Author: Phil

Up early this morning, but relaxing with coffee.  Can’t leave until 11 AM due to a very shallow area ahead that requires tidal help to get thru.  It is called Little Mud River and I don’t want to touch the bottom.  We made it thru and then picked up speed to make Turner Creek, near Savannah, where we have anchored for the first time on this boat.  It has been a 92 mile run today.  Launching the dinghy was really easy with our new Hurley Davits, but the little gas engine that I bought and tested did not make the grade — it only ran a very short time.  Good the dinghy has oars,  but we decided in heavy current where we anchored to try to get Maddie to do her business on board and not row the boat long distances in 4 knots of current.  Tonight is a bummer since we can’t use the dinghy to go ashore but we are enjoying the quiet of our first anchorage.

It does appear all boat issues are resolved and she is running great.

It rained on us and Carey is noticing lighting as we prepare for bed.  She’s out buttoning up the aft deck and I’m getting ready to turn the generator off and get us really for our first night at anchor.

Strange things happen on the water.  We encountered this at Morningstar Marina.  The picture below shows a one man boat that is powered by pedals (yes, like a bike with paddles) and/or a small sale.  A young man is taking this boat up the water way from Miami to Virginia.  I couldn’t believe it.  He has been at it for 4 weeks.   No idea when he will be seen in Virginia.  Amazing.

Great Georgia!  We had some issues with trusting the boat over the last few days and stopped for the day to verify all was well.  It was.  The diesel electrical mechanic I hired today found all was well.  The chart plotters are solid and the engines are fine.  What we found was the the Ft Pierce yard we stopped in at the beginning of this trip didn’t have the best electricians.  They diagnosed a simple neutral safely switch issue as a major problem, when it was not.  They diagnosed a simple loose connection to the chart plotters as a major corrosion problem.  It was not.  It may have been a bad breaker, but that is not confirmed.  Lesson learned.   Boat is in good shape and running well.  It’s a real shame to pay for problems that don’t exist.

Tomorrow we’re off for points north.  It was nice to have a day to rest and enjoy and verify that the boat is sound.  Really, we need to feel good about the boat and now we do.  We may be experiencing some foul weather for the next few days but we’ll deal with that.  Hey!  It’s boating.

We’re relaxed and enjoyed the day stopover.  Let’s see what happens next.  Here are two pictures, one from the water to land facilities at Morningstar and one from the land to the slips.  Nice place.  We’ll come again.

 

Hello Georgia.  We left St Augustine this morning at 9:00 AM and made a 100 mile transit to Morningstar Marina at St Simon’s Island, GA.  We traversed two spots that used to be very worrisome shoaling places where we always saw boats aground.  Thanks to the Army Corp sponsored dredging and active boaters who passed info on the current condition, these areas are less worrisome.  We passed the Fernandina Beach shoal area as well as the major issue at Jekyll Creek with no problem today due recent dredging and the recent safe tracks passed by Bob423 (avid ICW traveler and publisher of the best local routes along the way).   Pleasant trip on the boat, arriving at Morningstar marina at 5 PM.

We continue to experience minor problems or at least lack of confidence in some electrical issues — is this going to start today?  While they have not stopped us again as they did the first day, we have planned a lay day tomorrow here at Morningstar to relook at the electrical issues and ensure they are put to bed.  We’ll leave on Tuesday, after a relaxing day here in Georgia.

Here is a look at the conning station on the boat and the good size power CAT tied up behind us at Morningstar. See below and you will notice it was an overcast day today, that resulted in a very pleasant cool day on the water. Expecting rain tonight.

 

We left Titusville this morning after fueling and were underway in 20 knots of wind by 9:00 AM.  We made the 103 miles to St Augustine by 5:00 PM, passing thru the old nasty shoal area Ft Matanzas.  This time it was not bad.  The Army Corp of Engineers had the area dredged in 2019 and the new channel has been well documented by them and avid boaters such as Bob423 (handle of a couple who actively report on ICW water’s condition).  We used Bob423’s track thru the area and felt comfortable and secure that we’d make it thru — we did.

At the fuel dock we talked to a person on the boat ahead of us.  He was from Reston.  His grandfather knew Bob Blunt’s father and they may have had a partnership in some land deals, the details were unclear.   The real connection was that the grandfather was a fireman.  He knew Eddy Blunt who was a firefighter and Bob’s brother.  A small world.

We are now moored at Camachee Cove Marina on the north end of St Augustine.  We used their courtesy car to drive to Publix and a nice restaurant for dinner.  All in all a good day.  Tomorrow we’re off for Georgia.

So nice to be underway.  We left Harbor Town Marina, Ft Pierce at 8:30 AM headed north.  All appeared fixed, even though the electrician had to come to the boat to help start one of the chart plotters.  Later this day, I had to “tune” the ground wire to restart one of the plotters.  Not sure we had true professionals on the task.  I’m not a fan of the place that did the work on the boat.

Anyway, we’re up and running and moving north.  Had a great run on the boat today, covering 88 miles in 6 hours, tying up at Titusville City Marina. An amazing story awaited our arrival.  The town lost all internet connectivity today.   This may make national news — a town without internet — and we also heard that Orlando lost internet for the day!

We saw two old beautiful antique boats on the waterway today and enjoyed a look at our boat, backed into the slip at Titusville.   See pictures below.