Fernandina Beach to Vero Beach, FL

Sunday, Nov 14

We left Fernandina Beach just as TAMURE pulled into the harbor. We were tempted to stay another day to see them, and the dinner invitation from CONSORT was hard to turn down, but after talking to everyone on the radio we realized that they were planning to head outside to St. Augustine so our two day trip would be one day for them and we would see them in a couple of days. We had an enjoyable trip to Pablo Creek where we anchored for the night behind a couple of “islands”. The islands looked more like tall swamp grass than real islands but we had a calm night with thousands of little round brown jelly fish floating by in the three knot current.

Monday, Nov 15

As soon as it was light enough to see the navigation markers we were under way through glassy calm water. The water was calm on the top, but moving fast under the surface. The current going through the first bridge brought our speed down to about 2 knots and the swirling cross current made for a wrestling match with the tiller to avoid running into the bridge. After that things settled down to the point of being boring. The first 3 or 4 hours of the day the ICW was dead straight and about 150 feet wide. The east side was lined with houses, the west side was swamp. I spent most of my time sitting so my back was to the houses so I could watch the birds and pretend we were in the wilderness. This kept me amused for about an hour then I gave in, found my ipod, and listened to NPR news while driving the boat. In the late morning the river widened out so it was more interesting. We pulled into St. Augustine just in time for the 12:30 opening of the Bridge of Lions. We spent the afternoon walking around town and splurged on ice creams.

Tuesday Nov 16 and Wednesday Nov 17

We spent a couple of enjoyable days in St. Augustine. TAMURE, CONSORT, and POLAR PACER were also in the harbor so we had plenty of company for walking around town, and dinners on boats. Bill found an external speaker for our radio so that we can hear it in the cockpit without turning the volume up to a deafening level down below. This has made our life much more enjoyable.

Thursday, Nov 18

We left St. Augustine at 6:45 and for a change had the current with us all day. It is a huge treat to have the increase in speed and not have the frustration of fighting for every tenth of a knot of speed. TAMURE and CONSORT left about 15 minutes behind us and didn’t catch up to us until we were anchoring in Daytona Beach. We are usually the slowest boat around so when we are not passed by everybody we are happy. After being on the boat this long small things amuse us greatly.

Bill spent the afternoon helping Scott with a plumbing project on his boat so Kitty and I had a nice visit on our boat.

Friday, Nov 19

Yet again we left slightly before the crack of dawn. We spent about an 2 hours actually sailing the boat without the engine. It has been so long since we used the boat as a sailboat we had been starting to talk about going over to the dark side and getting a powerboat, but now we remember that sailing is fun.

We anchored for the night at Titusville with TAMURE. There was a satellite launch scheduled for the evening, but unfortunately it was postponed.

Saturday, Nov 20

For once we had a late start and did not get under way until almost 10:00 a.m. because a bridge was having some maintenance work scheduled and would not open until 11:00. We motorsailed almost to the bridge and heard the announcement that they would not open until 11:30. Everyone else anchored and waited for the opening, but it was such a nice day we just turned the motor off and tacked back and forth. (Yes, we do remember how to tack…)

At 11:30 the bridge tender announced that due to technical difficulties the bridge would not open until 12:00. Other people were grumbling to the bridge tender over the radio, but we were having fun sailing. For lunch we had chocolate cake with strawberry jelly and whipped cream as we were sailing around. About the time we finished our lunch the bridge tender announced that it would be another ½ an hour before the opening. Scott had given Bill a Halloween mask so Bill put on the mask and we sailed by TAMURE to amuse them. We then sailed by a little catamaran that we didn’t know. They know think we are crazy, perhaps dangerously so. Oh well, we were on a sugar high and having a great time playing with the boat. After the bridge finally opened we put up the mainsail and had a great sail all afternoon. Most of the other boats were also sailing so it was like a little race. RONDO does surprisingly well against the other heavily laden cruising boats, especially Island Packets! Scott was able to take a couple of pictures of us with the sails up.

We anchored for the night in Cocoa with TAMURE. Scott and Kitty picked us up in their dinghy and we went ashore. The hardware store in town is supposed to be amazing and have everything you could possibly dream about needing. We got there 10 minutes after they closed so we window shopped the tool section until Bill yelled “come here, you have to see this.” We thought he had spotted some great gadget he just had to have, but it turned out to be the biggest rat he had ever seen. Kitty and I were no longer disappointed about the store being closed. After walking around town Scott and Kitty treated us to a delicious meal at a Thai restaurant.

Sunday, Nov 21

We had a fantastic sailing day! We spent most of the day under sail and were sailing fast enough to make the dolphins want to come over to play. Three dolphins swam with us for about 5 minutes. Two would surface on the port side and one on the starboard side, then they would all swim under the boat and one would pop up on the starboard side and two on the port side. When we are under sail we have very little freeboard on the leeward side so we could almost touch them. Later in the day one large dolphin stayed with us for quite a long time and would turn on its side to look at us while he was underwater.


In the early afternoon we caught up with TAMURE who had left about 15 minutes before we did. They had slowed down because they thought they had engine problems. We sailed along beside them for a while in case they needed Bill’s help. Scott was impressed that at one point we had to reef the jib to slow down so we did not pass them while they were motoring. We had to take the sails down about an our before we got into Vero Beach as the channel was narrow and winding. Oh well, we needed to charge the batteries anyway.

Monday Nov 22 - ?

Vero Beach is known as Velcro Beach to the cruisers. Once you get here you tend to stick here as it is convenient and relatively inexpensive. The moorings are 20 per night and there are usually two or three boats rafted on mooring, with the crowd hanging out for Thanksgiving it is mostly three to a mooring. We are sandwiched in between a 28 foot boat called SEARCHER with a very nice singlehander named Steve and his elderly collie Danny, and a 30 footer, SANUK, with Chris and Tracy on board. We fritter our days away riding the bus to the grocery store, Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, and the beach. It is very social here as by this point in the trip everyone knows so many other boats. The hardest part is deciding which cocktail party or dinner to attend.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun as over 60 boats signed up for the potluck, which translates to around 120 people. It is truly amazing what people are able to cook in little galleys. There was plenty of turkey, ham, pork roast, side dishes, and a huge variety of desserts. I made two loaves of white bread, a batch of rolls, and a loaf of maple oatmeal bread.

Friday was the first day of the entire trip that was relaxing and lazy. About 10:30 in the morning as we were hanging out on SANUK drinking coffee and talking we all realized the same thing. Cruising sounds laid back and luxurious, but most of the time is spent getting from point A to point B and working on the boat.

We went out to dinner in the evening at the Riverside Café with Lynn, Walt, Gail, Bob, Kitty, Scott, and Evan. Everyone is planning on leaving sometime soon so we all wanted to have a get together.



Saturday we rented a car and drove to Orlando to visit John Ewing who is in the hospital. The Ewings have been friends with Bill’s family forever. John looked great for someone waiting for surgery to relieve pressure from blood on the brain. Jane looks beautiful as always, she never seems to change. Bill enjoyed catching up with Jack who he hasn’t seen for about 40 years. Bill and Jack had been close friends through their entire childhood. Please keep John in your prayers.



Our new plan is to tear ourselves away from Velcro Beach on Monday…

Fernandina Photos

Jekyll Island to Fernandina Beach, FL

Wednesday we woke up to thick fog.  We were anchored about 150 feet behind another boat and could not see it. The plan was to head for Cumberland Island.  We had to wait until 10:30 for the fog to lift, which turned out to be good timing as we had the tide with us all day for a change.  We had a peaceful, calm, fast run to Cumberland Island. 

One of the prettiest boats we have seen.  Whenever FREEDOM is underway there is a lot of radio chatter by boats complimenting her.

Submarine pens.  There were dozens of dolphins in this area, but they are very hard to photograph with a digital camera.  Since this is a military area maybe they are stealth dolphins.

We pulled into Cumberland in the early afternoon and walked over to the beach with Tom, Chris, and Randy.  This is the first time we have been to a beach on this trip. 

Thursday we spent the whole day Cumberland Island.  We walked through the woods to the dock where the ferry comes in and looked through the small museum.  The ranger invited us to join her tour at 12:30 so we had a picnic and watched the wild horses until the tour started. 

Bill, Tom, Randy, Jeannie, and Chris waiting for the tour. Notice the size of the live oak behind them.

The ruins of Dungenes.  Dungenes was built in the 1880s by Thomas and Lucy Carnegie. After Thomas died in 1886 Lucy and her nine children moved to the island full time. Whenever one of the children married Lucy would build them a house on the island.  By the 1920s the "Gilded Age" lifestyle was on the way out and the house was not used as often. Sometime in the late 20s or 30s it was closed up, except for one wedding (I think the spouse was a Rockefeller).  The mansion burned in 1959.

Bill and Tom in the Pergola.  This is where the ladies would sit to watch the polo matches.  A few minutes after I took this picture a colt that had misplaced his mother and was upset about being alone galloped by and started into the pergola, but stopped at the last possible second when he saw us. 

The armidillos are fun to watch.  They mostly scurry around in the underbrush.  I think they are cute even if they are armored rats.

Friday morning we left Cumberland Island and headed over to Fernandina Beach.  Most of Friday afternoon was spent doing laundry. Fernandina is an interesting town.  From the water it looks very industrial - the towers from the mills can be seen from miles.  Even approaching the town it does not look promising as the main street ends at the water, instead of paralleling the harbor.  Once you walk into town, though, it is very picturesque and seems prosperous.  It is nice to see a town with a variety of businesses and some actual industry.   In the evening we had drinks at the marina bar with Tom, Chris, Randy, and Jeannie.

Vernon River to Jekyll Island, GA

Sunday, Nov 6

Yikes it is cold!  When we woke up it was 41 degrees inside the boat.  Getting out of bed is awful when it is this cold as you know this is the warmest you will be all day. The diesel engine agreed that it was too chilly to do anything and did not want to start.  Eventually it reluctantly coughed its way to life and we set out.  Once we got going it was a nice sunny day, if we wore enough clothes and huddled under the dodger.  We are in the swamps of Georgia, which is prettier than it sounds. 

Our goal was to anchor in Cattle Pen Creek for the night.  When we were just around the corner from the entrance we got a call from the "Cattle Pen Creek Yacht Club" confirming our anchoring reservation.  We had a nice get together with the crews from MUTUAL FUN, SIMPLE PLEASURES, LEE-ANN, and ATTITUDE. 

Monday, Nov 7

We had a nice surpise in the morning.  Randy radioed that he had left some electronic charts in our dinghy.  We tried them in our chart plotter and they worked.  It is a treat to have GPS charts again instead of just paper charts.  We spent a lot of the day following a tug boat that was pushing two barges which made the navigation even easier.

 Last night we were talking about what a small world this is and how everyone has mutual friends. In the course of a random conversation it turned out that Gary and Janet know our friends Scott and Kitty, and that Sharon grew up in the neighborhood that Bill's sister Robin used to live in.  Anyway, today Bill called a powerboat that passed us on the radio to complement them on the boat.  The boat's homeport is Belfast, Maine.  After a few more sentences about Maine and Saint George and Tenants Harbor the other captain asked Bill if he knew Stuart Farnham. When he said yes, they worked together at Lyman Morse, and had worked at Wayfarer, the next sentence was "Do you want to talk to Mike King, he is right here." 

At one point we were watching pelicans fly by in low level formations that would make a fighter pilot jealous and said we wished we could see young pelicans learning how to fly. They must make some spectacular miscalulations when flying inches above the water.  About an hour later a squad of pelicans flew by and one broke formation and flew through our rigging.  It misjudged its wingspan and the distance between our forestay and shrouds by about an inch and clipped a wing tip.  It just wobbled in the air, then flew over to a navigation marker and made itself feel better by displacing a half a dozen cormorants.

We anchored for the night in the South River and had happy hour on LEE-ANN with MUTUAL FUN, SIMPLE PLEASURES, and ATTITUDE.

Tuesday, November 8

Today was a day when we were worried about shoaling.  Skipper Bob's book and the updates on the website are littered with "caution, shoaling' warnings.  We headed out at 7:20 so we would have a rising tide for most of the morning, then at least a half tide heading into Jekyll Creek.  The warnings that there will be zero feet of water at mean low tide are alarming.  Because we timed the tides we had an easy run with plenty of water.  In the afternoon we went ashore and walked around the island and went by the millionaires mansions.  We had dinner on board POLAR PACER with MUTUAL FUN.

Beaufort to Vernons River, GA

Wednesday, Nov 2

We had a nice day of walking around town.  Beaufort is one of my favorite places to visit. The houses are beautiful and the side streets are quiet so we can act like tourists and stand in the middle of the road to take pictures and there is no traffice to run us over.  In the afternoon our friends on POLAR PACER and MUTUAL FUN pulled into the harbor.  We had a potluck with Tom and Chris.  I brought freshly baked molasses oatmeal bread and a spinach artichoke pasta salad, Chris made pizza and flounder.  This was not a menu you would put together on purpose, but it was delicious.  After dinner Jeannie and Randy came over and we played rummy cubes then watched an episode of Top Gear on the lap top.  It was a fun evening.

Thursday, Nov 3

Today we got our exercise, we spent another day walking around with Tom, Chris, Randy, and Jeannie. We had been amused by the "low clearance" signs on the live oaks until we saw a tractor trailer hit a low hanging branch that was not marked.  The trailer was a little the worse for wear, but the tree branch did not move an inch, not even the leaves.

  In the afternoon we walked out to the National Cemetery which was started during the Civil War.  It was sad to see all of the tombstones, but very uplifting to see the care and respect with which the cemetary is kept. The groundskeepers were very helpful about answering questions or pointing out monuments.  In the late afternoon it started raining so we spent the rest of the time in the boat reading books.

Friday, Nov 4

We left Beaufort late in the day for us, 9:20, to catch the tide for at least part of the day.  We passed Paris Island and Hilton Head (very different life styles). It was kind of a strange sailing/motoring day. Sometimes we would be traveling at 8.0 knots, then we would turn into another river or sound and be traveling at 2.8 knots. 

When we pulled into Bull Creek to anchor Tom had already anchored and came out in his dinghy to give us anchoring instructions. When we approached where we were going to anchor Randy was out in his dinghy with a hand held depthsounder making sure "our" spot would be appropriate.  It is nice to have personalized harbor master service!  In the evening we had a potluck with 6 other people on MUTUAL FUN.

Saturday, Nov 5

BRRRRRR.  It is very cold. The temperature was in the 30s last night.  When we woke up it was 45 degrees inside the boat in Georgia. Global warming is not all it is cracked up to be.  We left at sunrise through skeins of sea smoke.  Beautiful, but cold. 

It stayed cold all day.  We were going to anchor for the night at Isle of Hope (aren't the names great down here?), but it was very crowded so we headed 7 miles south to Vernon River.  MUTUAL FUN made the same decision.  They came over for drinks and snacks and brought charts so we could talk about places to go in the Bahamas.  It was fun to have people over to our boat for a change.  The general rule on RONDO is two guests at a time, otherwise the water comes in the cockpit drains.   I hope the weather warms up soon!

Charleston to Beaufort, SC

We left Charleston on Monday morning before we ate too much of the incredible food.  We have a very small boat so we can't afford to be any bigger than we are.  The day was nice and warm and at times it was almost too hot.  We enjoyed having a relaxing day as we were only traveling about 37 miles and at times we had the tide with us for a change.  In the afternoon we had a stowaway.

Kermit the stowaway frog.

We were going to anchor for the night in Toogoodoo Creek because of the cool name, but continued on to Ashepoo Creek and enjoyed a very calm and relaxing night at anchor.

Tuesday was very cold with a north wind.  We ended up wearing everything we owned, foul weather gear, hats and gloves.  I know I sound like Goldilocks - first it was too hot, then it was too cold.  What a whiner. 

About noon time we came into Brickyard Creek. The guidebook directions were to favor the green side of the channel, which we did and promptly ran aground.  A little while later another boat, FLEETWING who apparently has the same book we have ran aground right next to us.  The next boat cleverly followed the middle of the channel where there was 10 feet of water.  Luckily the bottom is all sand and mud and it was calm in the creek so there was no danger and it was about 20 minutes until low tide so it wouldn't be too long of a wait for the 8 foot tide to float us off the mud.  We decided to make the best of the situation by having grilled sandwiches and a relaxing lunch.  When the tide came back the current was trying to push us aground again so Bill used the dinghy as a yawl boat and pushed the bow off while I backed the boat out of the mud bank and we were on our way again. Later in the afternoon we thought we had timed the Lady's Island Bridge perfectly. We motored up at 2:25 for the 2:30 opening. Unfortunately the guide book and the chart were out of date and the bridge didn't open until 3:00. The bridge is right before the anchorage and we were not in any great hurry so it was okay. When we finally did get into the anchorage at Beaufort is was a little crowded. After our third attempt at anchoring we were far enough away from everyone else, not in the channel, and the anchor held. We had a nice walk in town and ran into Lynn and Walt from IOLAR who had passed us while we were aground. They are very kind and were worried about us and had offerred to try to pull us off the mud.

Beaufort is a very beautiful and charming town.  Pictures do not do it justice.

Charleston

We have had a couple of fun days in Charleston.   Saturday morning Bill changed the oil in the engine and replaced a belt, then we walked around town for hours and had dinner at A.W. Shucks.  Sunday we spent the morning going to West Marine and grocery shopping.  In the afternoon we had two visits from Triton owners who came over to see RONDO.  We spent the evening walking around town and going out to dinner with Bob and Gail from STAR and Lynn and Walt from IOLAR.