Blog of Events & Happenings

Hello Georgia.  We left St Augustine this morning at 9:00 AM and made a 100 mile transit to Morningstar Marina at St Simon’s Island, GA.  We traversed two spots that used to be very worrisome shoaling places where we always saw boats aground.  Thanks to the Army Corp sponsored dredging and active boaters who passed info on the current condition, these areas are less worrisome.  We passed the Fernandina Beach shoal area as well as the major issue at Jekyll Creek with no problem today due recent dredging and the recent safe tracks passed by Bob423 (avid ICW traveler and publisher of the best local routes along the way).   Pleasant trip on the boat, arriving at Morningstar marina at 5 PM.

We continue to experience minor problems or at least lack of confidence in some electrical issues — is this going to start today?  While they have not stopped us again as they did the first day, we have planned a lay day tomorrow here at Morningstar to relook at the electrical issues and ensure they are put to bed.  We’ll leave on Tuesday, after a relaxing day here in Georgia.

Here is a look at the conning station on the boat and the good size power CAT tied up behind us at Morningstar. See below and you will notice it was an overcast day today, that resulted in a very pleasant cool day on the water. Expecting rain tonight.

 

We left Titusville this morning after fueling and were underway in 20 knots of wind by 9:00 AM.  We made the 103 miles to St Augustine by 5:00 PM, passing thru the old nasty shoal area Ft Matanzas.  This time it was not bad.  The Army Corp of Engineers had the area dredged in 2019 and the new channel has been well documented by them and avid boaters such as Bob423 (handle of a couple who actively report on ICW water’s condition).  We used Bob423’s track thru the area and felt comfortable and secure that we’d make it thru — we did.

At the fuel dock we talked to a person on the boat ahead of us.  He was from Reston.  His grandfather knew Bob Blunt’s father and they may have had a partnership in some land deals, the details were unclear.   The real connection was that the grandfather was a fireman.  He knew Eddy Blunt who was a firefighter and Bob’s brother.  A small world.

We are now moored at Camachee Cove Marina on the north end of St Augustine.  We used their courtesy car to drive to Publix and a nice restaurant for dinner.  All in all a good day.  Tomorrow we’re off for Georgia.

So nice to be underway.  We left Harbor Town Marina, Ft Pierce at 8:30 AM headed north.  All appeared fixed, even though the electrician had to come to the boat to help start one of the chart plotters.  Later this day, I had to “tune” the ground wire to restart one of the plotters.  Not sure we had true professionals on the task.  I’m not a fan of the place that did the work on the boat.

Anyway, we’re up and running and moving north.  Had a great run on the boat today, covering 88 miles in 6 hours, tying up at Titusville City Marina. An amazing story awaited our arrival.  The town lost all internet connectivity today.   This may make national news — a town without internet — and we also heard that Orlando lost internet for the day!

We saw two old beautiful antique boats on the waterway today and enjoyed a look at our boat, backed into the slip at Titusville.   See pictures below.

 

Problems resolved on the boat.  We will be heading north tomorrow morning.

We are sadden to learn of the passing of Ann Southern’s brother Austin.  Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.

We are anxious to see Ann and Jack on our arrival back in Virginia.

 

No electrician as expected at 7:30 AM so we waited a while then walked to the office for details on what was happening.  You know the answer — the part is not here yet!  The part arrived after lunch and the initial problem we came here to fix was fixed.  The chart plotters work just fine now.  The electricians did identify another issue that should be addressed on the starboard engine so we have decided to wait to install a new engine reset solenoid tomorrow morning.  Once it arrives and is installed we’ll be underway.  We’ve rearranged our schedule so we now only need 11 days of travel to make Virginia when we planned.  We’ll stop first in Colonial Beach and then make it to Annapolis to see Lauren, Cynthia, and the grandkids by the 18th.  Got some grandkids’ baseball and soccer we’ll get to watch and Lauren’s birthday will be celebrated.  Really looking forward to those parts of our visit!

We again enjoyed The Cove Restaurant for lunch and then retired to the back deck of Apolonia for the afternoon.

No pictures today as we’re sitting in the same spot, but know we are enjoying being back around the boating community.