Chapter I
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April 14, 2005 - Fernandina Beach, FL
I left Miami Beach on March 29 and headed north. The first night I stopped in Pompano Beach, FL and anchored in Lake Santa Barbara. Next was Lake Worth where I took the dinghy to shore to do some shopping at the Publix just up the road. The next day took me to Fort Pierce. I anchored in spot called Faber Cove, where Hampton and I had taken a ride by car from Vero Beach with some of Hampton's friends, last December. The next morning while leaving Fort Pierce, I passed Mark on Strider heading the other way. He was on his way to Indiantown Marina to have his boat hauled.
I stopped in Vero Beach for a few days and did some maintenance on the boat and fixed a problem with the engine that had been bothering me lately. It had been running too hot, so I took off the thermostat housing and cleaned the thermostat bypass holes and removed a guide on the thermostat that was causing it to stick. I also cleaned the exhaust manifold as best I could. The engine runs much cooler now.
From Vero Beach I went to Indian Harbour Beach. I wanted to pick up a spare thermostat and there was a Volvo dealer nearby that would most likely have the part. I stopped by Telemar Bay Marina and had a beer with Matt and Doug. The next day I stopped by the marina and helped Matt install his new LED tri-color light on the top of his mast. Doug and I hauled Matt up to the top of his mast using his windlass. Matt had to go up twice, and while he was down below making a slight modification to the light, I spotted three manatees swimming near the dock; a mother and her two calves. The came right up to us and stopped for a minute, then swam under the dock. When Matt was finished installing the light, he drove me to the Volvo dealer, which ended up being about twelve miles away. I picked up the thermostat and a fuel filter.
The next day I anchored I moved the boat to the other side of the river near the Eau Gallie library to wait out a passing front. All of the Brevard County libraries had installed wireless Internet and I was hoping the I might be able to get a signal from the boat. I couldn't, but I could take my computer over to the library and use the Internet connection as long as I wanted too.
After the front passed I headed to Titusville and anchored near the Titusville Marina. I took the dinghy in and got my spare propane tank filled, dropped off my used engine oil and had lunch. The next morning I pulled up to the marina fuel dock to top off my fuel and water tanks, then headed up to Daytona Beach.
From Daytona Beach I went to St. Augustine where I stopped for a couple of days and met up with Jim from Triumph again. I had last seen Jim in Miami Beach. We had few beers at the A1A Ale house, then went to Pot Belly's Theater and saw 'The Aviator'. They serve food during the movie, so we ordered a few hot dogs and some beer. I left St. Augustine and stopped at Fernandina Beach. Jim was going to wait a day and try to make some time by going offshore.
I needed to make my IRA contribution for the 2004 tax year, so I downloaded and printed the form and mailed it to my bank along with a check. For lunch I stopped at T-Ray's Burger Station. T-Ray's is an Exxon Station with a restaurant where the service bay usually is. There business is mostly food. While I was eating, an elderly woman pulled her car up to the gas pumps and someone having lunch yelled, "Hey, look. Someone's stopping for gas!" Their burgers were excellent. They were voted "Best Burgers" in the Jacksonville area for the last several years.
April 20, 2005 - Beaufort, SC
I left Fernandina Beach the next afternoon. The wind had shifted and was blowing about 20 knots. I no longer had the protection of the small island I was anchored near and it was getting uncomfortable, so I decided to move to Drum Point Island about seven miles away just over the Florida/Georgia border. When I arrived I saw Jim anchored nearby, so I called him on the radio and he told me to come over for dinner. The next day we took a walk on some of the trails at the Drum Point National Park.
We both left Drum Point Island and headed to the Frederica River at St. Simons Island where we anchored for the night. From there we headed to Killkenny Creek. From Killkenny Creek our next stop was going to be the New River in Georgia, but as we approached the Skidaway Narrows bridge near Thunderbolt, GA and called the bridge tender for an opening, he told us that the next bridge, the Causton Bluff bridge, was closed indefinitely. Jim called the Causton Bluff bridge tender and asked him for an estimate on how long the bridge would be closed, and he said that it would be days, and maybe weeks before the bridge would be in operation again.
We decided to anchor in Turner Creek for the night. We both needed to stop for fuel anyway. Coming into Turner Creek, Jim noticed a dock owned by a charter fishing company that was selling fuel. Jim stopped for fuel and I anchored then took my dinghy a couple fuel jugs over to the dock. After I bought some fuel, I talked with Captain Judy, who was the owner of the charter company. She told me what happened to the bridge. A seventy six year old man drove his car through the gate as the bridge was opening. One span of the bridge usually starts lifting before the other. The man's car jumped the gap between the tow spans and crashed into span on the far side. The bridge tender immediately stopped the bridge opening and the car was left suspended between the two spans. The man was taken to the hospital where he was listed in critical condition.
We had to find an alternate route around the bridge, so we choose to go offshore. Captain Judy gave me some recommendations on navigating the channel at Wassaw Sound, which leads out to the ocean. The next day we got an early start and planned to head all the way to Beaufort, SC, bypassing the Savannah River entrance. It turned out to be a beautiful day and we had a pleasant sail all the way to Beaufort. Our only delay was crossing the Savannah entrance channel. We had to wait for two oil tankers and a container ship to pass before we could cross the channel. You definitely don't want to get in their way. After arriving in Beaufort, we anchored near the Beaufort Downtown Marina then went into town and had dinner a Luther's. The food was great.
