Big Tom Creek GA to St. Augustine FL

We are all exhausted after a 25 hour passage that was the result of a change of plans...nice since it has brought us to St. Augustine a couple days early!  Let's have this post be more of a photo-blog since I probably should be napping.  I'll try to capture the last day and half but may get some things mixed up but you'll get the gist I know.

Tuesday morning we were up at 0600 so we could pull anchor and be on our way by 0615.  It was chilly but at least the frost warnings did not reach us this time. I forgot to mention earlier that when I opened the door to outside, a huge white crane flew off from the top of the boat. Now that is magical, yes; but we had to push down the knowledge that it was probably sitting in the solar panels and doing other things up there too. Let's stick with the magic of a white crane flying of the boat in the predawn hours.

The plan was to get to St. Simon Island Tuesday night for an overnight then to pop out again and back in at Fernandina Beach in Florida on Wednesday, perhaps to spend a long afternoon and the next day? 

As always, nature was presenting her show which never ceases to make my heart smile while simultaneously reminding me how very small we humans are when compared to the world around us.

Pre-dawn leaving the creek

And the sun joining us as we headed to St. Catherine's Sound

It's an interesting experience to be out on the water before sunrise because it is so still and quiet but you get a sense of anticipation for what every day has to offer; as if somehow the earth is taking a breath and holding it for just a earth moment and then slowly exhaling as the sun rises -- breathing life into your day.  We headed out and were passed by a shrimper and a fishing boat--people who truly work for their living.  It's a reminder of how blessed we are and I pay them every respect.

And before we knew it, we were out in the Atlantic again!   Island Khaya suggested we do an overnight and go onto Jacksonville.  Mark and Jon looked at the charts and everyone agreed that we would go to St. Augustine because that worked for the timing and was a stop we hoped to make anyway.  We had some initial concern/confusion about the inlet because it is not charted due to shifting and shoaling.  We confirmed that it was navigable just not marked on the charts because of its ever changing locations.  The amusing part was that we ended up having to slow down because we were making too good of time and would arrive much too early to be able to see the tight channel and, more importantly, the markers--some lighted, some not.  We set ourselves up to be able to arrive 1) at day break and 2) at high tide. OK, we'll go for it--our second overnight.  We felt pretty good because of making it through our first overnight (which sucked as you recall).

With following seas and good winds upon us as well as predicted for some time down the coast, up went the sails and off went the engines--now that's the way to travel!  We were wing on wing to capture as much of the wind as we could.  Whooshing along the waves with only the sound of the boat over the water and the waves moving us along...at 1045 we set our course bound for St. Augustine going 5.3 knots.   But as I said, we needed to try to kill four hours by the next dawn so needed to slow down.  Eventually, to prepare for the evening, we pulled in the head sail and were still doing very well with only the main but still too fast so on with the engines, down with the main and up with the head sail to motor sail at only 1500 RPMs.

She does love to stretch her legs...er, I mean, sails!

There's no "I" in team either ;-)

Crew begrudgingly letting me take a photo

Nice to have a remote control, huh?  Best place to steer on the whole boat!

Cap likes a tidy sail, even if it means improvising

I took the opportunity to make muffins and they turned out well so my last challenge is those cookies that vexed me that first time I tried to use the oven.  I think I can pull it off now that the oven and I are tight.  As promised, no more food photos.  So on we continued from wing on wing to just main to just head then motor sailing into the sunset, so to speak.

The view

And another view

I give you so many sunrises, it only seemed fair to give you a 90% full moon rise too

Goodnight sun

Everyone got ready in their own way for the night (which came at 1730 thanks to Daylight Savings Time).  We planned to take watches again and Dramamine was the preferred tablet as night came upon us.  The waves had moved a bit so we were getting them more to our port side and ended up rolling at times.  It made me seasick but was a thousand times better than beating into them like a much abused hobby horse!  We actually had a good night, my seasickness notwithstanding.  See, that's what you get for bragging that you don't get seasick!  Mark slept here and there out in the cockpit and having a near full moon made the night easier to take.  So there it was much the same for the next 12 hours.  And there was much Dramamine, yay.

I got the serenade of a lifetime by Mark at the start of my watch--how do you like that?  THREE songs played just for me.  Not everyone gets that kind of romance on their watch but I do!  Other happenings while I was on watch--the wind shifted and benefited us across our port into the head sail.  More interesting and actually awesome was my hearing what I knew was a military jet...have I mentioned my love of military jets?  So I look up to see a jet flying west over us, then another directly behind, then a third directly behind the first two...and the three of them flew perfectly spaced and in a line into NAS JAX.  It was awesome.  Then I saw another plane flying south over us and then banked to land at the Jacksonville Airport.  Oh the other thing that was wild was seeing two HUGE cargo ships anchored outside of Brunswick...just sitting there like sleeping giants glowing with all their lights on.  Cool stuff happens at night with the stars as a background.  Then Jon took over and I sacked out...around 0500 or so I got up again and proceeded to fret and worry about the St. Augustine inlet because we were coming up on it soon and it was still dark and the tide was still coming in and all other anxiety ridden things that ended up being absolutely not an issue.  But before that, Mark pointed out five shrimpers out with all their lights on and nets out...I wish I could have taken a picture because they looked other-worldly.  And I swear it was like the boats were alive.  If they would have lifted out of the water and flown into space, I would not have been surprised.  It was something to see.

We did have a bit of a time finding the all-important STA whistling buoy that you are supposed to go around (NOT CUT) to have a safer entrance to the channel...we (Mark) finally figured out which one it was and called to Island Khaya to follow us in since we heard it could be a pill.  Of course after all my spazzing out, the light came (as it does daily, you know) and the tide did not cause too bad a current but did give us excellent depth into and through the channel.  Other than some tricky spotting of the bouys and playing chicken with a huge power boat that felt it was acceptable to exit the inlet on the side we were on (left red depart? uh no), it went perfect.  In the future, we'll have no problem coming and going here but will do it at only higher or high tide!

STA which is disturbingly challenging to find coming south via the Atlantic

Oh my!  Heavy showers east and behind us...we only got a little shower once we moored

Here we go, hope the markers are not too hard to find

St Augustine Light further south but that green marker was the real relief

And we arrived!!  The anchorage was now a mooring field--wooohooooo!  I love mooring fields and at 0707 we were on a ball making coffee and I finally took a shower after too many days.  Ew!  haha  And OMG, you'll never guess who Mark and Jon heard on the VHF--Pamalynn.  Of course Mark called them and they were heading here via the ICW.  If they were trying to ditch us, they have to try harder LOL!

Moored and sitting pretty

We headed to the office and just happened to meet up with Island Khaya (Riaan and Brenda) at the dinghy dock so we walked to get some breakfast (mmmm, bagel sandwich) at Schmagel's Bagels then a decadent waffle at Cousteau's Waffles and Milkshakes before we wandered the very touristy streets, ending up at JP Henley's for our noon-hour beer.  Then back to the boat for naps and apparently blogging.  But first Mark and Jon cleaned up the dinghy motor so it runs more smoothly now and doesn't do embarrassing things like cut out in front of other boaters.  Oh and speaking of, we saw Pamalynn (Ed and Pam) coming into the dinghy dock as we were leaving so they can't shake us no matter what they try!  We are looking forward to meeting up tomorrow and swapping overnight stories from Charleston and the gale that came through.

Well, no nap for me I guess and I think I may be holding up the show now that Mark and Jon are awake.  We'll be going back to shore for dinner and I have a feeling we'll call it an early night.  I plan to sleep like a rock and not set an alarm tomorrow!

Striking a pose in front of the fort!

Yes, that's our view--sweet

I may not get you a sunset picture tonight, sorry.  Thanks for reading along with this super long post and sharing our latest overnight with us. I know there are things that Mark and Jon could share as well so feel free to bug them to chime in and share their experiences too!  XO Suzanne

PS, I want to wish early Happy Birthdays to Amy and Julia C XO