St Augustine to Cumberland Island

A Loooong day!

We didn't want to rush off the dock at the River's Edge Marina, as the tide was low at 5am, and the longer we hung out, the higher the tide would be for some of our narrow and shallow passage.

We took our time having breakfast, taking the power cord and the water hose off the boat, making the lines ready by removing chafe guards etc, and suddenly we were ready...nothing else to do.

Originally we had intended to just make it to the Free Dock at Jacksonville, at Sister's Creek...more on that later.

The view down the river as we set sail

 Over the marshes to the bridge we came under, two nights before.

 We had about 2 nautical miles to travel back down the river to the bridge, and had to pass this other marina where there were LOTS Of liveaboards on the dock.

It was 9.36am when we dropped the front rope and moved out into the river, doing a 180 degree turn.

Another glorious day as you can see. A little cooler, for which we were grateful.
We came around the corner at five minutes to 10 to see the Bridge of Lions rising for a yacht to go through. We were a bit late getting there, but Waz assured me we would clear the bridge without needing an opening. It is always difficult to look at a bridge and estimate how much clearance we will have, but the gauge on the side of the bridge support usually tells us how much clearance. This one has 23 feet and we top off at 19ft. We didn't need an opening, and sailed under her easily! phew!

 It is always a little bit 'hold your breath!' because it never looks high enough to get under.

 El Galeon sits at the end of pier 1, at the St Augustine Municipal Marina. She is open to the public...paying, that is.

Looking left to see the last of St Augustine as we move northward towards Jacksonville.

 We are almost at the Atlantic ocean, and have to make a sharp left turn before the sand bar to go up the ICW, vs out to sea. Lots of fisherfolk out on the sand, this morning.

 On the chart, we have to turn sharply between the red and green, just ahead of the boat symbol in the center of the photo, and go up under the bridge on the left. As you can see, the turn needs to be sharp because, per usual, off the beaten track, the water is very shallow!

 There was a strong current we had to push against, going towards the ocean. Not all fun, and this is the first time we have had an incoming tide to deal with.

We think this fire must have been started by lightening.

 It was still smouldering!

 Out of St Augustine, along the barrier Island, we passed through some lovely residential areas...and pricey homes, but lovely too:)

 Lots of new construction of some HUGE homes! Like this one.

 We liked this one in particular:)

 ...and this boat dock seemed to have it all!

A long day with plenty to look at, and at times a bit boring once we hit the marshes. It is so nice remembering the places we have been last year and the incidents that accompanied some of them.

Lots of bird life, and dolphin, again.

Crossing over the main shipping channel into the Port of Jacksonville, we have to go alongside the working dry dock, and found this approx. 200 ft superyacht in for some work. She is huge! about 7 decks high.

What a beauty she is!

 The free dock at Sister's Creek wasn't full, but the spacing of the boats helped us make up our minds to carry on as far as we could today.  There would have been room for us if they had shuttled cloeer together. It was only 2pm, and we didn't want a 7 hr day tomorrow, so we kept on going to Cumberland Island, making for a much shorter journey. We were already tired after being on the go for so many days on end.

 We weren't quite sure if this guy was waiting for the time to turn in his favor, or he was just left high and dry with his airboat!?

 Coming up to Fernandina Beach, the northern most Marina in Florida. We were to cross the border into Georgia very soon! yay! The dotted line on the fuzzy photo (sorry!) is our course.

 Looking across the top of the Fernandina Marina to the old buildings. The Atlantic is behind them.

We finally arrived in the long sound alongside Cumberland Island, about 5.40pm. It was glorious there. We could hear voices coming from the island, so still was the air. Plenty of people in the vicinity, it appeared. We parked a little way up the water from the main shipping channel, and glad we did, after hearing from Colin and Dawn about their rock'n roll encounter with a submarine making its way up the shipping channel! aieee!

I had gone downstairs, about 4pm, to put a curry of pork on the stove to cook. We were pretty tired, after doing 30 more miles than initially intended, and I didn't think I would have the wherewithal to do the cooking later! How right I was. We set anchor, and the food was ready to eat. We ate on the fly deck with the sun still high, at 6.pm-ish. It gave us time to rest and enjoy the end of the day in peace.
The curry with red cabbage instead of rice. Much healthier, and delicious! Apple, raising, peas and broccoli topped off with mushrooms. Yummy!

Our neighbors parked just off the jetty and the island. Lovely place to stop!

We were in bed early, and decided to make a run for our destination in the morning at our usual early hour of 7am.