Marineland Marina to Kilkenny Marina May 18-25, 2016

Wednesday May18 Marineland to May 20 St. Augustine

 Wednesday – After a stormy night at Marineland, we departed in strong winds, cleared the dock carefully and proceed to St. Augustine.  We only had a short distance to travel and we wanted to arrive at “slack” tide.  (very little current caused by rising or lowering tides).  A mile later we arrived at the Matanzas Inlet.  It is very twisty and narrow with many shallow spots.  It was then an easy trip to Rivers Edge Marina which is up the San Sebastian River arriving at slack tide and docking was uneventful – yeah!!  Arrived at 1240 covering 16 NM.   After checking in, we got the bikes down and head into town which was only ½ mile away.  We decided to get a 3 day pass for the Old Trolley Tours which gave us access to transportation and sightseeing opportunities for the next 3 days.  We rode the trolley to get a “lay of the land”, headed for a pub and a relaxing beer. Nice day, raining evening.

Thursday – Headed back into town after a stop at the Sailors Exchange – an amalgamation of nautical hardware and artifacts.  In town we traveled and toured the Old Jail and the Old Store both of which were funded or supported by Henry Flagler, who in his day was one of the wealthiest men in the world.  Flagler was one of the men who helped to make St. Augustine an important city in Florida.  Between the raindrops, we shopped, walked around the fort, enjoyed the waterfront and enjoyed local culinary delights.   In the late afternoon we had an appointment with a vet for our cat Knuckles because of his failing health due to liver and kidney complications.  He has traveled with us on the boat these last 2 years and has been a member of the family for 16 years.  He made it to the Keys, the Bahamas as well as Lake Michigan and many places in between.  His final resting place is in St. Augustine – a good place to finish.  The evening concluded with a toast to Knuckles.

Friday – Once again headed to town – Colletta did more exploring and Tom found another marine store-The Marine Supply and Oil Company.  We met and took the bus out to the black and white striped St. Augustine lighthouse.  The bus driver tried to talk us out of the visit by saying you could not see it very well, it was hidden by trees and landscape, but we went any way and it really is pretty.  We did not walk the 219 stairs to the top (which we have done at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse) but surveyed the surrounding area.    Back in town, Tom did boat shopping, Colletta explored more and it rained some more.  After a taco break we headed back to the boat, loaded the bikes and prepared for the next day’s departure.  Listened to more rain, sat on the back deck and had a beer and popcorn for dinner.  This is the life.

One of the two Lions on the Bridge of Loins in St. Augustine

One the many old narrow streets in St. Augustine. An incredible town with so much history

Magnolia Way right outside the Fountain of Youth  but they are really oak trees. The magnolia
trees died in a winter freeze. Go figure

Notice the slope of the ramp at low tide in Florida

Same ramp at high tide.

St .Augustine light house

A new sign we had not seen before by the lighthouse

St. Augustine Municipal Marina

The Bridge of Loins

The "crew' wondering where our next adventure will take us

 

 

May21st – St. Augustine to Amelia River

Once again we waited for slack tide to depart at 0839 and proceeded to the ICW and turned north.   The ICW has turned marshier and less industrialized.  Made it to Jacksonville, St. John  River at 1325. 1437 arrived at south Amelia River anchorage and decided to call it a day.  We proceeded up the river, dropped the anchor and called it a day.  Traveled 47.8 NM. 

marsh land of northern Florida

These are white pelicans huddled on a very small bit of land

May 22nd – Amelia River to Cumberland Island

0901, anchor up, it was very muddy.  1045 we entered the St. Mary river and there the navigational markers reversed, now green on left and red on the right – a little confusing.  We were traveling a short distance today to get to Cumberland Island so at 1132 the anchor was dropped off the Sea Camp Dock on Cumberland Island.  We traveled only 15.3 NM.  Put the dinghy in the water and headed in to explore.  Cumberland Island is a National Park and is only accessible by private boat or ferry.  There are no services except water.  Everything must be brought with you and you take back everything with you too.  We hiked across the island to beach which was long, desolate and beautiful.  The island is famous for its wild horses and Dungeness Castle ruins.  We were lucky enough to see both, along with deer, raccoon, armadillo, varies birds, and even a snake.  The large live oak trees are very majestic with its moss hanging down.  Don’t touch the moss however because it contains chiggers and jumping spiders – don’t use it for stuffing.  We were anchored near Kings Bay submarine base which a maintenance facility for nuclear subs.  At sundown, from across the water we heard the music of the Sunset Bugle call.  A wonderful ending to the day.

Walking thru the woods of Cumberland Island

The beach on Cumberland. Maybe one of the prettiest we have seen
outside of the Bahama's

Local pelicans

Some of the wild horses the island is famous for. Some of the breeds
go back 400 years to ancient Spain

More wild horses

Wild armadillo not so impressed by our presents. There was
a lot of wild life on the island besides these.

Horses grazing around the ruins of Dungeness mansion

Dungeness mansion ruins

The anchorage at Cumberland Island. We are between the two
sail boats in the middle of the picture

May 23 – Cumberland Island to Brunswick Landing Marina

At sunrise, we were awaken by the naval base playing the National Anthem – a great start to the day.  Anchor up at 0900.  Due to high winds the anchor was stuck firm. We needed to use a chain snubber to release it from the mud – a first for us.  We proceed into the ICW, passed Kings Bay sub base.  The channel leading into it was patrolled by well-armed navy vessels.  It was an impressive sight.  When we arrived in St. Andrew Sound, we were startled when we thought we saw crab pots just below the surface, due to high tide.  We then realized these were white jelly fish, called nettles.  We were relived not to have to dodge these obstacles.  Traveling on the ICW thru Georgia is miles and miles of wet marshland.  Along with that come deer flies, miles and miles of deer flies.  They were very annoying and we swatted hundreds of them, to no avail.  1458 we arrived at the Marina.  They are famous for cheap fuel so we topped off at 164 gallons at $1.97 a gallon.  This is the first fuel stop since May 6^th in Jupiter.  We quickly learned to like this marina.  Besides cheap fuel they also serve free beer every day, all day at the yacht club and free wine 3 days a week.  Is this heaven in Georgia?  We borrowed their free loaner bikes, rode thru town, to the post office and old fashioned hardware store.  A nice little river town with much potential but a work in progress.  Enjoyed happy hour, met new boating friends and reunited with Short Vacation (Jon and Pam) and Tinacious (Art and Pam). Went out for pizza with the gang, sorry no leftovers.

Sunset at Kings Bay Sub base across from our anchorage

A nuclear sub parked at the base. You couldn't get too close
because of armed patrol boats.

The tugs are called "tractors" because they go out and escort
the subs into the base



May 24 – Brunswick Landing to Duplin River Anchorage

1022 departed the marina in the company of Short Vacation.  We will be traveling with them up the east coast.  Because of potential of shallow water at the Little Mud River, we wanted to travel that area at high tide.  We made it through that area and had the anchor down in the Duplin River off of Sapelo Island by 1512.  We traveled 33.1 NM.  Pam, our tour guide on Short Vacation, arranged for a tour of the island the next day.  In preparing dinner, Colletta went to start the generator and nothing happened.  After many attempts to push the right buttons, still nothing happened, so we used the single burner gas stove to prepare dinner.  We will think about the generator problem another day. 

Sunset at Brunswick Landing Marina

Some of our neighbors at Brunswick

This is heaven. The Brunswick Yacht Club where beer is FREE
all day every day

Brunswick, Georgia is an active shrimping community

A shrimper heading back into port

May 25 – Sapelo Island to Kilkenny marina

Pam and Jon picked us up in their dingy at 0845.  We got a bus tour of the island from one of the residents.  Yvonne was one the state tour guides and drove a school bus and her husband was a private guide for hire too.  She was an incredible bus driver who drove on unpaved roads, backed the bus up for 25 yards, made sharp turns on sand covered roads and was extremely knowledgeable and pleasant the whole time.  The island was home RJ Reynolds (of the tobacco industry) mansion on it.  The mansion was beautiful with 20 bedrooms, 2 pools, a circus ballroom and even a game room in the basement complete with bowling alley.  Arrived back at the boat and prepared to leave.  The anchor came up at 1233 with a nice coating of gray mud – again.   After some more fly killings, we arrived at Kilkenny at 1710 traveling 33 NM.  Kilkenny is a rustic fish camp marina with floating docks supported by plastic barrels – wobbly but workable.  Danny, one of the owners, caught our lines and welcomed us.  $1.50 a foot per night but worth the adventure.  The good old boys have been very creative in accommodating the 8 foot tides on the ICW.  After happy hour and popcorn we walked to the restaurant Marker 107.  We were surprised as to how nice the restaurant was.  It was out of context from the river surroundings.  The food was outstanding – a banana pepper, bacon wrapped, stuffed with shrimp and cheese – delicious!!  It was a wonderful dining surprise.  Tom woke up at midnight to check the boat.  It was disorienting because it was now high tide and the docks were now level with shoreline.  The tides are always interesting in Georgia.  In Jupiter there were 2 feet tides and here there are 8 foot tides – that is why most of the docks float. 

The ferry dock at Sapelo Island

The anchorage at Sapelo Island with " Short Vacation"

One person post office on the island. the post woman picks up
the mail on the main land and takes the ferry out to the island

The R.J. Reynolds's Mansion on the island. He was the heir of the
Reynolds's tobacco fortune. He died of emphysema. Poetic justice.

Some history of the Reynolds's mansion

The "Circus Ballroom" in the mansion

The game room in the mansion.

One of the interesting pictures in the "Ballroom"

In Kilkenny Marina with Danny one of the owners waiting
for "Short Vacation" to dock

Low tide at the marina

High tide. Notice the difference of the angle of the stair way in
front of the boat compared to the above picture

Colletta and Pam Short outside a  great restaurant called
Marker  1down the road a piece from the marina

Short Vacation and Greek's Folly tied to the dock at Kilkenny
Marina

This is how you launch boats when you have a 9 foot tide. They hoist them off
the trailer then lower them into the river. Not glamorous or high tech
but very effective

Colletta enjoying one of the swings at the marina