A Tale of Two Chemists

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

We make it to Florida … Wednesday 21 November 2012

We awoke to clear blue skies and spent some the over breakfast trying to figure out how far to try to travel today. Although we really liked being on the dock at Brunswick Marina we figured it was best to head on rather than wait an extra day and have to depart on Thanksgiving morning. We left the dock at about 9.30 am with the aim of getting to Fernandina Beach in Florida, but with some fall back anchorages along the way. There was a brisk north wind blowing and we were again able to power sail with the help of the genoa for much of the day. Crossing St Andrews Sound takes you right out to the ocean inlet to avoid shoaling and this section was as bumpy as any we have encountered on the ICW to date. After that we passed behind Cumberland Island, out into Cumberland sound, past the Kings Bay submarine base and finally across St Mary's inlet to Fernandina Beach. We arrived about 3.15 pm having completed another 35 miles. Neither Gloria or I had heard of Fernandina Beach before this trip, but it's the most northerly anchorage in Florida and a key destination for cruisers. Arriving here was a major milestone - we are now at mile 716 on the ICW and have covered about 1150 miles since leaving Rhode Island at the end of September. For the first time since Annapolis we have taken a mooring. It is in a great location in front of the town marina and comes at a good price of $20 per night including use of the marina facilities and dinghy dock. Somewhat to our surprise the area surrounding the town has a lot of heavy industry, including what looks like a very large paper mill. However, the town looks nice from the very quick look around this afternoon. We will stay at least two nights and celebrate Thanksgiving here.

Mike

30 40 21.7 N, 81 28 07.7 W