After spending a morning on Cumberland Island we motored
over to Fernandina Beach, FL to spend the afternoon at a coffee shop using the
internet to sign up for an appointment at Customs and Immigration for the Small
Vessel Reporting Program (formerly known as the Local Boaters Option). The SVRP
makes coming back from the Bahamas easier as we will not have to rent a taxi to
go to a customs office, we can just call them.
On Friday we pulled up the anchor in Fernandina Beach and
promptly went aground. We put up the jib, but that did not work. We then filled
up a bucket with water, attached it to the end of the boom, and ran it all the
way out but that did not work. We then put up the main and were finally able to
heel over enough to float free.
We anchored in St Marys, Georgia in the early afternoon and
walked around town. This is a very
boater friendly town. There is a large
public dinghy dock at the beautiful downtown park. The park is landscaped with well maintained
hedges, pergolas with swings, a gazebo, pavilion, and a playground. The first person we met, John from LIVE NOW
II, let us know he had a car and offered to drive us anywhere we wanted, or we
could borrow the car if we wanted.
Saturday we went out to breakfast at the Gray Goose café and
overheard another couple telling the owner they were going to call a friend on
a boat named Gray Goose to meet them at the café for coffee. We introduced ourselves to them, and to their
friend Roger from Gray Goose II. Roger lives on Islesboro. After breakfast we went to the Visitors Center
to use their internet to update the blog.
The very nice lady working at the desk offered to let us use her golf
cart to tour the town.
When we went back to check on the boat she was not where we
had left her. The tide had turned against
the wind and CORRET had wrapped her anchor rode around the keel and was
dragging sideways through the anchorage.
The anchor caught on the LIVE NOW IIs chain and John had tied her
off. Someone had called the Coast Guard
and the Coast Guard Auxillary boat was standing by. We quickly jumped aboard, started the engine
and worked on untangling the boat. Bill
had to get in the dinghy and use it to push the stern of the boat around to
unwind CORRET, then he had to retrieve the anchor from the other boat’s chain,
then he had to pull in all of the anchor rode and chain. Did I mention our
windlass is not working? Bill had quite
the aerobic workout! Luckily there was
no damage to any of the boats and no one was hurt. There was an empty space on Lang’s Dock in
front of GRAY GOOSE II so we tied up there and I told the dockmaster, Nat, our
tale of woe. Luckily he had room for us
for a couple of nights. Once we were
settled down we dinghied out to LIVE NOW II to apologize and to double check
that we had not damaged their boat. They very kindly invited us aboard and we
had a great visit with John and Pat. When we checked our email we had a message
from Philippe (CORRET’s previous owner). The boat is registered. When the Coast
Guard could not reach us they called Philippe to get our cell number. We called Philippe to let him that all was
well.
Sunday we went out to breakfast and went for a walk with the
reassuring feeling of having the boat tied securely to a dock. We were crossing the street and a gentleman,
Paul McClelland, stopped and asked us if we were in town visiting and if we had
been seen much of the area yet. We explained we were on a boat. He asked if we
were busy and offered us to take us on a tour of the area. He drove us around some beautiful neighborhoods,
we walked in back of his friend’s house to look at the view of Crooked River,
then we drove through a park. Paul was
an interesting tour guide; he is a semi-retired musician (trained at Julliard)
who has worked with many of the churches in the area and is very familiar with
the people and history.
Monday we headed back to Fernandina Beach for our
appointment at Customs and Immigration. Getting ashore at Fernandina is a
challenge because the marina is closed due to hurricane damage. There was a damaged dock with some shrimp
boats and hurricane damaged boats tied to it next to the marina so we tied up
that dock and walked into town from there.
At Customs the officer was very nice and efficient and we were done in
about 15 minutes. We were able to leave
the anchorage by 10:30.
When we reached the St. John’s River we had to wait for
traffic before going across the river. A huge container barge being pulled by
one tugboat, pushed by another one, with a third on the side was coming up the
river, and a similar one was going down the river. This was impressive in an intimidating sort
of way. The river has a 4 knot current
so crossing it is tricky to begin with, even without giant ships. We felt like a turtle crossing a highway. Timing is important!
We anchored for the night at Pablo Creek. The sunset was amazing, followed by the King
Moon rising. One of the most impressive
and beautiful evenings we have seen.
Good Grief!
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