Before and After New Years Eve

Today is January 4, 2016

December 27, 28, 29, 2015

Coordinates 30 67073N, 81 46622

Fernandina Beach, FL

Mile 717

December 29, 2015

Coordinates 30 44045N, 81.43512W

Fort George, FL 

Mile735

December 30, 2015

Coordinates 29.8885N, 81.30738W

St. Augustine, FL

Mile 777

January 4, 2016

Still in St. Augustine

We arrived in St. Augustine late in the afternoon on the 30th and picked up a mooring but before I tell you about loosing another boat hook, I want to tell you about our anchorage in Fort George, FL. 

I think that I have told you before about Active Captain, but I am not sure, so I will give a brief reminder.  First let me tell you that as far as I can see, if you are a boater and have not heard of Active Captain you should drive to Florida, not boat.  Active Captain is like a nautical tour guide down the ICW and the coastal waters.  There is an AC website and info on the GPS with updates regularly about shoaling (sneaky sand bars), good anchorages and why, and anything to watch for under the deep blue waters.  You know what “by the people for the people” means, well that is the case with the AC I disagree that this was a nice place to anchor.

A  national park, Kingsley Plantation, is on Fort George Island where slaves were brought by ship and processed for selling, a very sobering experience. The Plantation is still there and a national monument stands to honor the people.  Rob asked the park ranger how long it would take to walk around the island, “oh about 3 hours”.  Rob pointed out to the ranger that the sign on the dinghy dock limits dockage to 59 minutes. We left on our dinghy.

We anchored as well as our friends in this “lovely spot”, we thought we found a good anchorage.  Making this a very short and painless story I will tell you that our dinghy stopped short on a sandbar twice and once I had to get out and walk the dinghy off the bar. The other time we used our motor as an auger digging our own little ICW. We took our dinghy to a beach, you will see a cute picture we found there.

I do have to tell you the place we landed was small. The four of us got out to walk the island, both Rob and I had shoes and the other couple were barefoot.  All of us came across tiny prickly plants that stuck to feet, shoes and ankles.  I turned around to see 5 young barefoot kids, the leader being about 7, heading down the same path we had taken.  I looked at him and nonchalantly told him to watch out for the pricklies.  With his hands in the air and a screech in his voice he turned and yelled pricklies, pricklies and all the children stood there terrified, then turned and ran.  I still wonder what that word meant to him.

On our return to the boat after this little excursion we found our friend’s sail boat aground.  We joined dinghies and pulled it off.

The no-see-ums, or in the south calls them gnats, were just awful.

After Fort George we had a nice trip to St. Augustine.

On the 31st Ed took us to do many errands and Rob to the VA.  I just loved seeing Ed again. I had forgotten just how much I had known about his family, including his grandparents, it was incredible to get caught up.  We thought that we were asking a lot of him, so maybe we should rent a car, I am very glad that we didn’t.

Two of the other boats carrying some very neat friends were here, so we dinghied (new word) to see them and found out about fireworks on the beach on Anastasia Island. They were all headed to a party, which we did not attend.  Fortunately, we sat outside on our boat at 9:00 at night in shorts and T-shirts to watch about 20 minutes of beautiful fireworks.

When our friends were on the way to the party they were stopped by the “water police”. Our friend Hannah tells a really funny store about the incident but it is her story to tell.  Everything was fine the police were stopping a lot of boats.

Back to the boat hook.  We have not moored for a long time so I was out of practice, actually I have always been bad at it.  Long story short. I caught the hook in the mooring ball and couldn’t hold on or free it against the current.  We are looking into a boat hook that allows you to thread the rope through the mooring with the boat hook. We heard about it from a friend who told me she knew an elderly couple that needed that hook.  I don’t know where I stand in that. Elderly? 

We just came back from dinner with our friends from home.  It has been a long time since we have been with Ed, David, Lenny and Barbara. We also met new friends.

In a couple of days the weather has turned from in the 80’s to in the 50’s so the heat comes back on and warm blankets are on the bed.

We have met a really wonderful couple on our trip and today I learned that she will be published in Good Old Boat magazine, a respected boat magazine.  We are very proud to have met such a bright delightful couple.  This young woman can doodle, I guess you would call it or drawings, the most intricate designs. We may not see them again because they left for the Bahamas but we keep in touch by texting and email.

Today is the 4th and we are finally going to be able to take our friends out in the boat.  It has been nasty weather up until today, a predicted sunny day.

How does Rob have his hair cut?  You will see.

Tricia

Hair cut day

Captain Rob changes the oil, takes a good part of the morning

Not so Frosty

Glass mosaic mannequins

One day's sunrise