Nuclear Subs and Georgia on our minds

Left 5.45am (because we had already been awoken by mossies & "no see'ums") from our free dock in Sister's Creek nearing the Florida Georgia border. Made great headway on long peaceful waterways with little traffic and lovely homes lining the right bank. We passed a lone canoeist doing some sort of challenge row - he must row all night because we had passed him a few days earlier ( or we are really much slower than we realise). After such an earlier start we anchored midday near an entrance to the Atlantic. We were almost tossed out of the bed by huge rolling waves and jumped up to see who was the idiot "waking us". Being waked is a common term applied to inconsiderate boats passing too fast & leaving large wakes that bounce you about. We could see no vessel near us but the waves would have been 5 feet and rolled past us to hit the shore & roll back again. On reading about the Navy's King Bay submarine base ahead of us, home to 6 Trident subs, & all the restrictions & security, we noted the following "submarines returning from the Atlantic Ocean to the King Bay base create huge wakes, especially when steaming fast in the exposed entrance channel" That would have been nice to know - also patrol boats are likely to escort you through the area if a submarine is present. We had upped anchor after the wake & sure enough noted the patrol boats and saw the wake of the sub way ahead after it had slowed to enter their base where NO WAKE signs are posted for passing boats!  Such excitement! We continued up a long, creek meandering through swamps, narrow channels & lots of shoaling. We crossed the Andrew Sound, the closest we get to the Atlantic Ocean and the bumpiest part so far on an incoming tide and a 15+ knot easterly. We had now entered into Georgia and tied up at Brunswick Landing Marina for a 2 day rest.

lots of new high bridges

down under café (under a bridge)

Nuke Sub, and little friend
who followed us until clear of security zone

Our new carpet, getting a bit flash.

Nice Shrimper

Tied up at Brunswick
Landing Georgia

St Augustine

We arrived at St Augustine Municipal Marina early enough to spend time wandering about the historic part of the city and we found this very concise statement  -
Discovered 1513 by Ponce de Leon
Founded 1565 by Menendez (Spanish)
Ceded 1762 to England ( By Force ?)

outside our marina

many little laneways

typical architecture

Museum was  Hotel for the
Very wealthy



Our little coffee shop

Spanish Fort, then English then USA

Evidence of a second person on the boat



Take it anyway you like

old with the new

Restored 1784 to Spain
Purchased 1821 to USA
Renaissance 1885 by Flagler (newspaper magnate)
Many well restored buildings 550 years of very Spanish architecture evidenced by photos. We spent another day there & met up with some fellow kiwis for lunch. This would be a great place to visit by car when travelling on the East coast. An enjoyable 2 days.

Memorial Day 25th May

Sure enough there were boats everywhere in the more populated waterside towns - but not as bad as we had expected. The ICW (intra coastal waterway) was so narrow today that we could look closely into the front yards of the mansions and mobile homes - no garden gnomes but birds, golfer statues, large American flags for Memorial Day, birds & Florida rooms, an indication that there are biting insects about. We are at a marina at the original Marineland which is now a research & educational facility. We swam in the Atlantic this afternoon surprised that we could still remember how to body surf. We wave to everybody, large & small boats; children & old people always wave back & most others eventually do if I keep waving long enough. (Just one of the things we do to keep ourselves amused). We have found a range of radio stations - from country & western to religious channels and currently jackpotted with a classical hits station. I guess our souls are marginally purified after being here in the south.

Hint to see better pictures

If you double click on picture you should get a full size photo, followed by a slide show,I can do it, so anyone else should be able to, Cheers Colin

Daytona to Marineland (the Original 1938)

Happy to find lots of bridges

Daytona Fire Dept

Play ball, our first baseball game

We stayed at this little Marina $1.75 a ft

Mural of Manatees on bridge

Australia's Americas cup entry

In 38celcius, a Long row

Often miles of boat houses

Dawn tries Atlantic,so good
we went back and got togs for swim
was beautiful, air 36cel,water 29cel.

Very long Indian River

Left Sebastian Inlet after spending the night in the marina with a strong southerly - even though it blows hard the waves get no bigger than 1ft not enough to make a 12 ton boat move. We headed north on the Indian River - a very long river with narrow stretches & almost bay like areas - towards Cape Canaveral. We could see the towers for many miles but too misty for good photos. We anchored at Addison Bridge ( @ NASA causeway but no launch today) where we were visited in the early hours of the morning by the homeland security.
One section of the waterway (Mosquito Lagoon) was full of manatees, crab potters & holiday fishermen & women. Beaches were full of people & the waterway full of boats. Caravan parks stretched along the waters edge with jetties looking like "desirable Florida waterside real estate".
This was Memorial Day long weekend with a holiday on Monday & we were warned about all the loonies that would be on the water - & there were so we headed for Daytona Beach Marina for 2 days to stay out of the crowded waters. Very nice marina & even though most stores were closed ???  it was an interesting walk in the Daytona down town historic area. Sunday night we went to a local baseball game which gave us a feel for how the locals spend their leisure time (bit like a rugby or league match really - fast food, mascots & mad fans). It rained heavily whilst in Daytona,but we didn't mind as gave us a chance to relax and chill out (in 90 degree temps)the rest was much needed after nearly 11 days travel with few breaks, it can be quite demanding with narrow channels, locks and low bridges to negotiate. We have now travelled nearly 500 miles since leaving St Petersburg.

NASA to Daytona

NASA Towers (Cape Canaveral)

Huge Rail Bridge

Even bigger cogs

Highly desirable Florida waterfront (RV Park)

A fisherman's  house

And his Shrimp Trawler

Silver haired millionaires so fast nearly missed shot

Lovely home opposite Marina

One for you John

And it rained(checking Dawns Costumes)

Impressive but not over the top

Going north on the East Coast

The last stretch of the canal towards L. Okeechobee threw up alligators trolling across our bow and air boats spraying the canal margins. We entered the lake ( the 2nd largest internal fresh water lake in USA) which is shallow and has in the recent past been too shallow to cross for larger boats. It's deepest part is only 14ft & has a reputation for strong winds and choppy waters. It was a long crossing but a perfectly calm surface, glassy with a cool accompanying breeze. We docked at Indian Town for the night - a marina with over 400 stored boats in various stages of repair including some hopeless cases.
We continued out towards the east coast on the St Lucie canal and reached the St Lucie river which wound us in a large loop past Stuart onto the east coast where we made a left turn and headed north. We anchored out near Jensen's Beach bridge and apart from bongo drums on the shore and mosquitos on the boat we had a calm night.
Today we travelled up the ICW north along the Indian river and the shores were lined with the most expensive, expansive and luxurious homes, especially on John's Island near Vero Beach. There was even one flying an Aussie flag. We saw less "pink " houses which seems to be a Florida exterior paint preference. We docked at Sebastian marina and took on fuel and water and dumped the waste.
The boat is running well, averaging 7.3 Knots. Will do a map for next time.

Arty Shot

Our first Gator

Air Boat Weed Spraying

Crossing calm Okeechobee

Railway lift bridge

The Office ,love Auto pilot

Some of the 400 stored boats

A project Anyone Steve?

our last lock for 1500 miles

40ft + on power lift

Thunder heads most afternoons

Just Beautifull

cool captain in hot sun

Aussie flag at Beautiful Mansion

Dawn sorting the charts, and Wine

Says it all

using 2.75 Us Gallons per Hour, that also includes generator time.