N.O.L.S.

N.O.L.S.

Wednesday 24th March 2021

What’s worse than getting up in the dark at 6.30 a.m. for the third day in a row? The answer is getting up at 6.00 a.m. because you can’t sleep and you are waiting for the alarm to go off! Life seemed a little better once we had coffee inside us and we pulled up the anchor in Rockhouse Creek at around 7.15 am. We wanted to get as early a start as possible to make use of the high tide (5.30 am) to clear some shoal areas north of the Ponce de Leon Inlet. In fact it all turned out fine and we cruised through with relatively little stress. After passing a sequence of five bridges and covering about 12 miles there is an anchorage just off the ICW and we pulled over, dropped the hook and cooked up some eggs, sausages and toast for breakfast. Life seemed a lot better after that! We spent the rest of the day motoring up north in almost calm conditions, pulling in to the Palms Coast marina in the middle of the afternoon to pump out our holding tank (vital) and to fill up with diesel (not so important). It all went well and we are now empty and full respectively.

The journey was quite scenic with lagoons, woodlands and marshes along with some sections where there are beautiful homes next to the water. We saw lots of dolphins, herons, egrets and osprey. Perhaps the most exciting part of the day was being able to schedule an appointment for a Covid vaccination! If all goes well, on Friday morning Gloria and I will get our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. 

Now we are anchored in the Matanzas inlet. The entrance to this channel is shallow and currents run quite strongly (~2 knots) but we seem to be secure and are happy to be here. We have covered ~180 miles over the past 3 days. You might be interested to know that even though we have been motoring pretty solidly our fuel consumption is still less than a gallon an hour. We only have ~ 14 miles to go to St Augustine where we plan to spend the rest of March.

Anyone who has done a course with the National Outdoor Leadership School knows that N.O.L.S. really stands for No Official Lunch Supplied and so it was today on Cotinga. After our hearty breakfast all we ate for lunch was half a "manky" banana and a nectarine. The former is what you get when someone (not me) cuts up a banana, eats half of it and leaves the rest! It’s no surprise that we were starving by the time that Gloria’s amazing meatloaf was ready for dinner and it really was fantastic!

Mike

29 43.046 N, 81 14.481 W

Sunrise in Rockhouse Creek

Boat wakes on the ICW

Powerboat traffic on the ICW - some boats slow down for a "slow pass", many just zoom by

A shrimper on the ICW near to Matanzas Inlet

An all too common sight on the ICW. We have seen literally dozens of wrecked boats in the last three days. Does Florida have a policy / plan to remove them?