Plans in sand

I am beginning to feel that "boat plans are written in sand at low tide" implies too much certainty. We are still in St Augustine. The morning weather reports had up to gale forcce winds all the way to Palm Beach. Seems the cold front and the cold high winds will stay another day.
We'll hope to get away tomorrow but that wish does not even reach the tenious plan level.

Finding St Augustine

Just when you think you have seen every strange thing that can happen on the water a new really strange one appears. On the way to St Augustine, about 15 miles away, we passed a Catalina 27 sailboat with Michigan registration. The boat had an open cockpit, no canvas protection of any kind, and not exactly equipped for cruising; manned by two very cold men. A few minites later we heard them on the radio asking a north bound motor cruiser " Can you help us out? We are trying to find St Augustine! We think its south of us somewhere, can you tell us where it is?" The boat he was talking to was stunned and could only say, its 15 miles away. I guess these folks had no idea what a chart is. These are the kind of folks who cost all of us a lot of money when they get into serious trouble and sue the Coast Guard.

The upper left picture is shot from the Castillo de San Marcos south toward the north anchorage and the rebuilding of the Bridge of Lions draw bridge, a Art Deco designed bridge that is being replaced, as is, in its original design when a high rise could have been built faster and cheaper. All because those who never had to wait for the bridge either on the water or on the road were concerned about "the heritage".

The second shot is the inland side of the Castillo de San Marcos, a fort built in 1585 to protect the city after the first 9 wood forts were destroyed in various attacks. Parts of the fort's walls are 30 ft thick. It was never taken in battle again. Its the oldest stone structure in the United States.

The lower picture is shot from the east wall of the fort toward the St Augustine outlet channel. The open water is 3 miles from the cannons on the wall which had a range of 3 miles. Those wondering where the "three mile limit" came from can figure this out.

The "plan", written in sand, is to move on to Daytona or New Smyrna Beach tomorrow. We'll see.

Travel in Reverse

The weather is not behaving as it should. The further south we go the colder it gets, with wind and rain that do not match the image of the "Sunshine State". All this is complicated by the inefficiency of the National Weather Service, which does predict the weather but hardly ever accurately. After a dreary travel day, no sight of the sun all day, we decided to stay in a marina in St Augustine since the NWS is predicting heavy rain, squalls and 40 knot winds at times. We'll see if it happens. Probably be here another night since a new front is coming through with freezing temperatures, rain and high winds.

There are some pictures. The range light has the new very high rise Brunswick bridge in the background. The bridge took years longer to build than it was supposed to; what's new?

The trawler covered with birds had a good catch and the birds wanted some.

We anchored at Cumberland Island last night and kept looking for some wild horses on the beach. Never saw any but the beach is still there.

A Short Day to Cunberland Sound

The weather has not been good and it is not going to get better soon. High winds and rain all night last night. The tide was against us so we didn't leave St Simons until 11 AM. Anchored tonight at Cumberland Island.

Brunswick,GA seaport

This is one of the busiest ports on the East Coast, primarily because this is the largest new car import terminals in the US. The two pilot boats in the picture are out constantly bringing in mostly Japanese cars transport ships. The classic yacht shown in the other picture has been here in St Simons for years in a very well maintained condition.

Weather turns bad

We had a nice dinner with Artie last night. There is a new restaurant at the marina which is very good. Hope they can stay in business. At least three others have tried and failed.

We planned on moving on today but the weather forecast took a sudden turn for the worst. 30 knot East winds and heavy rain. Not the kind of conditions you want to cross St Andrew Sound in. So we'll stay another day in St Simons. There was a time, I suppose, we would just press on. Age seems to bring more cautious behavior. Or maybe experience teaches something.

Golden Isles

These two pictures are typical of this part of the ICW. The barges usually only move on a rising tide. The area for 100 miles is known as Goolden Isles because of the gold colored marsh grass. We are in St Simons today and will leave tomorrow for Fernandia Beach.