.Sunday, December 2, 2012 - Finally, Florida!!
Another early start on a rising tide took us from Delaroche Creek quickly to the "problem spot" where the charts do not conform to the actual channel path and the "magenta line" of the ICW on the charts has led many boaters aground on a growing shoal. It is well documented but very confusing nonetheless. A red nun buoy way off to the left appears to be for the other channel joining the ICW but the island shown on the charts is missing and one must keep that nun to starboard. We didn't and thus we bumped the shoal; however, with our fin keel and the flood tide we were able to turn around and motor back to deeper water. The Cumberland River led us into Cumberland Sound where we motored past the large US Navy submarine base at Kings Bay. Several Los Angeles class fast attack and Trident nuclear submarines are based there in large, enclosed "sub pens" where they are free from the prying eyes of satellites and where they also have electronic countermeasure fences to prevent radio frequency snooping of their comings and goings. The Cumberland Sound led us into St. Mary's Entrance where we finally crossed the Georgia-Florida border. Yay!!  We then took a sharp right into the Amelia River, wandering through more estuaries past Fernandina, FL before crossing the St. Johns River below Jacksonville. There, the ICW becomes pretty straight all the way to Miami so we motored for another hour to take a slip at Beach Marine in Jacksonville Beach for the next few days.

 

 Navy ships outside sub base at Kings Bay, GA

 

 A degaussing station at Kings Bay is used to remove stray magnetic fields from submarine hulls that might lead to detection

 Jeff celebrating the entrance to Florida waters!!

 Jeff & Neala celebrating the Florida arrival at Joe's Crab Shack on Jacksonville Beach sharing a "Category 5 Hurricane"... 3 kinds of rum (-:

Monday thru Thursday - Traveling
On Monday, Jeff took a flight from JAX to Detroit for two days of meetings on the Health Information Exchange project he is doing for the State of Michigan. Neala rented a car and headed sough to Vero Beach to visit her friend Kristin Patterson. Both of us returned on Thursday to continue our voyage.

 Jeff roughing it with a Sambuca martini and creme brulee after a hard day at the office

 Neala & Kristin taking a break from shopping and dining by the ocean in Vero Beach FL

Friday, December 7, 2012 - Foggy Trip to St. Augustine

This morning we got up late and Jeff did some work while Neala returned the rental car. Around 1030 we cast off lines from the dock at Beach Marine and motored out into the ICW to take a left towards St. Augustine, about 35 miles to the south. The weather, which had been only overcast when we left, steadily became more foggy as we went south. By the time we got to St. Augustine we could barely see the next buoys and were relying heavily upon our GPS chart plotter. We got through the two bridges and the shoals at the entrance to the inlet and took a mooring at the municipal marina. We decided to take the marina launch ashore as the weather was pretty wet for an evening dinghy ride. We found a nice little wine store ashore and had a tasting with cheese and crackers before returning to the boat at 1730.

 Decorated boat at Beach Marine

 Decorating Northern Lights with a little holiday spirit before we left Jacksonville Beach

 Amazing the size of the vessels we've encountered on the ICW. This one is only a bit smaller than the one we saw in Beaufort SC!

 The famous Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, originally completed in 1927 and after renovation at a cost of $76 million, reopened in 2010

Bridge of Lions at dusk

Holiday lights of St. Augustine as seen from our harbor mooring.