Passing the Fort while leaving St. Augustine.
Sunset at Gunnison Cut - our second time visiting here.
Underway from Gunnison Cut.
Docked on the inside of the maind dock at Fernandina.
Sunset at Fernandina Harbor Marina.
Leg 39 - Gunnison Cut Anchorage
Yesterday was another fun day in St. Augustine. We walked around town for a bit and then took a tour of the Colonial Experience. It was like a mini Williamsburg but for the original settlement of Spanish St. Augustine. The rest of the afternoon was checking out the shops on St. George Street topped by another visit to the fort. We had an early dinner reservation at the Columbian restaurant which had food from all the different Hispanic countries. We had appetizers that reminded us of our travels in Spain and dinner of Paella. We topped it off with some very excellent Flan. After dinner we strolled around the scenic town people watching trying to walk off dinner. Finally back at the boat we readied what we could for today’s trip and then, after face timing with Jen, we called it boaters midnight.
So, that brings us to this morning. It was a nice day to get underway with winds from the East 10-16. We started with bacon and eggs, toast, coffee, and a fruit cup. We cast off our lines as the bridge was opening so I spun out of the marina and raced to get in line just is time to make the opening. Then we collected the lines, stowed the fenders and tidied up the cockpit. After clearing the bridge, I deployed the jib and we were on our way north again. We traveled through areas with nice houses and then areas with very extravagant houses until reaching St. Johns River around Jacksonville where we saw nothing but grasses and trees and nature. A nice change after the craziness of southern Florida. We arrived at Sister’s Creek earlier than anticipated thanks to the assistance of the wind and decided to go to Gunnison Cut, north of Sawpit Creek. The tide was still rising so all was great. Coming south we had to wait for a rising tide to get through Sawpit Creek. It took a few times to get the anchor to catch, but finally we managed to hook the bottom. We are in the anchorage with one other boat, so all is well. We have to get used to large tidal swings and strong currents again. Right now the current running under the boat is 2.6 knots. Tonight we are having grilled London broil, grilled vegetables, and sautéed potatoes and onions along with a nice red wine. Hopefully if the sky is clear we can check out the stars before turning in early. Tomorrow we are headed to Fernandina Harbor Marina for 2 days as we have a reservation for an authentic Spanish restaurant (which I had to make 2 weeks ago and choose between 9:00 pm or 9:45 pm time frames – the only remaining ones). Hopefully, we can walk around town a little more than the last time we were there, as it was rather cold and a bit rainy then.
Leg 40 - Fernandina Harbor Marina
It was a quiet night on the hook. The current was strong and swung us around, but the wind kept us in check. Breakfast was cereal and coffee in the cockpit watching nature and early fishermen. Then we cleaned up, weighed anchor and off we went for the short 12 mile trip to the Fernandina Marina. We took our time due to a low tide and also not to arrive too early. The winds were still from the ENE but they were only 5-8 knots so it wasn’t worth pulling out the jib. However, it is interesting to note as we leave Florida after Fernandina, that we motored sailed quite efficiently through out Florida from Fort Pierce to here. Easy on the diesel consumption! The temperature was a comfortable 72 under a partly sunny sky. Docking went well and we prepared lunch and relaxed in the cockpit watching others go about their day. We did a few chores in the afternoon but mostly relaxed. Sue did some replenishment from the local Publix using Instacart. Last time the guy delivered right to the boat but for some reason that did not happen, so I ran to the parking lot with a cart and returned with our order. It came much sooner than they predicted so we stowed everything quickly hoping not to disturb the freezer too much. We had a late dinner at Espana (Spanish for “Spain”). The food was authentic (tapas, paella, sangria) and provided great memories of the years we lived in Spain. It was a late dinner (we finished around 10 PM), so we took a leisurely walk home in the cool evening air amid the town’s decorative lights. We sat in the cockpit for a while before heading down for a real time boaters midnight. Today we have laundry to do and planning for the next few days. I plan out our trips on my laptop with the chart plotter software so that we have a route to follow while underway. Tomorrow, if the weather is good, we plan to exit into the ocean for about 14 miles and return back to the ICW south of Jekyll Island. Since the seas are supposed to be calm and the light winds in a favorable direction, we thought it would be a good time to get our first shoreline ocean passage. Then we plan on enjoying Jekyll Island for one day and head out to Brunswick. After that? Georgia. Georgia is 8-9 foot tides making travel in some areas very challenging and planning ahead essential. So, that is what I will be dealing with today. Hopefully I will get the next 10 days planned out. This afternoon we plan to enjoy this sunny day, light winds and 75 degree weather walking about town and checking out the shops.