Yes, today we passed the 1000-mile point since we left home in MD. It may not sound like much for how long we’ve been gone but when you are moving at 7 miles an hour that’s a lot!! I told Greg he traded 70 on the beltway for 7 on the Waterway. We are still learning to slow down. We realized that it’s the first time since Kindergarten that we haven’t had a schedule. If there is something we want to do or see or some weather we need to wait and let it blow through we still have to remind our selves that it’s OK to slow down and just enjoy!!
This past weekend we picked up a mooring ball at the Titusville Municipal Marina. We got in Sat afternoon and Mark Honeck and his wife Holly, one of Greg’s roommates from the Naval Academy, who live in Orlando, drove over and we spent the evening catching up. It had been a long time and it was fun to see them. Then we found a PCA Church and rode our bikes across town the next morning and worshiped with them. We spent Sunday afternoon in the screened in lounge of the marina where Greg watched a football game and got some work done on computer stuff while I got some laundry done. After dark we rode back in by dinghy and walked through the Lights of Hope in the park next to the marina. There was a live Nativity put on by the youth group of a local church with the gospel presented through the music video Mary Did You Know. It was a fun evening…celebrating the Christmas season.
It is FL you know so there has to be a space rocket
Only in FL would they have santa surfing in front of a sign that says “No swimming because of Alligators!!
There was a live, 7 week old, infant in the cradle.
This was his 3rd appearance in one day as baby Jesus said his mom.
An ad for next sat…..16 TONS of snow will be brought in!!
He quieted the sea with His Power
The British Night Watch Illumination Parade
During the British period in St Augustine, from 1763-1783, the guards would march through the town every night with lanterns to light their way and lock the city gate. On special occasions the entire city would join them.
We were in St Augustine for the annual re-enactment of this event. We gathered on the lawn of the First Public Market Place, which by the way is where the idea of weights and measures was first used to keep merchants honest. After the re-enactors read the proclamation they marched off to ‘illuminate the town.’ We joined the crowd and followed them around the square and through the town.
One of the fun parts of the evening was sitting with a couple from another cruising boat, Tiki Trek. They had been in St Augustine for several months after deciding not to go north for the summer. They were a great source of info about the town and what to see and do.
He quieted the sea with His Power
We were excited to be in St Augustine for their annual Christmas parade. It was an hour and a half long and had hundreds of floats and people in it. It was so much fun to watch and really fun to be along the street with all the spectators from the area.
He quieted the sea with His Power
The oldest continuously occupied settlement in the United States. St Augustine has so much history. We had planned to spend several days here to see the city and it’s a good thing because there was a dense fog the day we came in so we didn’t see very much. The next day the fog cleared by midmorning and we walked and walked…then fog rolled in again today, so we walked in the fog!
Here are some of the things we’ve seen….
Alcazar Hotel built by Henry Flagler in 1888 was modeled after a palace in Southern Spain, then sold and converted to a museum in 1947 and the City Hall in 1973.
Flagler College
Fort Castillo De San Marcos built in 1565 to protect the Spanish city from the English.
A wall surrounded the city with this gate, opened in 1739, providing the only access through the defense line on the north side of Spanish St Augustine.
Cathedral of St Augustine. The parish of St Augustine, which dates from the celebration of a mass on Sept 8, 1565 by the Spaniard Pedro Menendez and his men, is the oldest Catholic parish within the present day United States. The first building was destroyed and this one was constructed in 1793.
St Augustine lighthouse
St Augustine lighthouse…we can see it from our boat.
Paperbird in foggy St Augustine
Paperbird in St Augustine without the fog
He quieted the sea with His Power
We picked up a mooring ball in Fernandina Beach Fl for a couple of nights and spent a day riding our bikes around Amelia island. Fernandina is a pretty little town with its main street going up from the waterfront. It has little shops and restaurants up main street and several side streets.
Amelia Island Lighthouse
The beach on the other side of Amelia Island.
Buying fresh shrimp where the Chef’s buy it for their restaurants.
Historic Nassau County Courthouse built in 1891.
Historic St. Peters Church built in 1881.
He quieted the sea with His power
Our grandson, Bennett, is 2 years old today!!
Happy birthday Bennett!!
We love you so much!! Nana and Gramps
He quieted the sea with His Power
We anchored off of Cumberland Island for a couple of nights. It is Georgia’s largest, southernmost barrier island. The center of the island is a dense forest of huge oak trees filled with spanish moss, a beautiful white sand beach is on the ocean side and salt water marshes on the inland side.
There were wild horses that walked right past us, armadillo, dolphin swimming in the surf and lots of birds.
We walked through the oak forrest and down the beach then past the crumbling walls of the mansion that was built by the Carnegie’s in the 1800’s.
We walked the island with a cruising couple that we have run into several times since leaving Maryland.
Cumberland Island is really a beautiful place to visit if you ever get a chance.
He quieted the sea with His Power
We had a wonderful time in St Mary’s Georgia. We got there several days before Thanksgiving because rain was coming…but that was ok because there was a cruisers get together each night starting Monday night before Thanksgiving.
The Blue Goose Coffee Shop
We enjoyed each one as we met and got to know different people from different boats.
Oyster roast
The Thanksgiving dinner was amazing! There was a LOT of really delicious food!!
Our beautiful table setting was from Tony and Ann off of Stella Maris.
We even made the The Brunswick NEWS. The town donated 10 turkeys and hams and 110 people off of 50 boats brought side dishes.
We are truely enjoying each day and the new adventures it brings. We are so thankful and feel so blessed to be able to travel this way and see the world around us from a different perspective.
He quieted the sea with His power
As soon as we stared planning this trip, people asked us “inside or outside?” In other words, were we planning to go down the ICW the whole way or would we jump offshore for part of the trip. The stretch most talked about was Georgia. Most people said some version of “I’m glad we did Georgia once, but never again.” Since we had never seen it or experienced it, we decided to stay inside.
Now we understand.
Leaving Savannah at the northern end of the state we first got to enjoy the wonder of Hell Gate, a notoriously shoal section of the ICW. With high tides at 6 am and 6 pm, we left Savannah at first light to get through Hell Gate with plenty of the 8 ft of tide still available. It worked as we saw at least 14 ft throughout. We stopped for the night in New Teakettle Creek, a gorgeous anchorage in the middle of the state. That set us up for plenty of water again the next morning at the Little Mud River, the other notorious spot we had been warned about.
Sunset on Little Teakettle Creek
But then came Jekyll Creek.
We didn’t even know to be worried about it, but we do now! When we entered the creek, a large Fleming trawler just ahead of us radioed back to warn us about a bunch of really bad shoaling spots. Then another trawler ahead of us hit and damaged something in their drive train. But even those warnings weren’t enough. If we knew then what we know now, we might have turned back and found an anchorage to wait for the next morning’s high tide.
Lots of Shrimp boats
As we worked our way slowly through the creek, we kept watching the numbers on the depth gauge. We need roughly 5.5 ft of water. When the gauge went to 5.6, then 5.5 we waited for the inevitable lurch telling us we had hit the mud. Nothing. Then the numbers kept dropping – all the way down to 4.1 ft. No lurch. The only thing we can figure is that the bottom is all soft silt and we were able to power through it. When we finally reached the end of the creek and found deeper water, we breathed a huge sigh of relief!
Little Cumberland Island lighthouse
St Simons Island lighthouse
We decided to press on to St Mary’s to get anchored before a couple days of rain set in. So here we are meeting new friends and awaiting the annual Cruisers Thanksgiving potluck.
St Mary’s waterfront and anchorage….very overcast yesterday
Heading into the dinghy dock this morning, in the fog, to go to church.
But if not….
One of the interesting aspects of traveling by boat down the ICW is how many times we meet people we know along the way. Usually it’s a boat that we met in one anchorage that we meet again in a new place. This time it was at least a little pre-arranged.
We stopped just outside Savannah GA to spend a couple days with Tony and Ann DiNicola, live-aboard friends from Herrington Harbour. They are wintering in the Savannah area while they have a number of projects completed on their Catalina 42. It was great to see them and catch up on what they’ve been doing in the 14 months since they left the Chesapeake.
While in Savannah, with Tony and Ann’s help, we continued our search for the best burger on the east coast. So far the competition has been fierce with the edge so far going to the Bull Market in Beaufort SC. But there are a lot of miles left in the competition.
Lyn also added to her lighthouse collection with a stop at the Tybee Island lighthouse. The lighthouse is adjacent to a WW2 bunker built to protect the coast from invasion. The lighthouse is much nicer!
Savannah also holds the record for the coldest temperatures so far on our trip. The polar vortex caught us and dropped the temps to 23 one night. Fortunately we were tied up at the marina and were able to run the heaters off shore power.
Thurs morning it was time to move on. Sixty miles later, we are now anchored in New Teakettle Creek, not far from Jekyll Island. Next stop is St Mary’s GA for the Cruisers Thanksgiving we’ve heard so much about.
But if not…
