Hello Georgia! You Look Lovely.

Exactly 2 weeks after arriving in Florida I sailed (and motored) across the border into Georgia.  Did I plan to be in Georgia?  Well, no.  But, storms and boat stuff change my plans just about every day… that’s all part of sailing.  It’s great to have a plan but it’s vital to be ready to improvise!

Now, I am tucked into a great little marina in Brunswick, Georgia where I just enjoyed my first cruisers happy hour gathering at the marina lounge. Yes! And… to cruisers’ happy hours!  OMG this marina has free beer on tap.  Is it PBR? Yup.  Is it free?  Enjoy it.  Met a great group of cruisers, most of whom have just made there way back here from a season in the Bahamas and many that have recently sold there houses and are just starting their new lives afloat.  I plan to interview some of them soon and introduce you to them and their stories.

I’ll be here for a couple weeks to make some repairs and improvements to the boat and get ready for more visitors or a solo trip north.  Will I make it to NY this summer?  At this point I’d be pretty psyched to get to the Chesapeake Bay!  Wherever I am it will be an adventure and I plan to always stay open to the possibilities each day presents.

Enjoy this 360 degree video of Becca, Kim, and I (and little Capt’ Lou) crossing over into Georgia and celebrating with a little St. Augustine Distillery bourbon.  (remember, use your mouse to move the view anyway you want to look!)

Travel Through the Bridge of Lions of St. Augustine with 360 Degree Video

 

After a night at sea, we tucked in at St. Augustine to check out the town and figure out our next move.  We stayed at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina, which is just south of the Bridge of Lions.  This bridge was built in 1925 and is a bascule bridge (the spans lift up).  It only opens on the hour and half hour and not during certain hours (like noon).  The currents are also very strong here which we found out the hard way when we got pinned against the docks trying to back out of the slip! 😦

Enjoy looking around as we motor through the bridge on our way north up the ICW.

A Plume of Tropical Moisture

 

I have to say that the phrase “a plume of tropical moisture” does have a nice ring to it.  But, when you are trying to sail a boat up the coast of Florida it makes for very tough going!  “Persistent downpours douse Florida” and “The rainy season in Florida will continue indefinitely” is how Accuweather is describing what I am soaking up each day!

I don’t mind the rain so much as the very powerful storms with high winds and lightning.  When I woke up this morning I was alerted that meteorologists were watching a tropical depression potentially forming that would affect Florida and the Bahamas.  So… Although it was a beautiful sunny morning, there were some nasty looking clouds moving swiftly towards me.  Taking precautions, I reserved a slip at a marina just about 12 nautical miles up the intracoastal from my really pleasant anchorage last night just off the coast guard station in Ft. Pierce (note: if you anchor in front of the coast guard it is likely that they will board and inspect your boat.  If you have a cute little dog in a life vest that sits on their lap they will likely miss something, just saying.  They talked of taking Louie with them… ummm, no.)

So, of course, after docking at the marina (which costs more money than i can be spending – and, after asking at the next door Vero Beach Yacht Club for reciprocal docking (no go!) – Louie and I did some boat work and laundry as we watched the skies produce the most beautiful sunny day yet.  Ugh… better safe than sorry?  Well,  tomorrow I might just push on anyway.

I must say though that Louie had a great day getting a couple walks and sharing french fries at the burger stand in Vero Beach.

I have another crew coming tomorrow.  We were supposed to scoop her up in St. Augustine but we are quite behind schedule so she is renting a car to drive down to meet us.  Hopefully Sunday we will head off shore and aim for South Carolina!

Daily Tally:

Beers drank = 1
Dinghy’s fixed = 1 attempted, 0 complete
Laundry washed = 1 load

Things to fix at this point in no particular order:

• dinghy (deflating)
• dinghy motor (no idea if it even works have yet to try)
• water in starboard bilge and bilge pump not working (okay this is priority!)
• fridge (works on 110v but not turning on off the grid)
• oh my gosh i am boring both of us.  enough.

I hope you enjoy the 2 minutes of 360 degree video I shot today while on motoring up the intracoastal waterway near Vero Beach.   Also, I read that the 1,300 pound great white shark named Hilton is currently swimming near by.  Sorry, no footage of that.