We are starting to get tired of the ICW and pushing South as quick as we can with a few short stops in some interesting areas along the way.
November 18 – November 25
The original plan was to bypass a section of the ICW by doing some outside Atlantic passages. Saturday morning’s conditions were too rough for us to go outside. Instead we decided to explore Cumberland Island in the morning, continue down the ICW in the afternoon, anchor for the night, and reach St. Augustine the next day. We continued to hope that the anchor chain would still be available at Sailor’s Exchange when we arrived.
Cumberland Island is a National State Park that has a lot to offer for its $15 entrance fee. Its dingy dock was in great shape and easy to access from our anchorage. We met a friendly park ranger when we arrived who was casting for bait fish. He taught us how to throw a cast net, and Shane caught dozens of fish with his first throw. We grabbed a brochure and went on our way. Second stop was the Dungeness ruins, remains of the most recent mansion built in that area (late 1800s) by an affluent family wanting it as a winter home. It burnt down in 1959 and only brick and stone remain. While there, we watched wild horses graze around the ruins. Apparently, this is the only herd on the Atlantic Coast who exist without human interference (not fed, no reproduction control etc.). It’s thought they are descendants of livestock brought over by Spanish Missions in the 1500s, so they seem to be doing just fine without any help. We enjoyed walking along trails through salt marshes (keeping a keen watch for alligators) and forest. We were again in awe of the giant Spanish moss covered trees that still felt so foreign to us. We spotted a couple of armadillos, who scuttled off before we could snap a picture. We ended our visit on the Atlantic side of the island, walking its long, rugged, white sandy beaches with the sandpipers skipping alongside.
We anchored that night in Sister’s Creek, close to a shipping lane and bridge. The anchorage had a squirrely current, but good holding. It was full when we arrived so had to anchor close to shore. We could hear the shrimp popping and we wished we had a Georgian fishing license and our own cast net, especially after our tutorial on Cumberland. We spent the evening figuring out our plans for the next day. The situation was this: the next section of the ICW had known shallow spots and strong currents of 4-6 knots which we did not want against us. We also read Navionics reviews warning about passing under the San-Pablo-Atlantic Blvd bridge with opposing currents and a standing wave that may be encountered. Our options were these: the forecast for another outside passage looked do-able but would take us longer to get to St. Augustine. We could leave at 04:30 for favourable currents, which we promptly rejected because it would still be dark. We decided our best option was to leave at 0630, anchor about an hour away, wait for currents to switch in our favour, then continue onwards at 09:00. With that decision made, we hit the hay for a restless night sleep. We had anticipating swinging towards a shallow spot when the tides changed and sure enough our alarm went off after midnight when we swung into 7′ of water. We pulled in 10′ of road trying to get ourselves into deeper water, but still woke often to check our anchor alarm and distance from others. The lowest depth we saw was 5’5″.
The next stretch of the ICW was uneventful and primarily ran through residential areas interspersed with stretches of undeveloped land. I spent some time below cleaning our stove elements which had been spewing out long, dangerous flames while our morning coffee and tea (just some carbon build up) and keeping an eye on some new water leaks (which didn’t amount to any major repairs).
We arrived in St. Augustine Monday night, too late to get to the Sailor’s exchange so we decided to anchor off Vilano beach, just South of the Francis and Mary Usina Bridge, which again had strong currents but good holding. We hopped in the dinghy to get on land for a walk. It was busy and we were passed by four small power boats and had fun bouncing on their wakes. I kept scanning for more boats, and gave out a yelp when we almost hit a dolphin that jumped in front of us.
We had a walk about in Vilano Beach, grabbed some groceries, admired its art deco and enjoyed Happy Hour overlooking the town’s substantial fishing pier.
The anchorage that night was busy and noisy (happy noise), but settled around 22:00. Unfortunately, we were in for another rough night with 20 knot sustained winds. The current was running strong and we decided to lift the dinghy. Glad we did!
We woke up at 4:30am to a the sound of water rushing around us and the boat on an angle as if we were under sail. It took a bit to realize in the dark that our nylon anchor rode was pressed tight against the side of the boat and our anchor was behind us. The rope was making a popping noise, like a genoa sheet under tension. Shane tried steering the boat with the engine off. He could steer right and the boat would round up to the current. Turning hard left didn’t seem to do anything. We could feel a tremendous amount of pressure on our anchor rode and we were slowly dragging backwards towards a catamaran. Shane took a chance of fouling our prop with our nylon rode and started up the engine. He tried reverse, then forward turning hard to the left, but the boat didn’t move. He reversed again with more power and the boat suddenly flipped around, properly stretching out our rode in front of the boat. The sound of rushing water quietened and the boat leveled out. Convincing ourselves it was unlikely to happen again, we went to bed, only to wake up an hour later in the same situation. This time, we were able to unwrap ourselves by turning the wheel only; no motor required. It was a beautiful morning, but we were a wreck and needed some rest.
We pulled the anchor and noted the nylon rode was stained bronze with our bottom coat. Thankfully St. Augustine Municipal Marina let us check-in on our mooring ball early. Timing of this misadventure was ironic, because this was the day we were heading to Sailor’s Exchange to buy chain to replace our anchor rode. Had we had the chain a day earlier, we don’t think we would have wrapped the keel.
We were relieved Sailor’s Exchange still had our chain in stock, and we could avoid paying a premium at any of the major marine stores. Since they were close to finishing off their barrel of chain anyway, we got 176′ for the price of 150′. We also picked up some replacement stainless steel washers (sold by the pound!) and a low profile smoke detector for a steal.
We Ubered back to the dinghy and carefully spread the chain on the floor hoping we wouldn’t sink on the way back. We wasted no time installing it and marking it with coloured zip-ties in 25′ increments.
With that done, we spent the rest of our time in St. Augustine getting lost in its labyrinth of cobblestone streets. We enjoyed its little stores, restaurants and some live music. We ogled the architecture and enjoyed the Christmas lights when the sun went down.
On Friday morning, we made a last minute decision to continue down the ICW rather than go outside. The forecast looked favourable for another outside hop, but we just “had a feeling” (which amounted to nothing!). With no suitable anchorages along our next stretch, we ended the day at Hammock Beach Marina. It was reasonably priced by Florida standards and had great amenities (pool, jacuzzi, fitness room), but we only had time to enjoy the showers and laundry room. Unbeknownst to us, the laundry room locked automatically at 21:00; oh well, we figured, we’d grab our laundry early in the morning before casting off.
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