Timed the Jekyll Creek so that we got there an hour before high tide and successfully navigated this shallow stretch of water without any groundings – yeehhhhaaa!
We missed Brunswick GA on our way south last fall and since we had heard good things about the place we decided to head 4 miles up river and tie up at Brunswick Landing Marina. We met up with Clyde and Sherri Leatherwood from Morado. Clyde is the guy who did all the electrical installations on Q during summer 2009.
Had a lovely meal at Cargo Port with a superb Syrah from Paso Robles, a 2005 “Niner”
It feels good to be in a place where the wine list has varietals selections instead of just “white” or “red”.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Friday 30 April, Pine Island – South of Jekyll Sound Fl, USA, felt like a lot of Miles.
Up early and headed for Fernandina Beach. We had planned to grab a mooring ball in Fernandina but they had a shrimp festival going on so both mooring field and Marina was full to the brim.
Oh well, we refueled the boat and kept heading north.
Maria the Navigator consulted Skipper Bob, a publication that lists and grades anchorages along the ICW, and came up with a few suggestions for a spot to anchor for the night.
She pointed out that there seemed to be a good spot at mile 710, the foolish skipper Jorgen wanted to keep heading north and ignored the advice of the navigator.
Skipper Bob recommend a spot at 704 at a creek named – Bollicky creek and skipper Jorgen thought it looked excellent about 300’ wide in the widest area with 12’ of water at MLLW.
Said and done, we drove the fat ship Q into the skinniest little creek she had ever been in and proceeded up to the widest area were all charts said we’d see 12’ of water at low tide.
You guessed it – we ran aground at 5 feet of water where it should have been 12 feet.
Oh well, we are getting experienced at running aground, opened a couple of beers and waiter for high tide. Somehow a dolphin managed to swim by us on the skinny side- very strange indeed.
One hour later we were off and headed north to and anchorage just south of Jekyll Sound,
Had the hook down at 19:00 and Whiskey poured at 19:01.
Stressful couple of days…. Definitely no barnacles on Q’s bottom at this stage
Oh well, we refueled the boat and kept heading north.
Maria the Navigator consulted Skipper Bob, a publication that lists and grades anchorages along the ICW, and came up with a few suggestions for a spot to anchor for the night.
She pointed out that there seemed to be a good spot at mile 710, the foolish skipper Jorgen wanted to keep heading north and ignored the advice of the navigator.
Skipper Bob recommend a spot at 704 at a creek named – Bollicky creek and skipper Jorgen thought it looked excellent about 300’ wide in the widest area with 12’ of water at MLLW.
Said and done, we drove the fat ship Q into the skinniest little creek she had ever been in and proceeded up to the widest area were all charts said we’d see 12’ of water at low tide.
You guessed it – we ran aground at 5 feet of water where it should have been 12 feet.
Oh well, we are getting experienced at running aground, opened a couple of beers and waiter for high tide. Somehow a dolphin managed to swim by us on the skinny side- very strange indeed.
One hour later we were off and headed north to and anchorage just south of Jekyll Sound,
Had the hook down at 19:00 and Whiskey poured at 19:01.
Stressful couple of days…. Definitely no barnacles on Q’s bottom at this stage
Thursday 29 April, Daytona Beach- Pine Island, Fl, USA, 55 Miles.
Left Daytona Beach around 07:00 in order to make the Matanzas Creek inlet as early as possible.
The Coast Guard had been broadcasting about some severe shoaling at the Matanzas creek inlet and we wanted to get there as early as possible.
Jorgen read the reports on cruisersnet.com and it called for staying 50-75 feet of the western shore at the troubled shoaling spot. So we did. And promptly ran aground. Hard. On a falling tide.
Had to call TowBoat US (we carry unlimited towing insurance), the lad came after forty minutes and yanked us off after much trouble and his 200 hp outboard at full blast.
The bad thing is that after the grounding our steering feels a bit stiff and we are a bit worried about damage to rudder and/or steering system.
Passed thru St Augustine and decided to give it a miss since we do not like the anchorages there and pressed on another 15 miles to Pine Island, a really nice anchorage with great holding
The Coast Guard had been broadcasting about some severe shoaling at the Matanzas creek inlet and we wanted to get there as early as possible.
Jorgen read the reports on cruisersnet.com and it called for staying 50-75 feet of the western shore at the troubled shoaling spot. So we did. And promptly ran aground. Hard. On a falling tide.
Had to call TowBoat US (we carry unlimited towing insurance), the lad came after forty minutes and yanked us off after much trouble and his 200 hp outboard at full blast.
The bad thing is that after the grounding our steering feels a bit stiff and we are a bit worried about damage to rudder and/or steering system.
Passed thru St Augustine and decided to give it a miss since we do not like the anchorages there and pressed on another 15 miles to Pine Island, a really nice anchorage with great holding
Wednesday 28 April, Daytona Beach, Fl, USA, 0 Miles.
Hung out in Daytona and walked the historical district, checked out a few of the local stores and had lovely breakfast at the Ivy Lane restaurant. We picked up provisions in the local Publix supermarket – we felt like kids in a candy store with all the freshly baked goods and fresh produce and yummy steaks – packed the trolley to the brim.
Tuesday 27 April, Cocoa Beach – Daytona Beach, Fl, USA, 60 Miles.
Denny and Rhonda, friends from Hampton Roads, were in Daytona Beach with their boat Adagio. We decided to stay in Daytona for a night and hook up with D&R for some libations. Dinner at the North End Restaurant a blast from the past when they raced the cars on the beach.
Monday 26 April, Vero Beach – Cocoa Beach, Fl, USA, 60 Miles.
Started to head up the ICW to a favorite anchorage just south of Cocoa Beach.
It was a very windy day with not many boats traveling. Our Chart Plotter decided to crap out again. It reboots itself every 5 minutes. Same thing happened during fall when we got down to this area of Florida. The Raymarine E120 chartplotter must have the same feeling about Florida as we do…or else NASA has some weird eddies in the atmosphere. We heard trains during the night , another strange sound
It was a very windy day with not many boats traveling. Our Chart Plotter decided to crap out again. It reboots itself every 5 minutes. Same thing happened during fall when we got down to this area of Florida. The Raymarine E120 chartplotter must have the same feeling about Florida as we do…or else NASA has some weird eddies in the atmosphere. We heard trains during the night , another strange sound
Saturday 24 April – Sunday 25 April, Vero Beach, Fl, USA, 0 Miles.
We took a rest day on Sunday and got the ship ready for coastal cruising, dinghy (Beast) off foredeck, motor on, up into the davits etc etc.
Dinghy operations across the creek and feasted on lunch at a local restaurant. It feels somewhat strange to be back in the States again, so civilized, so many people, shiny cars, tosser Florida power boaters and huge portions at restaurants (accompanied with large people who eat the hugeportions) – it was very strange hearing road traffic again.
Dinghy operations across the creek and feasted on lunch at a local restaurant. It feels somewhat strange to be back in the States again, so civilized, so many people, shiny cars, tosser Florida power boaters and huge portions at restaurants (accompanied with large people who eat the hugeportions) – it was very strange hearing road traffic again.
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