Saturday, November 24, 2012


Nov. 16 Around mid morning, we came into the marina and settled in for the night. They have a “loaner” car so we were able to go get some groceries. Afterwards, we had lunch at the nice restaurant overlooking the marina. Our friends Gail and Scott Ledbetter, whom we see each time we come to St. Simon’s island, joined us aboard for dinner and lively conversation. We both know them from Greenwich when we were children.

Nov. 17 Another gray day and we decided to go on the outside down to the St. Mary’s river. It was sloppy and windy and we rocked and rolled the whole way down. One really big waves and the toaster oven went flying. Our destination was the town of St. Mary’s and our mission was to visit some cruising friends who live there. The interesting part of the trip is the fact that our electronic charts don’t have many if any depths,etc. that far up the river! and neither do our paper charts! We found there were actually some red and green buoys along the way and we decided to anchor just short of town where our charts stopped. Dinner and early to bed to sleep perchance to dream of sun and calm seas in the Bahamas.

Nov. 18 Our friends were delayed with family so we took the tender into town and walked around. Lunch was at an outdoor cafe and delicious. The sun was actually out and the temperature cool but nice. After lunch, we took the tender the 7 miles over to Fernandina Beach to check out where we were going to fuel up the next day. Back at the boat, we got a call from our friends telling us they were back in town and there was a cruisers’ cocktail party in a hotel there. We took the tender in and walked to the hotel and walked into the bar area and right into a neighbor from Mystic who lives in our condo complex no less! She had just retired and was going to spend the winter cruising with her boyfriend. Small world. After cocktails, we had a nice quiet dinner with our friends at a restaurant nearby. 

Nov. 19 Took the boat over to the fuel dock and filled up in record time and at a record low price too. Afterwards, we went down the ICW about 10 miles and anchored in a wide creek with some other boats. Later in the evening, I noticed a masthead light right by the boat and realized there was a small sailboat right next to us. Where did he come from? I think we came together when we both turned 180 with the change in tidal current. We waited a while to see if we would separate a bit but it wasn’t happening. Everything got turned on and we brought up the anchor and moved to a better spot. During all of this noise and movement, not a sound was heard from the small sailboat. What sound sleepers they are!

Nov. 20 First thing in the morning we saw that some friends on another trawler called Valkerie were coming down the ICW right by us. We radioed them and asked them to lead us down the next stretch to the St. John’s river where we planned to go out. The agreed and did a great job of letting us know where the shallow spots were. There were several and I think we dug a new channel in a few places. They dropped us off at the river and we headed down it to the sea. The waves were not horrible and I had battened down all the hatches and the toaster oven. As we were passing St. Augustine, John told me we had to go in so he could fix a fuel airlock issue. We were only about an hour off shore so it didn’t take long to get there. The channel in is always thrilling and doing it into the sun is even more. It takes one person looking for the buoys and one person to steer/ surf in through the waves. The channel is not straight but has several turns to it. We anchored in our usual place and John was able to fix the problem pretty quickly. We decided to spend the night and leave for Ft. Pierce the next morning.

Nov. 21 The sun was out again which made going out through 8-10ft incoming waves in the channel a bit more bearable. The seas outside were still big but spaced out so we could rock and roll with them and we did for the next 22 hours all the way to Ft. Pierce. We finally arrived at 5 am and anchored in our usual spot by the Pelican Yacht Club. 

Nov. 22 Turkeyday! After a nice nap and a long shower, we dressed and took the dinghy in to the yacht club. Marcy Porter, a friend from Mystic, picked us up and took us to her condo at the Moorings in Vero Beach. Her son and his family were visiting and we all had a delicious thanksgiving dinner. They dropped us back at the dinghy, we went to the boat, raised the dinghy,  and went to bed. I think it was about 7pm. 

Nov. 23 Sunny again! I could get used to this. After sleeping 12 hours, we took off for Lake Worth by Palm Beach. This was a quick run as the current was with us the whole time even if the seas were still big. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and anchored in a spot just off the channel where we had anchored last year. 

Nov.24 Sunny yet again. I am seeing a trend. This time we were on our way to Ft. Lauderdale. The current was against us but the waves were much better. A big pod of spotted and white sided dolphins joined us and played off the bow for a long time. Coming into Ft. Lauderdale on a Saturday afternoon is not for the faint of heart! There are so many crazy “knats” of all sizes that get in your way. We had to wait by one bridge for a few minutes with everyone going hither and thither. We were very glad to be finally anchored in our secret spot. This is truly a place with the most yacht eye candy in the world. We saw Cakewalk(281ft), Seven Seas (Steven Spielberg’s 281ft), Tenacious (large beautiful blue sailboat), Tuscan Sun, and Copacetic (expedition boat) along our route. These are all boats we know from the Exumas. 


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