From Stuart, Florida to Annapolis, MD
Crew: Jason, Nancy, Radar
Pre-Great Loop Trip: 1,000 Miles from Stuart, Fl to Annapolis, MD
Friday, March 31st, 2023 After a couple days of last minute punch list items, like fixing a fiberglass ding on the lazarette hatch, and adding a buzzer to the anchor drift alarm, so we can actually hear it when it sounds, we departed. Although not without a trial. Nancy had dropped the big round loop over the bow piling instead of cinching it (i.e. luggage tag style).
Well the boat next to us put his bow line and his forward spring over top of ours. Usually that is not such a huge deal, but it was dead low tide so the top of the piling was well above Nancy's reach and there was enough wind so that both of his lines (ropes) were under pressure. He was a big, tall 65 footer and we didn't think we could hold his lines just in our hands. He was high sided, so we couldn't just step on his boat and adjust them. We could reach his mid cleat, so we took off one of our spring lines and used it as a spring for him. Then we switched his spring line to a different forward piling.
Fortunately, Scott, one of the guys who was working on our boat saw us and came over to help. Nancy was at the helm, because Jason was tall enough to reach the top of the piling. Jason and Scott managed to swap the lines while Nancy kept the boat a foot off the leeward piling and we were freed! Scott hopped off before Nancy left the slip entirely.
Nancy had never had lines with a loop big enough to drop over a piling until this boat. She had noticed that a lot of the other trawlers used the loops, so she had. Turns out that they only use the loops on the aft pilings, which are rarely shared with another boat. Nancy vowed to go back to her old style of securing lines to pilings! We even manage to make the 2pm bridge (just barely). That morning we had gone to Chapmans Marine Supply, one of the mecca stores for mariners on the East Coast and stocked up on must have maintenance items.
Had a nice run up the Intracoastal Waterway (It was too windy to go out in the ocean). We docked at Safe Harbor Harbortown Marina. They put us on the fuel dock right next to Skippers restaurant, where we had a nice dinner overlooking the marina. Luckily, they closed at 10pm.
There was a cool Egret Rookery with hundreds of white egrets on it 100 yards from the boat with large pelicans swooping around the boat, driving Radar a little crazy.
Sat. April 1, 2023 Got off the dock at 8am. Once again it was too windy to go outside so we decided to do a long day on the ICW and make some mileage so that we had more time to explore later. Turns out the 26 foot bridge only had 22 feet of clearance, so we lowered our mast using our new hydraulic lift. Very cool. After a MBI over switches, (MBI = Marital Boating Incident) cooling off was needed afterwards. ;-) Pretty typical day on the ICW. Lots of speeding up and slowing down, lots of very long narrow channels, keeping the helmsmen on their toes. Many sightings of dolphins today.
We passed by Melbourne, where we rented a house with Colin a few years years ago. Lots of small islands from dredging the channel with white sand beaches and palm trees.
There were many small boaters out enjoying themselves. It opened up and we were able to speed up to 18 kts. Saw Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building in the distance. If you've ever seen a NASA space launch, you've seen that building.
Nancy had aimed for going to Titusville, but when it looked like we would arrive there after lunch, I decided we could push another 30 miles to New Smyrna, although
almost the entire section was 6 miles per hour, so it was going to take us several more hours. I called four different marinas and they all had no slips available, most of them responding in a tone that implied I
was an idiot for asking on a Saturday.
There were only 2 small anchorages in that
stretch that were most likely going to be
overcrowded, so we decided to
play it safe and stay at Titusville Marina.
It was a nice marina with lots of "project" boats and live aboards. Also some interesting boat decor--view pic on right. Supposedly there is a 4 year waiting list if you want a permanent slip there. Right next door was a dog park where Radar enjoyed playing with the other dogs. Dined on grilled steak, rice and peas.
April 2, St. Augustine, Fl It was still blowing strongly from the North, so we continued up the ICW. There was a long straight section with houses on one side and marsh on the other. Army Corps of Engineers likes their straight lines! It was a long, slow day.
We picked up a mooring ball at St. Augustine. Nancy took Radar ashore and explored town a little bit. Because it was a Sunday, the town was packed with tourists. Radar achieved rock star status. We couldn't go down a block without at least 7-8 people commenting on Radar or asking to pet him. It made me realize what it must be like for movie stars to have people commenting on your every move.
St. Augustine, one of the oldest cities in the US, had beautiful live oak trees covered with Spanish moss. It felt a lot like Annapolis, except the architecture was more German and Spanish than colonial. (pic above from web)
The next morning, the three of us went into town and visited the fort, which was a National Park site, but they didn't allow dogs, so we walked around on the outside. There was no restaurants with outside seating serving breakfast, so Nancy went into a small diner and ordered some sandwiches to go while Jason dealt with a whining, unhappy Radar, who did not like be separated from mommy. Sat on a bench overlooking the harbour and the Lions Bridge with a suddenly well behaved dog once he smelled sausage.
Saw Better Together on our way out. They were loopers we met in Key Largo and we will both be in NYC the last week of May. Turns out they were also going to Fernandina Beach, but were getting a mooring.
April 3, Fernandina Beach, Fl After exploring St. Augustine Monday morning, we headed north to Fernandina Beach, which is just shy of the Florida Georgia border. Nancy worked for a few hours as Jason sped up and slowed down for a variety of boats and six mile per hour zones. We got into pretty shallow water at one point, where the green marker was basically up against the shore and Jason was a little too cautious on the approach, finding it hard to believe the channel was so close to shore, especially when the chart showed the marker more towards the center. However, it was, and we would have known that if Nancy had the latest Army Corps of Engineers surveys overlay on Aqua Map.
Stayed at the Oasis Marina at the fuel dock. Very convenient to main street and for walking the dog. Fernandina Beach was an adorable town with interesting shops which we will have to explore next time. It does have two paper mills which while not overpowering, was still not pleasant and we got our full introduction to the infamous no-see-ums, which covered the boat.
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