Savannah to St Augustine


Kelly-Peterson 44

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	Beaufort NC to St. Augustine FL 3: SAVANNAH, GA TO ST. AUGUSTINE, FL

	Savannah to Doboy Sound Due to the extreme shoaling on the ICW in Georgia, we decided to do coastal hops as much as possible from Thunderbolt to Florida. Our first leg was a coastal hop to Doboy Sound. No one got too ill this time as it was more choppy than rolly - we were headed into the wind rather than having the wind behind us. This time we only had to go about 3 miles offshore. We anchored in the Duplin River just opposite the University of Georgia's Marine Research site. This was our first time not going to shore at all at the end of the day, and we were very happy that Mimi (the dog) had no issues with using the piece of astroturf that we had bought and put on the foredeck for that exact purpose... Maria's dad sat on deck most of the time, moving to the aft deck once we got offshore.

	At some point, Brian got some much needed rest.	We had alot of birds to watch on this leg. They entertained us most of all with the way they dive straight down in the water from about 20-30 feet up to catch a fish.

	We had a gorgeous sunset on our first night at anchor...

	Doboy Sound to St. Simons We left bright and early, headed for St. Simons. Again we made a coastal hop in the Atlantic. It wasn't very far and we could have made it further, but we were all looking forward to a good shower and sound night's sleep. Being at anchor for the first time had us a little on edge all night, worrying that we were dragging. Even with the anchor alarm set on our GPS, we still kept getting up and checking to see if we were dragging. Since we weren't very far from some low powerlines crossing the river, it was a legitimate concern. In the end, we didn't drag but we were quite tired the next morning from worrying about it! We arrived at St. Simons Island with plenty of time to explore. The marina loaned us a car and we had lunch at a wonderful restaurant, Barbara Jean's. Brian then returned to Belisana to do some work, leaving Maria, Nolan, and Papa to explore the village of St. Simon's, which is on the beach, and also had a very nice park. Nolan and Mimi ran endlessly on the beach. This was the first beach we actually visited on our trip. We had been telling Nolan for months that when we get to the Bahamas we can play on the beach every day. When we got ready to leave the next morning, he said, "But I'm not ready to leave the Bahamas!"







St. Simons to Cumberland Island When we woke the next morning, there was some heavy fog. We pulled away from the dock as it was clearing, only for it to get worse - so bad that we had to turn back. Tied up at the dock again, we had a big breakfast while waiting for it to clear.
	Papa took the helm for awhile to give us a little break - and to see what it's like to steer a 30,000lb boat. Ria was at the helm for a good part of the day, and with Nolan asleep, Brian and Papa (and even Mimi) decided to take a nap.





	Cumberland Island was absolutely gorgeous. It's a National Seashore and over 40% of the island is covered with a canopy of live oaks that are over 300 years old. There are also alot of wild ponies. We arrived early enough Friday afternoon to visit the beach and returned for a couple of hours Saturday morning to visit the ruins of Dungeness, one of the old Carnegie homes that dates back to the time of Nathaniel Greene. It was also the setting for one of Stuart Wood's novels, Palindrome. We anchored out again so we had to use the dinghy to get back and forth to Cumberland. On Friday Brian rowed, but Saturday we used the outboard since we were going much further.



	One of the funny incidents was when Mimi jumped about 10 feet off the boardwalk leading to the beach so that she could chase an armadillo... Nolan got a big kick out of the whole thing. But it didn't take long for her to come back and continue racing Nolan to the beach.



	Another beautiful sunset at anchor.

	We had a great time walking to the ruins of Dungeness on Saturday. Nolan especially like the ponies, which he called "donkeys".




	Cumberland Island, GA to Jacksonville, FL Maria's mother was picking up her father in Jacksonville so that was our next stop. Her parents met and got married in Jacksonville so it was another trip down memory lane. By deciding on Jacksonville as our meeting place with Nell, it also allowed Ria to visit with a dear friend who is very ill at the Mayo Clinic/St. Luke's Hospital. Somewhere north of the intersection of the St. John's River and the ICW, we hit bottom again. We were stuck for just a short while before Brian was able to maneuver us off the shoal. The huge ships and bridges marked our way up the St. John's River to Jacksonville - it took us 3 hours to get from the ICW to Jacksonville because we were fighting an outgoing current. Leaving Jacksonville, the same leg took us only 1 1/2 hours going with the current.

	Shortly after we arrived at the marina, Nell showed up with her sisters, Annie and Laverne, and niece Rhonda. Ria does not get to see this side of the family often, so it was a nice last-minute gathering for her. The marina was nice on the outside but pretty bad on the inside - so bad that Brian refused to use their restrooms. At dinner Nolan found a stage where he sang every song he knew, from the ABCs to the Barney Song. That night the lights of Jacksonville showed a skyline was in stark contrast to Cumberland Island and some of our other stops along the way. We discovered after paying our dock fee that we could have tied up for free across the river at Jacksonville Landing, a retail area on the water. As it turned out, when we went to leave the next morning, we had more alternator problems (with a fuse, not the alternator itself) and ended up moving to Jacksonville Landing for Sunday night. It was fine except for the music that blared right into our boat until 3 am. One of the perks about being at Jacksonville Landing, however, was the toy store. Nolan played there quite a bit on Sunday. One thing he noticed was a stuffed armadillo that he begged for - he had read about armadillos in several of his books (But Not The Hippopotamus, Goodnight Gorilla, etc.), and he was very excited to see the armadillo on Cumberland that Mimi chased. So now we have a stuffed armadillo on Belisana named "Dilla".



	Jacksonville to St. Augustine We pulled away from Jacksonville Landing at 6:55am, only to be told by the bridge tender that he could not open the bridge for us since it was after 7:00am (many bridges are restricted from opening during rush hour). Brian told him that it wasn't quite 7:00 yet, but he disagreed. After a few minutes, he decided that since it was a federal holiday (Presidents Day), that he would go ahead and open the bridge. This made us very happy since we would have been stuck until 8:30 otherwise. The first picture is of Jacksonville Landing, taken while circling and waiting for the bridge to open. The second one is to show the what the ICW in Florida looks like as opposed to the ICW we have known up until now.

	Brian, with Dilla and Chloa.


	We passed a huge dredging project that took up almost the whole width of the ICW. Brian had to radio the Captain of the boat to ask how to get around. But we have no complaints - dredge away!

	We got into St. Augustine about 2:30 and had time to do some sightseeing. We only needed to walk a few blocks, but Nolan saw the trolleys and begged to go riding on them. The trolley took us an hour or so around town, just during the one hour that the temperature must have dropped 10-15 degrees and the wind picked up. We froze the whole way, only for it warm up again as soon as the trolley stopped. Ria was already feeling under the weather before that, and the ride didn't help any - she woke up in the night with a high fever and aching. So we stayed in St. Augustine another day so she could rest. In 80-degree weather, Brian and Nolan explored the city again - going to the grocery store, riding Nolan's bike, etc. They walked to a sailing hardware store that Brian was told was a few blocks away: it was almost 1 1/2 miles. On the way back, Nolan said he was tired, stopped his bike, and lay down in the grass. So Brian walked the last mile carrying Nolan, Nolan's backpack, his own backpack, and pulling Nolan's bike behind him. Staying a second night meant we got to eat a second time at Habana's, a wonderful Cuban restaurant across the street from the marina.