Titusville

Titusville

Tuesday Dec 15, 2020

We travelled past a trailer park today.  I noticed there were no Trump flags.  Maybe those who live there aren’t finding things quite so “great” in this country.  We tend to see lots of the “keep America great” and “no more bullshit signs” at the mini mansions with the docks and boats.  It seems everything is going “great” for those guys.

We left our strange anchorage in Rockhouse Creek fairly early.  Within a few miles we had to negotiate a bascule bridge with restricted opening times.  Once through that obstacle it was on to New Smyrna Beach.  We had a little confusion over the preferred route around an island and got on the wrong side of a red/green marker.  Thankfully, it wasn’t shallow on either side.  We had to beat ourselves up about that one!  

Then we were into a section called the Mosquito Lagoon.  There’s a name to start you scratching.... This area appears very wide with small islands (possibly dredged material).  However the reality is that the channel is quite narrow and the rest of the water is only 1-3 feet deep.  You can’t afford to lose focus.

After a long, fairly straight run the ICW takes an abrupt right turn into the Haulover Canal—a cut through to the Indian River.  I remember this section from 2012 because no sooner than you make the turn you see the Haulover Canal Bridge.  It has a clearance of 24 feet, nothing like adequate for our 62 ft mast.  Very quickly, you have to get on the radio to request an opening.  Right before we got to the bridge we saw 9.6 ft on the depth sounder.  Just a little extra excitement if the narrow cut and bridge transit weren’t elevating the heart rate quite enough.  The passage down the Indian River to Titusville went fairly smoothly. (We saw our first Roseate Spoonbills of the trip.)  We picked up a mooring at the Municipal Marina and plan to spend two nights here.

Gloria

28 37.610 N, 80 48.335 W

Not many photos today – actually just one! This afternoon we did go to shore with the aim of hiking to the nearest liquor store and stocking up on beer. It came down to a choice between carrying my camera (which is not light) or the beer … you can guess how that worked out.

A green marker (you can tell because it's square rather than triangular) marking the east side of the ICW channel in Mosquito Lagoon. Water for miles around, but only a 300 foot wide channel with any depth. The Cape Canaveral space center is on the barrier island to the east of this lagoon.

Rock House Creek – An anchoring experience to remember!

Rock House Creek – An anchoring experience to remember!

Monday 14th December

So this is how our day went … We were up at 6.15 am warming coffee to get us going and then agonizing about whether to move on or stay another day until the weather forecast was better. It wasn’t a bad forecast for today, just fairly stiff winds (10-20 mph) from the south west that we thought might add to the challenges of motoring 50 miles. In the end we decided to go for it and we are glad that we did. The journey was just fine. For the first two hours we had positive current that boosted our speed to more than 8 knots. The adverse wind didn’t really pick up until we were half way to our destination and it didn’t cause us any problems. We did encounter some shallow sections, most notably near the north cut to Ponce de Leon inlet where we saw 8.5 ft. The real excitement came when we turned into Rock House Creek to anchor. There were already a number of boats in the anchorage so we got squeezed between the north shore and the boats that were already there. The problem was getting turned around with the wind and strong current behind us and a narrow tapering channel in front. We turned to starboard so that when we hit reverse the propeller “walk” would pull us around … except with the wind on the bow we kept drifting sideways down this ever shrinking channel. The owner of one catamaran seemed a little concerned as we swept by, but we gunned the engine and powered around before dropping hook in our desired location. When all had settled down we ended up in the deepest section of water (11 feet at low tide) but closer to the shore than we have ever anchored previously (60 feet, a little more than one boat-length). As we have 80 feet of chain out it’s maybe just as well that the wind will not be pushing us towards this shore! Actually it’s perfectly fine. We just spent a wonderful half hour drinking a beer and eating chips, avocado and hot sauce. As the current changed to flood, some 3 hours after low, we gently swung around and are now facing the opposite way, still 60 feet offshore. What could possibly go wrong! 

Tonight we  had chicken tagine with rice and “duvet lifters” (Brussels sprouts) for dinner - delicious!

Mike

29 03.686 N, 80 55.902 W

I think these weird clouds, which we observed mid-way through our trip today, reflect the passing of a cold front, which in turn brought on the stronger winds

Rock House Creek anchorage - actually quite lovely!

Atmospheric!

Atmospheric!

Sunday December 13, 2020

We entered new territory today.  In 2012, we left St. Augustine and went outside to the Ponce de Leon inlet.  That inlet was notorious for shoaling at that time ... and we did run aground!  Certainly, all the information we could gather suggested that it’s not better now.  Rather than go outside, we have elected to stay inside for this stretch that we passed by last time.  Part of the challenge of this section is a lack of anchorages with decent depth.... Our options were to attempt a 64 statute mile trip to a good anchorage near New Smyrna or to break the journey into two parts. We elected to take a short hop (about 14 statute miles) to the Matanzas River today.

We awoke to thick fog at St. Augustine.  By about noon the fog had cleared off and the sun was out.  We got a bridge opening at 1:30—near to low water slack tide.  Once through the bridge we went into the fuel dock at the town marina.  After we were tied up a boat came in behind us and another one in front!  We may not have been the only ones trying to take advantage of the slack tide.  Masterful driving by Mike got us off the dock and on our way.  We had not gone far when the visibility started to close down.  So while it was new territory, we saw it looking very “atmospheric”.  There is something about seeing sunken boats and vessels lying on their side up on the marsh.  It gets my attention!  

We crept into the Matanzas River where there is shoaling near the entrance.  We saw 7.5 feet on the way in but are now anchored in about 12 feet of water at about the mid-point of the tide.  An early start tomorrow should get us over the shoals near high water.  Then it’s a long day ahead.  

Gloria 

29 43.075 N, 81 14.532 W

I actually took these two photos yesterday ... before it got all foggy !

A brown pelican taking off ... with the bridge of Lions in the background. This is the draw bridge we passed through at the start of our journey this afternoon ... it will open on the hour and half-hour.

A shrimp boat temporarily tied up to a set of pilings in the St Augustine inlet whilst it sorts out its tackle. Look at all the birds perched on the wires and in the air and water around it!

Crazy world

Crazy world

Saturday 12 December 2020

The death toll from Covid-19 in the USA has now surpassed 300,000 and more people have died as a result of the virus in each of the past three days than died in the 9/11 attacks. We’ve talked to a number of people on this trip that have downplayed the significance of the Covid pandemic. I wonder whether those same people doubt that 9/11 was real. Having walked around St Augustine today it does not surprise me that the infection rate in the USA has sky-rocketed to a quarter of a million new cases per day. In the tourist center of the town the streets, bars and restaurants were packed and maybe only half the people were wearing masks. It was the first time in a long time that we have felt really uncomfortable and wondered what the hell we were doing out and about. We left that area as quickly as we could. We wear our masks whenever we are close to other people even if we are outdoors and we aren’t going into bars or restaurants. But if the real benefit of wearing a mask is to limit the spread from an infectious person rather than protecting the person wearing it, then it’s pretty much useless if half the crowd isn’t wearing masks.  

Whilst I’m having a bit of a rant let me tell you about my experience this morning posting Christmas cards to my family. We arrived at the local post office and couldn’t see any post boxes outside, which is unusual. (It turned out there was one in the car park round the side, which we only saw on our way out). I went inside the building and spotted a large blue postal box. I placed my cards on the tray and pulled the level to tip them into the box. As the tray rotated it revealed a large notice, previously hidden inside, saying “parcels only, no letters”. I ask you, what’s the f…ing point of putting the sign in a place where you only read it when it’s too late! I joined the queue to try and talk to someone at the desk but soon realized that I’d be standing in a line for half an hour with about six inches between customers … so I gave up. It will be interesting to see if the cards ever arrive.

Other than that it’s been a great day! 

Mike

29 53.954 N, 81 18.482 W

St Mary's baptist church

Cloisters in the Sisters of St Joseph convent

Cloisters in the Lightner museum courtyard. This building was formerly a top notch hotel built by Henry Flagler for rich patrons from the north who travelled south on his railroad to Florida for the winter

Christmas lights in the park 

Art sale in the ope air market

Visiting St. Augustine

Visiting St. Augustine

Friday December 11, 2020

After a slow start, we got the outboard onto the dinghy and motored to the marina.  This trip had the added excitement of getting to go under the drawbridge!  Once we had tied up we spotted “Tiger Bay” in a slip.  (They were making the same passage yesterday and Mike got some photos!) We went over to say hello and had a nice chat with them.  Jeff and Debbie are from Ontario and / or upstate New York and took their boat from the Great Lakes to Granada and then back to the US over 20 months.  Covid-19 closure of the Bahamas, two days before their planned arrival, forced them to make a 7-day passage from Puerto Rico to Florida.  Previously, their longest voyage had been 30 hours!  They had left their boat on the hard in the St. Mary’s, Georgia area for the summer.  Now they are back aboard and contemplating a winter in Florida.  

After our chat we went to the fort—The Castillo de San Marcos.  From the gun deck, there is a fantastic view of the inlet and the surrounding islands. One of the signs mentioned that when attacking ships entered the inlet, they would be bow to the fort.  That meant they were unable to use their guns (need to turn broadside) but taking fire from the fort’s cannons.  It was reminiscent of the book I recently read about the battle for Fort George (Castine, Maine) during the Revolutionary War.

While we were on the upper level we heard that there was going to be a SpaceX rocket launch from Cape Canaveral at 12:55 pm.  Naturally, we had to hang around for that!  Minutes went by with nothing to be seen.  Eventually there was another announcement that the launch had been scrubbed.  We wandered off to find lunch. 

Maybe it just wasn’t our day. The whole downtown area was experiencing a power outage.  From what we heard, a truck had hit a pole and lines were down.  The restaurants with outdoor seating all seemed to be closed.  Eventually we had to resort to Australian meat pies from a coffee shop.  It kept the wolf from the door, which was good enough.  Our post-prandial stroll took us to a lovely looking church –Presbyterian (I think).  Mike remembers being there before.  It all seemed new to me!

Gloria

29 53.954 N, 81 18.482 W

St Augustine inlet from the Castillo de San Marcos - Cotinga at anchor on the right 

Canon on the walls of Castillo de San Marcos with Cotinga the middle of three boats well within range!

A storage room within the castle

The beautiful Presbyterian church in St Augustine

A hibiscus flower in the gardens of the church

A lizard in the gardens of the church - the photo illustrates the depth of field challenges of a macro lens!

Unfortunately the light was not as spectacular as the previous evening due to low cloud on the horizon, but maybe this video gives you a sense of how lovely it is in this anchorage off the Castillo de San Marcos as night arrives

Oooogh … I’ll have some of him!

Oooogh … I’ll have some of him!

Thursday 10th December 2020

Today’s sixty-mile passage along the coast went well. We were up at 4.30 am, raised the mainsail whilst on the mooring and set out shortly after 5 am in the dark. Once out of the St Mary’s inlet we turned south and with 10 knots of breeze from the west we had a couple of hours of fine sailing on a beam reach. Sadly the wind faded and even with our “code zero” gennaker deployed we couldn’t make decent speed, so for the following six hours we motor-sailed on glassy seas. We did see lots of gannets, terns, dolphins and a sea turtle. Following the directions of a local Tow Boat US captain, we came in through the St Augustine inlet with caution. It’s heavily shoaled and all but one of the navigational markers are missing. It’s certainly not a class-A inlet but we never saw any shallow water and we are now we anchored off the fort in St Augustine, Florida.

We spent several days here in December 2012, but until we saw a pirate ship go by, I had forgotten that they have pirate cruises. It brought back memories that I had taken a photo of one of these "pirates" here in St Augustine and showed it at an Art Exhibition in Sudbury the following year. It was one of several portraits in a slide show rolling on my computer screen that I was using to try and encourage potential customers to sign up to have their portraits taken. However, a delightful elderly lady took one look at the photo of the pirate and said “Oooogh … I’ll have some of him”! She then commissioned me to make a print of the pirate that I delivered to her home a few days later. I thought it was hilarious!

I realize that I am hardly taking any “people pictures” on this trip, which is a little bit me reverting to what is comfortable, but also because of Covid we aren’t interacting with many people. I should try harder!

Mike

29 53.954 N, 81 18.482 W

The "pirate" - 2012 photo

Following "Tiger Bay" as we start sailing south

"Tiger Bay" shortly before sunrise

Sunrise off Fernandina Beach

A charter sailing vessel just inside the St Augustine inlet - photographed from our anchorage

St Augustine at night. This photo does not do justice to how spectacular the city looks at sunset

We move to Fernandina Beach

We move to Fernandina Beach

Wednesday December 9, 2020

After breakfast, we pulled up the anchor and motored across the St. Mary’s inlet to Fernandina Beach.  There were two reasons to do this.  The first was that Cumberland Island’s Wilderness area was closed (due to hunting), so that we had mostly explored the parts of the island to which we could have access.  The second is that we hope to make a very early departure tomorrow morning (for an outside passage to St. Augustine) and feel it would be easier to drop the mooring line rather than pull up and clean the anchor in the dark.

Having secured the boat to the mooring, we went ashore for a walk around the town.  We found a deli that had a few tables outside in the sun and had sandwiches for lunch. After eating, we took a bit of a walk around the town.  I can remember landing in Fernandina in 2013 after our passage from Nassau.  We were so excited to see ice cream shops.  Of course, we had to have some.  Today with a cool breeze blowing there was no interest in ice cream.  Instead it was hot coffee that captured our interest.  

Having returned to the boat, we made some preparations for the morning... The outboard engine is back on the rail of the big boat; we will tow the dinghy on our passage outside. We removed the sail cover.  Hopefully we’ll be in good shape in the morning. I’m guessing that  waking up at 4 am will be difficult ...

p.s we made it to Florida! 

Gloria

30 40.337 N, 81 28.129 W

Four views, ~ 90o apart, from our mooring off Fernandina Beach, all taken within 15 minutes of each other ...

Looking ~ east ... the waterfront and City Marina at Fernandina Beach 

Looking ~ west ... another cruiser anchored in the Amelia River just outside the mooring field 

Looking ~ north ... The large industrial paper mill "West Rock"

Looking ~ south ... A second large industrial complex