Daytona Beach to St. Augustine
After resolving a couple of electrical issues and waiting for the rains to slow a bit, it was time to say goodbye to Daytona Beach and continue north. We’d spent a week here, met some wonderful new friends (thanks Gordan and Kim on s/v Current Jumper for all your help), had some great meals, attended a minor-league baseball game and a Jimmy Buffett Tribute concert on the beach. We’ll be back one day soon!
After a stop at the fuel dock to fill with diesel, we headed out the marina channel, turned left and re-entered the ICW with our sights on St. Augustine, one of our favorite cities. After a one-night stopover at Palm Coast Marina (and a terrific Mediterranean-style meal at a restaurant named Balboa), we had an easy twenty-five mile passage up to the mooring field off downtown St. Augustine.
The oldest city in the country, this is a must visit place. So, if you’ve never been to St. Augustine, put it on your list.
We’ve been here before several times by car and have often stood on the fort wall looking out at the boats moored off this old city, and dreaming of visiting one day by boat. This was truly a magical moment for us to see our boat out among all the others and knowing we made this dream come true.
Our passage up from Daytona Beach and our three-day St. Augustine visit could not be fairly described with words. We’ll leave it to the pictures below to describe our time here. Enjoy.
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St. Augustine to Fernandina Beach
Our next destination was Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, an easy two-day passage up the ICW from St. Augustine. We planned for an overnight anchorage north of Jacksonville, just north of the Sister’s Creek Bridge. We arrived early in the afternoon, set our anchor, and for several hours were the only boat in the anchorage. At about midnight we noticed another sailboat had come in and was anchored about a hundred yards from us.
This turned out to be a horrible anchorage, as the winds and tidal currents conflicted causing the two boats in the anchorage to drift randomly around their chains. We were both up most of the night making certain we didn’t collide with the other boat. We departed Sister’s Creek Bridge right after the crack of dawn.
A couple of miles north we experienced a first for us. We went aground!
We were lazily motoring along, dead-center in the middle of the marked channel, when suddenly we came to an immediate stop. There was no question as to the reason. We had inadvertently discovered an unmarked shoaling area during low tide. All attempts at backing off were fruitless. There was another sailboat following us about a half mile back. We tried to radio him with a warning but he didn’t have his radio on. When he got close enough to see us waving our arms at him, he frantically tried to maneuver around us … just as he went aground also!
So, there we were, all dressed up in sailboat and nowhere to go.
He rowed over in his dinghy and suggested calling TowBoatUS to come haul the both of us off. I looked at the tide tables and determined we were on a rising tide and thought it best to wait it out for a while. After all, by the time TowBoatUS got to us, we would probably be at high tide and off the bottom. Sure enough, an hour later we both suddenly drifted off the shoal and continued on our way north.
So, you can now put a check mark next to “go aground” on the list of things to do for John and Jane.
The rest of the trip into Fernandina Beach was uneventful. This is another fun little city that needs another visit from us. We spent two nights moored about a quarter mile off the town center with several other boats and, after a short dinghy ride ashore, had a great time visiting the numerous small shops, bookstores and restaurants in town.
We had some stimulating conversations with fellow cruisers moored next to us that we gathered with ashore. One, a nice couple getting ready for some extended cruising outside the U.S., and the other a single-hander just returning from several months cruising the Abacos Islands, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands. We were once again impressed by the gracious support from cruisers with tons of experience. They seemed to be as interested in our very limited cruising story as we were in their extensive cruising pedigrees. We hope that one day, once we’ve gained some experience, we can do the same for those new to cruising.
As before, the pictures below can do a better job than words of describing this part of our journey.
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Checking in on you kids looks like your have the time of your life. Be safe everyone here says hello Oh, don’t forget to brush and floss.
I look forward to your postings! So happy for the two of you to be following your dream.
Happy sailing.
Love your trip and written description of your adventure.
If you decide to stop in Charleston, DO go to a restaurant called The Peninsula Resturant for diner or at least a desert. Truly a dining experience! A little pricey, call ahead for a reservation. You’ll love it. They have a coconut cake that is renowned, just get 1 piece and split it it’s huge and delicious
Can’t wait for your next post.
John, it’s OK for you to use the camera all you want…..
Thanks, Tom. I moved your comment to the correct post. We’ll put your restaurant suggestion on the list.
And … you know me well enough to know I’ll keep the camera at the ready (strictly for documentation purposes, of course!)