Northern Florida
This part of our trip presented some real challenges. I don’t remember having this many obstacles the last time we made this trip, but perhaps this is because you tend to remember the good times and not the frustrating moments. So far we have been slowed but not stopped.
Mile 677.2 to Mile 716.5 (39.3 miles): We departed the Morningstar Marina in St. Simons Island, GA at 0910 hours and motored seven hours to Fernandina Beach, FL, the first stop on the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW) in Florida. Our new autopilot thankfully worked fine. However this leg of the trip was not the smoothest. When we made this trip in 2003, our previous boat, Kahlua, had a 4-foot draft. Our current vessel, Odyssey, has a 5-foot draft. I never knew how much one foot could matter.
Cumberland Island
When we left Morningstar Marina, it was about 2 hours before low tide. Low tide is not the best time to go through Jekyll Creek (ICW Mile 682 to 685), which runs adjacent to Jekyll Island (another of Georgia’s beautiful Golden Isles). Jekyll Creek is very shallow. At low tide we saw several fishing boats sitting on dry ground. There is supposed to be at least 6 feet at Mean Low Water (MLW), but the channel where 6-foot depths exist becomes very thin. We ran hard aground in what appeared to be near the middle of the channel and we could not get off. This would normally not be a problem except that the tide was still going down meaning in about 30 minutes the boat would start to tilt on its keel as the water recedes. (Note: It is not good to ever run hard aground, but it is better to run hard aground near low tide than high tide.)
To add to our woes a barge the size of a football field being pushed by a large tug was about 300 yards behind us. Frankly, I was surprised something this big would even try to traverse Jekyll Creek as it is not very wide even at high tide. This barge and tug cannot stop by themselves (they have several tugs that help them get the barge into port when they reach their destination) and we thought there was no way the barge would be able to get by us without running aground himself.
Shrimp Boat at work in Jekyll Sound, GA
We radioed the tug to let him know we had run aground. The tug captain responded that he would do the best he could to get by us. Maybe the barge and tug were just really big, but when the barge passed, it is the one time I was glad we had a 36-foot boat instead of a 40-foot boat.
After the barge passed us, we waved down a small power boat to help pull us off. I have to say people in this area are really friendly and always willing to help. The power boater saw our situation, stopped, and we threw him a line. Because of the shallow water, the power boat could not get in close enough to tie off a line to our bow (front) cleat (40 feet was the longest line we had). So we tied the line off to the stern cleat. But because our vessel has a pointed keel on the backside, the power boat was not able to pull us off. I was getting very concerned as the water level was falling by the minute.
But again luck came our way. Hearing our radio traffic, I got a call from the captain of a nearby small passenger ferry asking if he could help. I thought, “A ferry what good would they be.” But I told the ferry captain to come by and give it a shot.
The ferry that ungrounded us in Jekyll Creek
The ferry was not very large, but it was one of those dual-hull pontoon ferries that had a very shallow draft (see adjacent photo). This was important because at this point the only chance we had to get off the bottom was to get a line on our bow cleat and to pull the boat sideways. The ferry, with its shallow draft, was able to get in close enough to get the line on our bow cleat. The ferry also had a lot more power than I thought. After the ferry put his engine in full throttle, for a moment nothing happened, but finally we could feel the keel and rudder of our boat being dragged along the creek bottom for about one boat length and finally into deeper water where we were afloat again. I am sure we do not have any more bottom paint on our keel. Needless to say, I have a new found respect for passenger ferries.
On this leg we passed Cumberland Island where wild horses reside. We arrived at Fernandina Beach, FL about 1550 hours and we grabbed a mooring ball ($20 per night). The weather was very bad the next day so we stayed a second day at Fernandina Beach. I changed out the alternator fan belt.
One of the few boats on this trip we have passed
Mile 716.5 to Mile 747.5 (31.0 miles): We dropped off the mooring ball at Fernandina Beach at 0800 hours and motored about 6.5 hours to our next stop. On this day we must have been passed by two dozen boats.
On this leg of the trip we crossed over the St. John’s River, which runs from the ocean to Jacksonville about 20 miles inland. This is another main thoroughfare for big container ships traveling from overseas to Jacksonville. Just as we were crossing the St. Johns River the biggest container ship I have ever seen was steaming up the river toward Jacksonville (these vessels are always travelling much faster than they look). We did manage to traverse the river in front of the container ship, but it was closer than it probably should have been. We looked up the side of the container ship as it passed by our stern which seemed to be 20 stories tall.
On the other side of the St. Johns River the ICW turns into Pablo Creek (ICW mile 740). The current is so strong on Pablo Creek that we could not pass under the Atlantic Beach Bridge at ICW mile 744.5. We remembered this bridge from our first trip. We couldn’t remember the name of the bridge to find it on the chart, but we recognized it as soon as we saw it. We always referred to it as the “Bridge from Hell.” The current traveling through the bridge opening is 6.5 knots. The cross-currents created by the bridge piers are so strong that there literally are rapids coming through the bridge opening. Several sailboats had to wait with us about an hour until slack water at low tide just to get through the bridge.
Fishing boat attacked by pelicans
Three miles after passing through the “Bridge from Hell,” we stopped at the Palm Cove Marina ($1.65 per foot plus electric) because there are no anchorages in this area. After I tied up to the dock, I checked the engine as I always do. When I opened the engine compartment, there was about 3 gallons of sea water in the engine well. The raw water (sea water) hose I had replaced last spring had a hole in it. When I looked closely at the hose, the hole was caused by the hose rubbing up against the raw water pump fan belt. This particular hose is a factory provided “pre-shaped” hose. It is supposed to be “pre-shaped” to avoid the fan belt, but this one was obviously out of shape. I immediately called the local diesel engine dealer and fortunately, I was able to get a new hose locally. However, I could not get the hose until the next day requiring us to stay in the marina another day.
Palm Cove Marina is near Jacksonville Beach. This is a very boring stop, so we spent the day walking to the grocery store to provision and reading books.
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