught up on writing and  working on routes. I cleaned and read. I do love my Kindle.

Day 2 and 3 -- Views Along the ICW

While Bob is at the helm and doesn't need navigational information from me for a few minutes, I take pictures.

House on the ICW near Savannah. Day 1

Day 2, second house we see. There territory between the two is vast marshes

 Pelican on green 69. Pelicans use these for a roost and droppings obscure the numbers.

 Shrimp boat working the ICW

 Gnarly trees just above the waterline.

 Sidney Lanier Bridge at Brunswick, Georgia. Wind was pushing up waves, so we decided not to go in. All this would have been hitting us broadside--not a pleasant ride. So we continued on a few miles to Jekyll Island where we dock at the Jekyll Harbor Marina. Bob describes this in his narrative.

We met some delightful folks here at Jekyll. Martha and Mike who have the Sandpiper docked here year round, took us for a tour of the island in their van. Here are some links for more information
http://www.jekyllharbor.com/
http://www.jekyllisland.com/

We are docked at the far end as I am writing this post.

O hour--the Haul and Launch January 31, 2012

Getting ready

Hauler Pete checks one last time

Turning on to Ferguson

Skidaway Narrows Bridge

Down the Rodney Hall Ramp

Into the water

Bob checks the strakes

Helen and Pat pull Cornucopia to the dock. Old Skidaway Lift Bridge in the background

Bob and Pat on the float after all is secure

Emily's view from the dock

Bob's Narrative -- The First 3 Days

Why reinvent the wheel as they say. Bob has summarized our first 3 days, complete with map. So here it is folks.

Cornucopia"   Update: 3 FEB 2012 Friday.

 

We departed the Skidway Ramp at 8:50 A Wednesday morning. The night was chilly, and the morning very breezy, but the afternoon weather was sensational.

 

Later in the afternoon around 2:40 PM with a run of 35 miles, we decided we had enough travel for our first day out and dropped anchor at the mouth of Cattle Pen Creek.

We left Cattle Pen Creek at 8:40 AM on Thursday Morning.  The skies we completely overcast,but the temperature was comfortable --no jackets or sweaters needed. The forecast stated a 30% chance of thunderstorms in the morning and afternoon. Well, this never happened. The rest of the day was really sensational with hot temps and good visibly once the sunlight broke out.

 

At 3:00 PM we dropped anchor just off the ICW G#125 called "Wally's Leg" a creek which flows into the main course of travel.  The sun sets early at 6:00 PM with a brief period of civil twilight.  We also had guests come in to anchor here "Irish Smiles" from Bern, South Carolina.

 

At 8:10 AM next morning (Friday), we again headed south. A wrong turn ended up in a small creek where local Shrimpers are docked and have their warehouses. Getting turned around  to get out is tough in small creeks. The "Cornucopia" has no steering unless water is moving over the rudder. If you have seen freighters and oil tankers being positioned into a dock by tug boats, then you can understand our problem.

 

We intended to travel westward once reaching Saint Simon's Sound, but changed plans. While making the five mile passage through the sound. The wind, waves, and strong currents "rock-n-rolled" us for over one hour, and we turned back into the ICW near the north end of Jekyll Island.

 

At 11:00 AM Friday, 3 FEB 2012, we are currently docked at Jekyll Island Marina.

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=2916189961934950999

 

http://www.jekyllharbor.com/

 

CONCLUSION:

 

With the sun at low angles this time of year, the visibly is difficult.  These sections of the ICW through Georgia are more difficult to navigate than those in the Carolinas and Virginia. You need to stay most diligent to your marks.  Also we found several markers are missing and/or have been changed. New markers have also been added using the letter "A" after the given number.

 

Hope all is well in your section of the World.

 

Bob