A Big Day Out

Side streets offered interesting heritage buildings too!

With the weather not being especially co-operative, we settled on a mooring ball in the huge field of St Augustine’s Municipal Marina for a few days.  It was a great spot to be, beside the Bridge of Lions, and very close to the walkable, historic part of town.  Ordering a phone sim to be sent to the office proved easy, as was finding a well-stocked boat bits store to keep the Cap’n happy.  We had less success locating a bank and a large grocery store within walking distance.  Although critical to maintaining crew harmony, we quickly dispensed with challenging chores for a better idea.  With time on our hands now, and a beautiful, sunny Florida day, we hit the tourist trail for a day of – oh, I don’t know – doing nothing but relaxing!   

Elusive Manatee - signage artwork

St Augustine was settled by the Spanish in 1565 and is considered the oldest continually occupied European settlement in the USA.  Henry Flagler, a wealthy and motivated industrialist, saw a business opportunity here in 1882, whilst on his honeymoon no-less.  Flagler built a series of resorts for the well-to-do, not only in St Augustine, but along the length of the Florida coast.  All connected naturally, by his Florida East Coast Railway.  

External features of Alcazar from Steam Room

Penny-farthings under Venetian Glass Chandeliers

We settled on exploring the Lightner Museum, once Flagler's 1888 Gilded Age resort hotel, the Alcazar.   Once resplendent with indoor pool, Turkish and Russian baths, ballroom and tennis courts, it attracted wealthy clientele.  Now a museum dedicated to hobbies and collections from the early 1900’s, it has a fine eclectic assortment including Tiffany glass, music room instruments, penny farthing bicycles, a stuffed lion, an Egyptian mummy, cut crystal glassware – the list goes on!  All staged against photos taken during those times.

The Pool in the Alcazar is now a Museum Cafe

We later strolled Old Town along pedestrian-only and very touristy George Street, eating ice-cream and thinking good thoughts about all the devoted grandparents pushing prams.  That was until a white fluffy dog popped its head up from under the covers.  Yes, it’s trending!  So, it was time then, Alice, to get back to reality.  We needed to knock a few more miles off our Mile 1018 start point total (from West Palm Beach.  Norfolk in Virginia is Mile 0 of the ICW) and judging by the northerlies and wild surf running at the St Augustine Inlet, an outside run up the coast was not an option.  GS sighed with relief

The quiet end of George Street. 
At least one dog was on a lead!

Skipping Shipping Hazards

Twins.  Let's Sea & WJ3 buddy up

Mike alerted us to a satellite launch from Cape Canaveral

Cap’n & crew arrived at Vero Beach Marina, thankfully in one piece, and settled in to marina life tucked away on a well-sheltered mooring ball.  Luckily for us, we shared with fellow Hunter 460 owners, Mike & Cala, on “Let’s Sea”.  So, much information was swapped and shared – and worse, new ideas generated!  The good times had to end, and after spending our time doing chores, shopping to replenish our sadly depleted larder, buying boat bits and doing repairs aplenty, it was time to move on.  We did wonder why we were the only ones heading north.  Still, those nasty, snow-laden fronts were at last, tracking well to the north, so there was some joy in that.  And our new Walmart tracksuits were proving just the ticket!  Given that we’d not had much “down time”, and a few more electrical issues had just cropped up (sigh!), we promised ourselves a few days respite in either Daytona or St Augustine.  

Flagship Towing to the rescue

Sadly, not everyone makes it though. Possibly hurricane damage?

However, ahead and lurking at New Smyrna Beach, was an infamous shoaled area of the ICW.  Even though we set forth in foggy conditions that morning, we managed to avoid it, so were feeling somewhat smug.  Its twin, half a mile further on, lay in wait though.  This time we became well and truly stuck on an unmarked sand bar in the middle of a supposedly dredged channel.  WJ3’s stern was in 8 feet of water, the bow stuck on 3.  Despite trying all the tricks of the trade to wriggle her off, nothing worked.  Worse, the tide was going out, quickly.  We’d become a shipping hazard in the blink of an eye!!

Then of course, out of the fog, along came the cavalry!  Flagship Towing must have been alerted to our plight and after some negotiations we settled on a fee for his assistance to release WJ3.  Our guy certainly earned his money, that’s for sure…  Finally, we were floating again, then carefully led through the danger zone without further mishap.  What a star!

In case you are wondering…  Yes, we had taken out towing insurance.  But had not yet been able to negotiate a sim card for use in the US, which = NO local phone.  (In Aus, we just about give sim cards away to anyone at Arrivals.)  Apparently, tow companies do not respond to VHF calls and who wants to disturb the Coast Guard?  So here we are in St Augustine, having successfully negotiated the equally hazardous Matanzas Inlet, shopping for a sim card.  Wish us luck!

Bridge of Lions at St Augustine

The Matanzas Inlet is a site famous in America’s pre-history.  In 1565, Spanish forces, led by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, defeated French forces, securing Spanish control of Florida for some 235 years.  Matanzas means “massacre” and we are pleased to say that, expertly negotiated by our Cap’n and charted by AquaMaps & Bob423 (our new charting system now in place), it was NOT another Tow Boat call out for us, this time. 

Ponce de León, the first Governor of Puerto Rico (1508), led in 1513 the first known European expedition of Florida.   Here in St Augustine, along with its remarkable Spanish Fort (1672), is a Fountain of Youth said to be discovered by de León.  GS sipped the waters in good faith in 2009.  After 17 years, she notes, it appears not to be working!  

St Augustine's character Lighthouse

That's the Bridge of Lions through today's fog...

The Shallows

Now, we’ve travelled the 1019 miles of Norfolk to Lake Worth ICW a few times since our first run in 2009.  It’s not our first rodeo as the Yanks like to say.  So, we are well versed in its challenging patches – the Georgia marshes, South Carolina’s shape-shifting, shallow inlets, North Carolina’s vast open bays and crab-pot lined channels.  Florida is never an issue.  Usually…  2024’s hurricane season saw much damage through this area and the Corps of Engineers, whose task it is to maintain ICW depths, have been stretched beyond their maintenance limits.  We use Navionics, paper charts and good ol’ Skipper Bob’s guide to anchorages (and nav alerts) along this waterway.  Even so, we still watch our depth gauge like hawks and stick to the magenta line (middle) of the channel.  

One of the 10 bridges encountered on our first day on the ICW.
At most of them, we had to request or wait, for an opening.

The Blue Heron Bridge (a fixed bridge), only a mile into our journey north, is known as a bit of an unspoken challenge, offering less than the prescribed 65feet above the water.  The marker indicated 64ft, we need 63ft to not crunch the mast & various antennas attached to it.  We sallied forth, having never hit before.  This time, the VHF antenna touched, bending well over, thankfully not breaking.  

Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse
Perhaps we should have been paying more attention to it?

Our first day on the ICW went downhill from there.  We hit bottom at Jupiter Inlet finding 4½ ft (our keel is 5½), the Captain’s favourite chair jumped ship in Hobe Sound (but was fortunately recovered and read the riot act), then nearly lost our way in the confusion of markers, shoals, and skinny water in St Lucie Inlet crossing, and found ground at the Jensen Beach designated anchorage, supposedly 7-8ft, finding 3 ½.  Thankfully, our trusty Cap’n used a passing wake to hobby-horse WJ3 back into the ICW.   The up side of the day, was manatee watching whilst we waited for the Indiantown Road Bridge, and spotting dolphins, jumping rays, turtles, and loads of birdlife along the way.  Plus, it was warm.  Spring is in the air – well, at least in Florida!  

A well cared for (possibly historic) home along the waterway. 
Note the widow's walk fenced in on the roof top. 
Here, a Captain's wife would watch out to sea for his ship to come home. 

Fort Piece then, was our last chance for an anchorage before nightfall.  We chose to shelter in the protection of Causeway Island and nervously negotiated our way off the ICW.  Needless to say, we misread the channel's green and red markers before finding deeper waters. (Red, right, returning - only we weren't at the time -oops!)  WJ3's anchor was set just on dusk – at an early 6pm.  We had travelled over 50nm in 10 hours, negotiated 10 bridges and some seriously shoaled rivers & inlets.  Florida is supposed to be the easy part of the ICW – just what was in store for us over the next 3-4 weeks before Norfolk and Chesapeake?  Vero Beach was only 16nm away.  We couldn’t wait to get there!

Joy Ride

Approaching the WPB Inlet.  Welcome back to the Unites States!!
If we had broken down, GS was prepared to swim the rest of the way in...

Just inside the West Palm Beach inlet is a huge anchorage area, Lake Worth.  It is bustling with freighters, cruise ships, barges pushed by tugs, tour boats, sail & motor boats and pleasure craft of all persuasions.  Marinas line its shores; posh ones for the superyachts, facilities for racing boats, marinas for regular folk and heaps of yards.  Everyone who has a waterside home along the ICW seems to have a dock and some kind of watercraft too.  Boating is big business in the US.  

Looking south from our anchorage in Lake Worth

Lake Worth is also busy with hundreds of sailboats and motor cruisers either waiting for a crossing window to the Bahamas/Caribbean or just sitting out winter in Florida’s sunshine.  Luckily, we found a decent space not too deep into the waterway, set the anchor in waters unaffected by ocean swell and celebrated our arrival watching the sun set.  A Margaritaville Cruise (a 3 day, booze, food and casino getaway) headed offshore and trains arced up those compulsory, loud, lonesome, night whistles that can be heard all along the ICW.  

Water Tank near our lunch stop

Our plan was to visit Immigration & Customs at the Port in the morning, settle our cruising permit, then have a long lunch sitting in the sunshine by the dock at the Tiki Bar, renown for it's Mexican food and giant cocktails.  We looked forward to easier motoring/sailing conditions heading north along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  A quiet Vero Beach Marina mooring, 2 days away, was in our sights for a week of repairs, rest and recovery.  Well, that was the plan… 

Panacea for the Soul

These guys, a dive boat, wanted fuel too.  Oh oh!  We were squeezed off the dock.
They had better wait in line or we might miss out

After a few days rest, it was back to chores, including refuelling for our next leg to the Bahamas, so opted to refill at South Bank Marina.  To buy fuel, you must check in & out of the country.  Fortunately, this process can be done at the Marina by very friendly officials.  Unfortunately, by the time we were processed, the Fuel Dock hands had finished work for the night.  So, we stayed tied to the dock and had a night at the marina before refuelling and heading back to Sapodilla Bay to re-anchor.  

Then the Cap'n thought of a way to distract them...

Having sworn off overnighters after our previous adventure, we realised that an overnighter would get us to George Town in the Bahamas in two days, rather than taking 5 day sails.  So, let’s get this over with!  Out the Sandbore Channel and over the precipitous east bank, we were on our own again, except for a huge cruise ship, not easy to miss, lit up like an over-decorated Christmas tree.  This year’s weather has certainly put many early season arrivals off. 

Sailing at night by the light of a full moon.  The owl & the Pussycat...

And really calm waters off Long Island & Gun Cay, Bahamas

We rounded Cape Santa Maria, Long Island, in the late afternoon, day 2.  Named after one of Columbus’s ships, there is a monument to Columbus atop this rugged cliff.  It is said the local Lucayan Taino lasted only 15 years after their encounter with the Spaniards.  Others say that there is no evidence of Taino in the Bahamas at all.  So, rather like the differing opinions over Columbus’s actual voyage through the Bahamas, facts are few and stories many.  Still, it gave us something to muse on as we anticipated a night meander through the challenging, reef-lined East cut into George Town.  At least we had the light of a full moon and calm seas to help guide us in.  And the anchor lights of at least 150 other cruising boats

Just a few at anchor off Stocking Island, George Town.

The next morning, it was time to check in, pay for a $300 cruising permit, then after a round of the supermarket with not a lot in it and a lugging a few jerrycans of fuel (no fuel dock in this busy, busy harbour), we headed out for Galliot’s Cut to get onto the Exuma Bank.  Luck was with us and we had an ingoing tide and no wind, so made a dash for Black Point Settlement to see if we could buy engine oil there.  We bought out their supply, then moved on to Shroud Cay.  Sadly, there was no time to do another motor through this extensive mangrove system to look for rays, sharks and turtles.  Early next morning, we crossed the bank to anchor for a very choppy night off Nassau at West Bay, hoping for a weather window to allow us to get to Bullocks Harbour and then Lucaya.  Here we planned a short stay at the Great Bahama Yacht Club.  Here we could shop for groceries, wash clothes and otherwise be presentable on arrival in the US.  Before we could leave however, we had to pay a $75 departure tax. 

Sunset over the Exuma Bank and another night arrival!

Mail Boats (blue hull) bring much needed supplies across the Bahamas. 
Black Point Settlement in the Exumas, now in need of more engine oil...

Tied up in a cosy slip late in the afternoon at Grand Bahama Yacht Club

So, it was with some anticipation, we headed off to cross the Gulf Stream for West Palm Beach.  It was a smooth ride, with both wind and current assisting our passage to, unusually for us, make a daytime entry. 

Not before having a spectacular sunset farewell from GBYC

(For those wondering, travelling rapidly has meant many of our photos are taken at the start or end of the day.  In some places, we haven't even had time to get off the boat, and it's now too cool to swim.  Day photos are mostly open ocean, so totally boring.  We hope to do much better along the ICW.)