FLORIDA AT LAST

We finally made it to Florida, having reached Daytona Beach, where we’re enjoying the hospitality of the Sunset Harbor Yacht Club.

How we got here: After we left Cuba we flew back to Charleston where we had about two more weeks to wait to get all the work completed on Bottlenose. If you have to be stuck somewhere, you could do worse than Charleston. The food was great, as it seemed to be everywhere in South Carolina.

Ross Marine did an excellent job of patching up Bottlenose. They are a really high quality yard with tremendous attention to detail and we feel like Bottlenose is stronger than ever after all the repairs. Paul Speight, Jr. oversaw all the work; we would recommend the yard to anyone needing work done in the Charleston area.

On December 30^th Bottlenose was back in the water, so we were able to move back on board, even though a few more repairs needed to be done. We celebrated New Year’s Eve on the boat at the marina on John’s Island and were treated to a marvelous series of fireworks all around us; the weather was warm enough for drinks in the cockpit. We were thrilled to finally be back on the boat and even more thrilled to resume our journey going south, looking forward to the new year.

Bottlenose at anchor in Tom's Point Creek, SC

Anchored in the Wahoo River, GA

Calm day on the Front River, GA

We left Ross Marine on January 4^th and anchored that night at Tom’s Point Creek off the Wadmalaw River, and the following night we tied up at the marina in Beaufort, SC. From there we passed into Georgia and anchored in the Herb River in Thunderbolt and then in the Wahoo River and the South River. All of the anchorages were scenic and secluded, we were usually the only boat, no doubt due to our passing through this late in the season. And still enjoying fairly mild weather.

Foggy morning on the Little Mud River, GA

Spanish Moss at Fort Frederica, GA

Anchorage at Fort Frederica

Anchorage at Fort Frederica

Live oaks at Fort Frederica

Ruins of the barracks at Fort Frederica

 

 

 

By January 9^th we reached the Frederica River, where we anchored off Fort Frederica on St. Simon’s Island. We dinghied ashore to the ruins of the fort and found it to be a fascinating visit. Fort Frederica and the adjacent town were founded by James Oglethorpe in 1736 in what was then “no man’s land” between the British possessions to the north and the Spanish in Florida. As a result of Oglethorpe’s efforts Georgia became British. As an interesting sidelight, the garrison was disbanded in 1749 when the threat of war ended and this led quickly to the demise of the town, which was dependent on the money spent by several hundred soldiers. The Park Service has done an excellent job of displaying the ruins and has a very fine video at the visitors’ center.

Ruins at Fort Frederica

Bridge at Brunswick, GA

Jekyll Island "cottage"

After Frederica we spent a couple of nights at a marina in Brunswick, GA and then a night at Jekyll Island, which was once a social club for the wealthy (the Rockefellers, Morgans, Vanderbilts, etc.) and is now a state park that preserves the “cottages” from that bygone era.

From Jekyll Island we moved on to Florida and tied up at the municipal marina in Fernandina Beach for two nights. After that we ran aground at Pine Island in the Tolomato River in an area that showed 15 feet of water on the charts, but caught us about one and a half hours after high tide. We couldn’t kedge off so we had to wait overnight on the tide. But we liked the area so much that we anchored there for another night; this time we went around the south side of the island where there was plenty of water.

Next stop was St. Augustine where we picked up a mooring at the municipal marina for two nights, and then anchored in the Matanzas river at Fort Matanzas. We beached the dinghy and visited the small fort and walked a short nature trail. The highlight at Fort Matanzas was seeing a great horned owl sitting on her nest.


From Fort Matanzas we motored to Daytona Beach where we plan to stay one night.