Monday, November 17, 2008

Blue Heaven Rendezvous #11

Monday, November 17, 2008

We have 48 miles to cover today, so we were up at 6am and off the mooring ball by 7am. We wanted to get under a bridge below Fernandina Beach before high tide. When we got to the bridge, it was 67 feet, so we were fine with our 61 ft. mast. With 8 foot tides, you really have to be careful about bridges with extra high tides and where you anchor.


Today going down the ICW there were some wicked currents at spots. At one place you could see the trawler in front of us being pulled side ways. Coming off the St. John River we saw dolphins actually jumping out of the water which was quite a site.

We were anchored behind Pine Island by 2:30pm. We got in much earlier than we expected, because the currents were with us a lot of the way. We were the second boat in and then around 4pm five other boats came in, one of them being Estelle. We could not resist one last cocktail hour together, and once again we said our good-byes.

Since there wasn't much to describe on this long motoring day, I thought I would share some thoughts and feelings about the trip so far.

A lot of former cruisers told us it can be stressful in the ICW. We haven’t found it to be so, but we know it is because we found our experienced cruising buddies, Jim and Jeannie Lea, at the start, and have basically been following them. We don’t leave it all up to them. Al does check the weather and looks at charts for upcoming anchorages and comes to his own conclusions, which happen to usually be the same as the Leas. This has boosted his self-confidence in this area. Now that we are on our own, we will see if it is more stressful

Al checking bridge openings.

Secondly, we have not met much commercial traffic which can be a concern. Only once, were we a bit worried when a tug and barge came through a bridge very close to us due to the narrow channel.

Lastly, I was worried about being with Al twenty-four hours a day after so many years of 5 days a week gone from 7am – 6pm. I think it would have been difficult if we were home. Here it just seems like a long vacation! He has also helped with galley and laundry chores which we
seem to have more, since we have no dishwasher or washer and dryer on board. And according to him, “He has been a total prince.” Well, I don’t know about that



Arleen working on her rug.

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