We got back on the ICW, after our visit in Savannah in an attempt to get some miles behind us today. We are in Georgia here, and there are some nasty sections with shallow water even in the channel and lots of shoaling along the sides. They don't spend the money on the dredging here like other states have, one rumour is that the governor didn't think it was worth the money, forgetting the money that is dropped along the way by boaters going up and down this state.
We had an early start and had the tide with us a good chunk of the day, even getting up to 9 knots in one sound, only 3 knots over our hull speed... yikes. We put in 60 statute miles this day before pulling into New Teakettle Creek, a lonely spot where you can't see civilization until the lights come on in the dark. This area is all marshland, the extra high tide will come up 9 feet and when it does we'll see just the tops of the grasses in the picture.
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| Christmas decoration... |
Its a popular anchorage apparently, however, not a sole was with us tonight when we dropped the hook. The full moon was spectacular when it rose that night, but really messes with the tides for a week or so around its fullness.
The next day we passed several areas where white pelicans were resting or feeding. It is something to watch them dive, they literally do a face plant from up fairly high. They don't go under the surface, but there is a large splash when they hit the water. We've been seeing lots of dolphins, one swam with us for a wee while, I got part of it on a video. Mostly they're just feeding around the edges of where we're going.
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| The light strip is the channel the rest is mud flats |
This day we had a time getting to the marina behind Jeckyll Island, we were getting close to the hour of no return when the tide is out too far to get in. We were following another sailboat that we had been chatting with (Heeling Alright - used to be in 50 Point Marina) when he got caught in the bottom. He managed to get off and carried on and we just followed carefully behind him. Al said the depth sounder was indicating 4 feet - we're 4 ft 9 inches so we were plowing through soft mud. The Towboat US guy said we would make it through this section and we did, but not before a few anxious minutes. At low tide there is nothing but a path going through this section as you can see by the light strip across the centre of the photo.
We got in, settled and used one of the marina's courtesy golf carts to go explore the island, too fun. It's obviously a very touristy place, high end shops, condo's everywhere. A small section of the island is where the rich folk of years gone used to come to get away from it all - Frank Goodyear, the Rockefellers and the likes.
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| hitch hiker |
Another stretch is through a badly hurricane damaged area, Fernandino Beach. The main marina was closed until next year because of it. We went up St Marys river instead, giving this little guy to the right a lift along the way. A lovely little town, that has several signs saying that the buildings are seafood markets, but they don't actually sell any. One was actually a restaurant and not a market at all.
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| Festival of Lights |
Carrying along the ICW from here put us into St Augustine. What a beautiful place. We stayed here over the weekend of the Festival of Lights, where the Christmas lights are lit up in the main square downtown for the first time and every night until January sometime. I was hoping for more colour, but that was only on the Christmas tree, the rest of the lights were white. It was quite spectacular just the same.
They have a great deal with their hop on hop off trolley tour service, we were able to get a courtesy shuttle to and from the marina to the trolleys first stop. We used it alot to get around learn about and see the 'Ancient City'. The Fort Castillo De San Marcos has been there for centuries and is still in good shape. They have the firing of the muskets and cannon each day, it's loud.
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| Flagler College |
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| Tiffaney windows |
The Flagler College is in what used to be the Ponce De Leon hotel. An extravagant hotel in its day - early 1880's, the windows in the dining room were created by Tiffany's and are considered priceless by Antiques Road Show. The terracotta trim was painstakingly designed by hand. The two towers used to be water towers to supply water to the hotel and had electricity before the White House did. Only the most rich were invited to stay here, and had to pay - $9500 in the day for three months, they there was no pay by the day. Mr Flagler owned another hotel across the street, now the Lightner Museum that was the casino, swimming pool with an opening roof, turkish and Russian baths, ball rooms also with all kinds of games rooms. Cost was not an issue for Mr Flagler who was the co owner of the original Standard Oil.
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| The pool in its day |
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| The pool today, the sloping floor still intact. |
We moved on yesterday and today we're in New Smyrna Beach.
The plan is to be in Titusville tomorrow and have our cute little sailboat hauled on Monday Nov. 28th . We'll pack up and head home for the holidays on the next day. We are going via Ontario to visit with Al's family and will be back in Nelson late on December 7th.
This has been an amazing journey, terrifying, exhilarating, beautiful, and memorable; a journey of a lifetime.
Hope we get a chance to see some of you before we head back down here in January to continue our adventure.
Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year to those we won't see.
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| Osprey |
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| armadillo |
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| Feeding frenzy of pelicans where the fishermen were cleaning the fish |
We are now back in Florida, after a short stop in Ontario to visit with Al's family. Our cute little boat has new paint on her bottom and after a waxing and scrubbing of her hull and deck, and a stock up from the grocery store, we were ready to keep heading south. We left Titusville early on the 15th of January continuing along the ICW, this day about 40 miles to a place called Melbourne Florida. Its a small town and where we were, in the marina, it was stinkin hot. We went looking for ice cream, but alas being sunday not much was open and certainly not on this sunday did we find any ice cream shops open. We had to be content with a couple cold beer in the Ichabod pub in the marina, a fair trade off I guess. The pelicans were very busy here, doing their faceplants catching fish by the mouthful. Some times they landed right up next to our boat and we could hear a thud, likely from a wing as they landed. There were heron here and the odd osprey as well.
