Submarine

Highlight Of Our Trip So Far

We saw this Nuclear Sub coming up the channel as we were leaving Cumberland Island. The only word to describe it was AWESOME.  We were within 1000 yards and sat and watched the entire procession.  With the big tenders in the picture, and 4- 50' patrol boats, 4 -20' inflatables with  manned machine guns....well,  it was just the biggest production and impressive beyond belief. 

I've waited to post this not wanting to get in the papers as the person who started a national  security leak, my OCD in overdrive!!

The Green Headed Monsters

The numerous people we talked to about heading for the Chesapeake extolled its virtues and were quick to tell us about the possible heat in late July and August. " The trip up is great with many interesting cities to visit, yada, yada".  What they forgot to tell us (maybe it was a mental block, been through it, don't want to do it again mental block, who knows) was about the viscous and plentiful Green Head Marsh Flies.  These huge buggers began to appear when we left Cumberland Island but were just a nuisance. Tuesday night they became a little more bothersome as we got into more marshland but we still didn't understand the scope of our "problem".

We were waiting to head for Brunswick Landing to meet Wayne and Colleen on Thursday, so we spent all day Wednesday anchored  near the marsh (because there isn't much but marsh), not aware that we were in the midst of the breeding ground for these nasty buggers.   With their numbers multiplying we spent the day  inside the boat afraid to go out the door for fear of being swarmed.

Early Thursday morning we braved the bridge and headed for Brunswick.  A few more flies but once we hit civilization again they left us pretty much alone.  After docking we immediately started to wash the ash from the paper mill in Fernandina and 3 days of the Okefonokee Fire ash from the boat.  We were once again sparkling, well maybe twinkling, and then went grocery shopping.  I am sure that Wayne & Colleen, our chauffeur's for the day, were impressed with the way we could fill up the back of their Trail Blazer and we appreciated their efforts to make our visit to Brunswick enjoyable.

Since our budget dictated one marina night.. we cast off lines this afternoon and we were not even out of the river before we were boarded by the Coast Guard for a safety check ( just when we had started to devour our lunch), turns out they were the nicest guys and we
passed with flying colors, whew!

Jeckyl Sound was a sheet of glass and soon we turned and started up the Intracoastal again.  Back to marshland and you guessed it.....the green headed monsters, with a vengeance. War path, mating I don't know what but this is insane....

We can honestly say that we can NEVER, EVER, remember flies this bad.  Lets just say, we had 3 brand new fly swatters, 2 were crying "mercy" from overuse and their is a mass fly grave on our bridge!  It was ugly and our arms are tired.

Tomorrow we will abandon the bridge and try navigating from below.  

WHAT WAS MOTHER NATURE THINKING?

Sea Grass beard on our anchor rode

Cumberland Island Light now abandoned

Sydney Lanier Bridge....Brunswick, Ga.

We have come to think of this as "our train", it has been with us since Miami!

Wayne, Colleen, Jann, Gary ...our good friends from Charlotte, N.C.

Armed and ready...but as it turned out we were no match for the "Devil Flies"

Cumberland Island National Seashore

An unspoiled treasure.  A real step back in time. We are enjoying it immensely.

Same as yesterday double click
and choose slide show.

Fernandina Beach

DOUBLE CLICK ON THIS AND
CHOOSE THE SLIDESHOW IN UPPER LEFT CORNER TO VIEW.
Sorry, I'm still having problems with this darn thing!

Fernandina Beach Adventure

We left St. Augustine in clouds and within 1/2 hour we hit a rain storm that we motored right through, no problems.  The rest of the morning and early afternoon was overcast and in the low 80's.  We travelled over 60 miles and it took 9 hours.  We had intended to stop earlier, but the tides were working with us and giving us speed 9.4 mph on one engine at 1400 rpms ( as an aside, yesterday we were doing exactly the same thing and were getting only 5.3 mph, the tides were not working with us that's for sure.) The only problem we encountered were the biting flies.  They seemed to love Gary and he was squishing them when they got in the rolled up isinglass.  Now I have a mess to clean up, lots of bug guts.

We arrived in Fernandina at 6:00 Friday and guess what ......big, big, paper mill right on the harbor.  We were a little,  'Oh, no we know what paper mills do, STINK'.  The only time that was really stinky was in the middle of the night but closing all the hatches seemed to do the trick. The historic town of Fernandina Beach was well worth the stop.  Most of it was built in the late 1800's and all of the buildings in town had tenants and were going great guns with the tourists.  We walked around the historical house district also.  Many of the houses were from the late 1700's through the late 1800's, some very grand. 

Sunday morning we left for St. Mary's Ga. and the submarine museum.  I'll have to admit not the way I really wanted to spend Mothers Day, but it was interesting and I'll get back at him on Father's Day :)  Now we are sitting in the haze that started yesterday when we exited the museum.  Evidently the Okefenokee Swamp is on fire and drifting whichever way the winds send it.  We are anchored off of Cumberland Island which is the southernmost barrier island in Georgia and the smoke is pretty bad this morning in calm winds.  We will wait a little longer to see if the wind shifts and blows it away.  We'd like to go ashore here, it is a huge preserve.

We have seen a Flamingo in flight (that is something I never even dreamed I'd see), dozens of Manatee and Dolphin and Manta Rays jumping out of the water 4 feet in the air. We have experienced 6 foot tides and currents that made the boat sound like it was moving through the water when anchored.  We have had a wonderful week.

 

We are really moving along but I think we have decided to slow down and "smell the roses".  We're in St. Augustine after a nice visit with David & Jill from s/v Shibumi who live in Palm Coast.  We had a great visit and a GREAT Pizza! We anchored in a small lagoon in their subdivision, the only "guests" in the harbor so to speak. Their neighborhood has quite a few "guests" when all their boating friends pass through going north or south. More interesting I'm sure, with the 'new blood' in the hood!

We left at 8 am (technically 7:51) and had a really great trip up the waterway.  Saw lots of interesting houses, caught glimpses of the Atlantic a few times, some bridge and road construction along A1A and very few boats.  We are at the tail end of the migration north, most left in March to get home by May 1st so there is no fighting the traffic and the bridge tenders are all calmed down now which is a plus, lots of "have a nice days".

I have taken so many pictures my camera is screaming 'mercy'.  The scenery is SO beautiful, and such a contrast to what we are used to.  We are slowly coming into the marshes and dunes and it is very cool. There is always something new to see.  That is the great thing about this adventure.  Everything is new and  exciting.

Finito!!!

Daytona Bridge Art

Lions Bridge St. Augustine

Brick Sidewalk in historic Flagler Area of St. Augustine

Memorial Presbyterian.... church built by Henry Flagler in 1889 in memory of his daughter
Jennie who died in childbirth.  A beautifully preserved historic church. 

This is just one portion of the sanctuary.  It was like Westminster Abbey
with many sections adjoined.  Not like any church I've ever been in. and this photo
does not do it justice.  It was too dark inside to get a good photo.

Interesting Coquina house across from the Memorial Presbyterian Church

Koi Pond in the old Alcazar Hotel built in 1885 by
Henry Flagler.  It has been totally renovated by the city
of St. Augustine and houses the Lightner Museum and City Hall.

Flagler College Main Entrance...

Low Tide at the city Marina.  Oyster Beds uncovered....hopefully
dead since they looked really nasty.

Lions Bridge opening for a catamaran.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

I learned from John Mackie that these are Dolphins...piling that
are used to secure barges on the waterways.  These are also obviously
latrines for various birds....Yuck!!

This is it folks.....the new and improved US!

Made it to Daytona at 2:30 today.  We are anchored South of the Memorial Bridge near Halifax Marina.  With an East wind it is a little choppy but not bad.  Doesn't look like too many transient boats are here, most seem to be locals anchored.  You can tell by no dinghy's behind the boats.  We had a nice ride today.  The Intracoastal was much narrower than in the Indian River so it was more interesting scenery....close up and personal.  

We went through the Halifax marina ...my inaugural dinghy ride (unfortunately today showed that it is still losing air, but it sure does look good!), to check out the boats and look for 'Love Shack' but they have moved on.  We're sure we'll meet up with them again somewhere.  That's part of the fun, you never know who you'll see or when. Yesterday when we passed Titusville we saw 'Autumn Borne' at anchor, a sailboat we met up with in Marathon.  It is a small world on the water.  Tomorrow we are headed to Palm Coast to see David & Jill from Shibumi whom we also met at the beginning of this journey.

I had to ask for a bridge opening in New Smyrna today, my tongue tripped over 'Tie A Knot' almost said 'Sea Angel', this is gonna be a hard  habit to break!

  

Intracoastal waterway 'church' complete with rectory.

This is a really laid back area of the waterway, no hi-rises, no
condos, no mansions, just older homes and double wides.

Must be a star gazer living here

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse

Shrimper not a crabber so ok by us.  Those crab pots
are beyond annoying at this point

Just a wow moment

Daytona Beach

Tie A Knot at anchor Daytona Beach

Bee-U-ti-ful Sailboat

Leaving Harbortown

Gary finished the dinghy this morning...talk about last minute! It turned out great though, really looks like new, and it doesn't leak anymore, hooray!!  We didn't finish the name on the transom because it was getting the full blast of the winds.  We hope to do that tomorrow morning if it isn't too windy.  We left at noon and  had an OK trip today.  Not great because of the clouds and wind and the disappointment of seeing the Space Center the entire way (we sort of did a big arc around it) knowing we wouldn't get to see the shuttle launch, which was again put off for 8 days. But we were visited by Dolphins and saw about 5 manatee, had to put the boat in neutral several times coming out of the Barge Canal just to be safe.  

We got to Titusville around 3 pm (20 miles in 3 hours not bad.... sounds like the worst traffic jam you were ever in right?) and decided that we could go a little further.  We went through Haulover Canal which got its name because it was originally a strip of land that the Native Americans and Settlers and Explorers carried their canoes over between Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River, thus the name Haulover.  It is now part of the Intracoastal Waterway.
The Lagoon is really a large waterway that is mostly shallow and since it is at the tip of Merritt Island, the barrier island seems to be mostly government property of NASA.  There are no houses or development of any kind as far as we have seen.
We decided to anchor off of buoy Red29 but our anchor didn't hold, so we followed Captain Bob's Anchorage book and went 4 more miles to Green19 only to find about a thousand crab pots.  It was either turn around and go back and try Red 29 again or travel about 15 more miles possibly in the dark.  TURN AROUND  I said, and to keep peace that's what we did.  It took 2 tries and we have 2 anchors out but we were "on the hook " by 7 pm.  It is pretty rough, rocking and rolling and lots of creaking going on so I may not get much sleep, right, as Gary says it's part of the big picture, get used to it.  But I think we'll also be getting used to a little more planning and a little less "we'll just stop when we get there."

NASA Headquarters Cape Kennedy

New NASA Causeway Bridge

With the new bridge completed they were removing the piling from the old bridge

And "tractoring" them away

Entering the Haulover Canal

This is a view of the shuttle from Mosquito Bay.  We are 99% positive that the
object on the far right was the shuttle on the launch pad.  Unfortunately it isn't
going off until next week.  This would be THE  perfect place to watch it, if only there was
a guarantee that it wouldn't get postponed again we might be tempted.

A dolphin close up and personal

Mosquito Lagoon goes from 6 feet to No feet in a heartbeat

We should name her BEAUTY!!

"To Tie A Knot" !!!

Raise a glass to 'Tie A Knot'....may Poseidon -Neptune and Aeolus, God's of the sea and wind guide her and protect her and all that travel aboard her!

Preparation is  key 1

Positioning is key 2

Team Work is Key 3

Teamwork pays off

The Celebration

The offerings to the God's, champagne and a green branch to bring her safely ashore

More Celebration

Celebration cupcakes from Sydney & Cole with help from mom Chris

Our good friends Sue & John Mackie and our son Kent celebrated the name change with us.  We  couldn't get all the graphics on  due to wind and time constraints, but the important work is done.  Our boat has her new name, chosen by us from a saying that has meant a lot to us over the years and we made our plea to Neptune.  We will finish the work tomorrow adding the knot and the hailing port.  Final pictures to follow.  

I performed the ceremony on the bow with the attendees reciting their lines and Jimmy Buffett playing in the background.  I happily shook the champagne bottle and sprayed it all over the bow  (Cleanup  tomorrow)! 

 Hopefully the God's of the seas and winds were entertained enough to guide and protect!