Palm Coast to First Coast.

Florida has divided its coastline into segments for tourism reasons.  We have been on the Palm Coast, and now are on the First Coast.  St Augustine on the Palm Coast was a great stop.  We stayed there four days, and did not see everything.  As the oldest European settled city in the US, it has an interesting history.  Settled by the Spanish, invaded by the French and English, and finally being given to the US in trade for Cuba, it is truly multi-cultural.  It has the oldest Catholic Church, fort and buildings in the US.  Also, it is very boater friendly.  The municipal marina is right downtown, and has a large mooring field for those that don’t want to pay to stay in the marina.  The mooring ball is cheap, and you have use of the marina dinghy dock and facilities.  This town understands the value boaters bring, and actively courts us.  It is nice to feel wanted!  There were five other looper boats at the marina when we were there and we had fun getting to know everybody.  Of course I thought a lot about Shirley Watkins, who recently passed away while visiting St Augustine.  She was like a second mother to me, and was on my mind there.

 

After St Augustine we traveled to Jacksonville, where we will leave the boat for a few weeks, and drive home to visit and take care of home details.  The trip up the St John River (about 20 miles) to Jacksonville was against a three knot current, so slow going.  Very scenic though, and we did it on a great day.  We ran into the local blessing of the fleet, so a proper ending to our day.  Presumably Catholic blessings work on heathens?  At least it will work on Alexis! 

The ICW on the Palm Coast-looks a lot like home. 

Our new autopilot.  A Raymarine Guru took pity on us in Daytona, and installed a new one for us.  

Of course St Augustine has restaurants....

St Augustine dinghy dock.

Shops...

Fort Castillo de San Marcos in St Augustine.  It never fell in battle, only in politics...

St Augustine City Mooring Field.  

This replica of a Spanish Galleon is functional and sailed here on its own bottom.  The young Spanish crew were a hoot.  

There are lions everywhere in St Augustine, this one on the Bridge of Lions crossing the ICW.  Named for some Ponce de Leon guy....

Flagler College-St Augustine.  Housed in the old Ponce de Leon Hotel built by Henry Flagler (Standard Oil).

Flagler College dining hall-pretty nice!  Note the arch in the center where a band would have played.  There was another location across the dinning hall so dinners would never be without music playing.

Don't make the mistake of asking a Florida bridge-tender what the clearance is-they will tell you to look at the sign.  Apparently they are not being rude, but are forbidden by law to tells boaters the bridge clearance.  This one is 21'.  We need 19'.  Since many bridges have curfews, being able to get under without requesting an opening is a big deal.

Note the osprey nest on top the house. 

I tried to make sense of the flag-no luck.

Jacksonville is in Duval County.  I will try to get the cousin discount...

Jacksonville.

This is where the ICW meets the St John River-note all the fisherman.

My kind of shop!

Great Bahama’s adventure stats.

For all you nautical nuts- our Bahama stats:

Total nautical miles-1,123 (Miami to Bimini to Berrys to Nassau to Exumas to Eleuthera to Abacos to Ft. Pierce).

Total days-83 (47 of which were at marinas).

Total diesel used-1,207 gallons.

Total engine hours-130 (each engine).

Total genset hours-220.

As I have said before, it was an incredible adventure.  We covered a lot of water, but each set of islands are unique, and I would not change our route.  Now that we have experienced all these islands, if we ever get to do this again, we may pick and choose a little more, but for our first visit we have no regrets.  Alexis and I would both skip Georgetown next time.  It was too organized, and too many boaters for our taste.  I do not need classes arranged by the boater clubs, etc., or as Jimmy Buffet sings, not that much organization in my life!  Although the organized activities and club atmosphere is exactly why so many boaters do end up there.  It is a matter of taste.  I would spend more time in the central Exumas, Alexis the Abacos.  The Exumas (north of Georgetown) are by far the best for clear water, remote islands, snorkeling and anchoring out.  The Abacos (Hopetown, Marsh Harbor, Man of War and Green Turtle) are more “American” with shops, restaurants, services, and are cheaper than the Exumas (more competition).  Both are charming and neither of us would want to skip either.  We did not go ashore at Nassau, so really can’t comment on it.  Some people love it, others not so much.  It is the largest city by far in the Bahamas, and will appeal or not because of that.  I can see why so many boaters leave their boat in Florida, and travel to the Bahamas each year.  I could get real use to that! 

It has been a real adjustment for me back here in the States.  Planes, trains and automobiles everywhere!  What is a hermit to do?  However, the Kennedy Space Center reminded me of just how great this country can be, and meeting up with fellow loopers is a blast.  Even  the short leg we have completed  on the east coast of Florida has reminded us as to how great people are here, and how much we have as a country.  We experience that much more travelling in the US, than by following the news media.  If there is one constant topic among boaters, it is how much better things are in the US than what is reported on any news network.  We are experiencing the true America through our own eyes, rather than depending on extraneous sources.  It has been truly refreshing so far! 

Today, we traveled to Daytona, FL.  It was a long day on the AICW, but there is a electrical guru here who has made time to look at our ageing and failing autopilot.  The marina is first rate, and we are off to the adjacent Charthouse Steak House as a reward for our hard day.....  I know, pigs we are.  Daytona is roughly on the same latitude as Houma, and we are seeing similarities on the waterway.  Muddy water, trout fisherman in Carolina Skiffs, crab traps, roseate spoonbills, pelicans and dolphins to name a few.  A big bad cold front is on its way and we are secure in the marina.  It will drop into the mid 50s tonight.  I have to find my jeans and shoes...  Alexis says I have let my hygiene slide too much.  I guess its time to clean up..

Space Coast.

After staying a few days in Ft. Pierce, we set sail towards Florida’s “Space Coast”.  We met up with Eva and Rick on Calypso in Vero Beach, and they had a car!  They took us to town and lunch.  We are at Cocoa, Florida now.  The marina here is right by the quaint town (Ft Pierce, Vero and Cocoa all are quaint towns that cater to boaters) which has lots of restaurants and shops.  After severely over eating last night, we took a taxi to the Kennedy Space Center today, and spent all day there.  It is a remarkable place, with I Max movies, exhibits, and a tour of the center itself.  We are also running into more and more loopers headed north, and are sharing stories.  Tomorrow we head to Daytona Beach, and then St Augustine. 

The Live Wire.  We ran in to these boaters in Bimini, Highbourne, Georgetown, Hopetown, and on the AICW in Florida!  

It is tough getting use to the narrow AICW, after the expanse of the Bahamas.  It is very shallow, and the budget for dredging the AICW here (which is almost all recreational) is tight.  No room for errors.

The marina at Cocoa has a paddle boat for sightseeing, weddings, etc.  

Cocoa marina.

These are different papers announcing the lunar landing.  Remember when New Orleans had two papers?

The actual space shuttle Atlantis.  Quite impressive.  

Trip back to the USA.

We are back in the USA after three months in the out islands of the Bahamas.  It is disorienting to see all the people, boats, traffic and hubbub we take for granted.  Walking in downtown Ft. Pierce, it was a challenge not to be run over, as we are not use to traffic.  On the positive side, we found a wine bar with a great singer, and had reasonably priced good wine, and dinner.  There are boats and people everywhere, and it will take some getting use to!  We hear the Coast Guard, Tow Boat US and NOAA on the VHF, instead of Loraine's Cafe announcing the night's dinner special.   But there is a Wal Mart, West Marine and  Publix here.  Also, the waterways are marked here with red and green buoys, that make sense (most of the time).   We truly live in a great county, and take for granted the conveniences it offers.  I will say this about the Bahamas.  For a county of less than 400,000 people (70% of whom live in Nassau), it is remarkable what they have accomplished. Towns like Staniel Cay (250 people), Black Point and Farmers Cay (90 people) have power, water and a medical clinic with basic services.  They have managed to provide a decent living (for a third world country) to the many scattered communities throughout the islands with limited resources. There are 29 islands and 661 cays that make up the Bahamas.   The people are genuine and recognize that tourism is the lifeblood of the country.  We never felt uncomfortable or unwanted.  We did not visit Nassau, which I understand has some problems of a larger city, so I cannot comment on it, but our stay in the out islands was great, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.    Here are some pics:

Great Sale Cay on the Bahama Banks.  Not much, but it is a good jumping off point to the US.  We traveled 110 nautical miles from here to Ft Pierce, FL.  

More and more boats showed up during the day.  It was the first day of decent weather for a crossing.  By nightfall there were 13 boats anchored, and one on the sandbar adjacent to Great Sale-oops....

Sunrise on the day of our crossing.  Note the calm seas and our frayed Bahamian flag.  

Our auto pilot went kaput, and Alexis fits under the console to diagnose the problem.  Our flux capacitor (fluxgate compass) died.  We had to steer by hand for 12 hours and it wore us out.  We have become spoiled!

The light blue water is shallow on the Bahama Banks, and the dark blue is the deep water of the Atlantic.  It is the proverbial line in the sand when you see it.  20' to 1000' in an instant.  Next stop, Florida.  

When we entered the territorial waters of the USA, we had to raise the "Q" flag until we checked in with Customs.  We had filed a float plan with US Customs, and checking in was a breeze.

Back in the USA!

We made it to Ft Pierce without any problem.  The seas were great. The autopilot crapped out so we had to steer by hand-the old fashion way.  Will posts pics tomorrow.  Off to eat and to bed for now.
One story-we saw unusual objects on the horizon as we approached Florida, and could not tell what they were.  High rise condos.  Duh!  We have been gone a while.....