Holding Up In Fernandina Beach

We went on a mooring at Fernandina Beach and then for the weekend rented a car. Enterprise has great weekend rates, which are 1/2 the normal weekday rate. We had a great visit with Linda's sister Dale and her husband Steve in Palatka, Florida. We also made our last major provisioning for the winter months in the Bahamas. We had to take inventory and begin keeping records of our food stores in each compartment. They are not always visible, so it is good to know what is actually available.

We met up with Brian and Jan from Wind Chaser. We also met their son Cory. He is stationed at the Submarine Base at Kings Bay, Georgia and has an apartment in Fernandina Beach. We compared plans with Brian and Jan and we all agreed to do some travelling together this winter. We will visit the Exumas but also explore some of the islands between the Exumas and the Turks and Caicos. Brian and Jan will keep Wind Chaser in Fernandina Beach until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Iain and Jan from Jocks Lodge arrived a week later at Cumberland Island so we took Ariel to Cumberland Island after dropping our mooring. It was extremely windy but we all made it in for a walk. We had quite an international group for our island touring. Jocks Lodge is Canadian. We were joined by a couple off a New Zealand boat, Long White Cloud, several years into their circumnavigation. They are extremely interesting and have so many wonderful experiences to share. We were also joined by a couple off an Australian boat, Tacu Tori. They purchased the boat in the US and are now traveling with Jocks Lodge. They will visit Cuba with Jocks Lodge and then continue on to Panama to cross to the Pacific Ocean and onto Australia.

Our plans have changed. We put Ariel in a slip at Fernandina Harbor Marina so we could go north to attend to some personal matters and to spend Thanksgiving with family. We expect to be away three weeks and then after returning we will move quickly to Miami to rejoin Wind Chaser for our crossing to Bimini.

Submarine leaving Kings Bay as we were returning from Cumberland Island to Fernandina Beach.

A Different Experience

This year's journey south is so much different than our first trip last year. Our plan was to go outside (along the coast) most of the way, but the wind conditions, both direction and strength has kept us inside on the ICW most of the way. We are now in Fernandina Beach, having finally gone outside at Charleston and re-entered at the St. Marys river.

We also experienced the skinniest water ever in a stretch of South Carolina. We knew it would be a potential problem since we would be passing this known problem spot at absolute low tide. For a 1/2 mile stretch we had continuous depths less than 5 feet. We soon ran aground and for the first time ever we could not get ourselves off on our own. We were resigned to wait on the rising tide to lift us off, but almost immediately a local guy out checking his crab traps offered to try and pull us off. Not only did he pull us off, with some difficulty, but he gave us guidance on deeper water. In this case the deeper water was 3 additional inches, but enough to keep going. It was extremely nerve racking as occasionally we could feel Ariel being bogged down as the keel ran along the bottom.

We were extremely happy to go outside and hope to continue on with more outside travel along the Florida coast. The windows for outside travel have been short. As it was the seas were building rapidly with strong east to northeast winds as we entered St. Marys.

Dewees Creek - one of our favorite places to anchor - north of Charleston

Fort Sumter

 

Ready For The Push South

High winds were forecast so after leaving Elizabeth City we selected South Lake just off the Alligator River as our secure anchorage. It is a very desolate place with the only visible sign of human development being a flashing white light atop a tower in the very far distance. No other boats joined us so we were indeed isolated. The winds picked up just as it got dark increasing quickly to a sustained 30 - 35 knots with higher gusts. Without lights or moonlight it was not possible to see the shoreline. We both monitored our GPS position for a couple hours to assure we were not dragging our anchor. We were held in this location for three nights and two days with consistently high winds. When we finally retrieved our anchor it was confirmed that it had buried itself quite deeply.

Our next stop was Belhaven, NC. We like this town a lot. It is really made up of working folks, but offers the basic essentials we need. We find everyone extremely friendly. We stayed a day to pick up our mail, do laundry, fill our propane tank. and pick up a few groceries. At the post office they already had our package out front just waiting for us to stop in. What a treat compared to our experience in West Palm Beach last year.

Our insurance held us back until November to keep us out of the hurricane area, but now we are free to go, so we are serious about moving south as quickly as possible.