It Was A LONG Bloody Day! ! !! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Current Location: Bell's River, Fernandina Beach, FL 30'40.283N/081'128.874W

Gone before dawn. . . away at 6:51 am with dawn at 7:08. A significant moment came at 7:34am when I passed the site of one of my groundings, just outside of St. Augustine. It was approaching low tide as I passed and it was easy to see why I grounded. Despite the MLW(Mean Low Water) depth on the chart of 16feet, sand bars were peaking out all over the place. And so began the search for deep water that will continue until I hit Mile Marker "0" at Hospital Point in VA. I am once again the salve of the depth sounder.

Getting a much earlier than usual start, I neglected to check the condition of the dinghy which was in need of a pump up. As a result of its flaccid condition. it began to drag in the water, a fact that was revealed to me by a passing boat. There was no way to blow it up as there4 was no place to stop to do the deed. Anchoring in the middle of the ICW is a no-no. So I drifted, unhooked the dinghy from the davits and tied the painter to the stern cleat, all the while praying that ABISHAG would suddenly take it into her head to run aground somehow.

There was lots of northbound traffic and unfortunately we were all headed into the current and into the wind( despite what the boys and girls at NOAA had proclaimed that very morning). As a result it was a rather slow slog up the ICW, getting a few boost, one at the St. John River and the other at Nassau. But what they gave with one hand, they took away with the other and the boost only lasted for a mile or so before it was back down to slogging.

There was a lot of "tag playing " between boats, people catching up and passing boats from previous anchorages and marinas. Lots of joshing on the radio back and forth. During the trip through Palm Valley, I saw my first and, so far, only Alligator swimming in the ICW. Probably a couple of feet long. Truth be told, you can't see much but there is no mistaking what you do see.

I am heading into a portion of the ICW where there is some serious barge traffic. I had to avoid two today. I also had to avoid a mini-cruise ship, American Glory, on its way to Jacksonville or St. Augustine. Talk about a tight squeeze.

After leaving at 6:51am, I dropped the hook at 4:45pm after a little over 55 miles as the dolphin swims. The worst part of the whole day, aside from the times of crushing boredom, was the constant passing of powerboats at unacceptable speeds that produced big wakes and rocked me all over the place. May one out of 30 actually did a slow pass. After awhile, I was wishing for a canon!

Some of the boats today were: Keep It Reel; Knot Enough; Smile Doctor; Livin Large; Poor Frog(from Montreal);No Payment Due; Paper Trail; Slice of Life; Sunday Funday; Over Budget; Getting Better All The Time; It's About Time;Wet Wings.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I shall leave Florida behind an head into Georgia

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Cell phone coverage and Internet access in Parts of Georgia, North & South Carolina is a bit spotty. There will be days when I will be "out of touch." Just a head's up!