Key West Reloaded

Covid-19

So it’s March 13th and the bars on Duval St. are open and seems worried about the Covid-19 pandemic but that will change by the end of this post.

Five Days

Preppy flew back to Boston yesterday but I rented my slip here in Key West for another five days. I was happy that Teresa had decided to drive down for the weekend so we could spend that time together. We started our weekend by hoping on the scooters and hitting Duval St.

1st stop Pinchers Crab Shack.

There was a woman playing guitar and she was great.

She kept us laughing the whole time

We were enjoying some beer, margaritas and bang bang shrimp (wow those were good).

The table is covered with brown paper which I keep spilling IPA on

It’s happy hour so they bring you 2 IPAs every time you order one 😉

I’m not sure how we missed the “Bucket of Fun” on that menu?

At one point a patron of the bar was proposing to the the guitar player by offering her a roll of toilet paper. At first it looked like he was going to win her over with the roll but she was clearly holding out for more.

You can see our scooter handlebars behind the singer and it was time to jump on them and go exploring Key West before this happy hour slows us down. So off we went scootering.

Southernmost Point Buoy

When in Key West, you must stop at the Southernmost Point Buoy and take a picture. There was a line to take a picture so we figured we’d simply stand in the street and take a selfie with the famous buoy.

Tuck & Roll

I forgot to mention to Teresa that when scootering, you cannot take your hands off the handlebars for any reason. Cow Key Channel Bridge (pictured below) was the scene of the horrific crash. Rather than wait for the med flight to arrive, Teresa agreed to scooter back to MV Simple Life where I would bandage her back together.

Boat Cruise

The next day was warm and sunny so we figured we’d untie Simple Life and slip away from the dock for a boat ride around Key West.

You can see the northern tip of Fleming Key behind us. Fleming Key and bridge that connects it to Key West are part of a section of the Naval Air Station Key West called “Trumbo Point” and are inaccessible to civilians without US Navy clearance.

Duval St Take Two

The next day we explored Key West again. This time via Uber and somehow we still wound back up at Pinchers. Teresa was born and raised in Florida and grew up on seafood. I think she’s working on converting me into a seafood guy. We had just enough time for one last obligatory selfie before our Uber arrived to take us back to Simple Life.

I pretty sure the 2for1s were flowing this night 😉

It was a weekend to remember.

Publix Run

The next day I put on my backpack climbed into the dinghy and set out across the shallow bay to Publix supermarket. Figuring I could carry four times as many groceries in the dinghy than the scooter, my plan seemed to make sense. The plan was to land the dinghy along the roadway in front of Publix. This resupply mission would ultimately fail. I had drastically underestimated just how shallow the water was around Salt Pond Keys and especially as you get close to the roadway.

Dinghy path shown in red from marina on right to Publix at the bottom

Feeling defeated, I returned to the marina tied the dinghy up and hopped on my scooter for multiple resupply runs. It was March 16th and people were still shopping without masks or protective gear.

While Simple Life has a fridge and freezer with a separate sub-zero freezer I could load up on perishables and simply freeze them but like most boaters I prefer to stock the pantry full of non-perishables.

Good thing I stocked up on beer because on March 17th at 5PM on St. Paddy’s Day, the FL Keys shut down all the bars due to Covid-19. My plans to enjoy a few IPAs @ Irish Kevin’s on Duval St. died a few hours before it would have started. Maybe another time?

Dinghy Fishing

I’m now back at the boat and tired from all the lugging food & beer on the scooter. The night was warm so I figured it was a great night to go fishing in the dinghy.

Plenty of height to squeeze the dink under Cow Key Channel bridge

On my last night in Key West I was reading on Facebook a post from a fellow trawler guy who motored past a a 63′ Viking sport fishing boat aground on a jetty. He snapped this photo in the early morning before the sun came up.

Seems the boat ran into the jetty in the night. I felt horrible for the captain of MV Fuelish Pleasure as this kind of thing can happen to any captain when you lose situational awareness. Sometimes when it’s pitch black out and you have the brightness of the chartplotter turned way down it’s hard to see all the chart detail. Add to that the boat is bouncing up and down and it’s easy to make a mistake in the dark.

The captain may have been trying to pass between two shallow spots on the chart and might not have noticed the thin line that depicts a rock jetty. It’s very easy to do.

The arrow points to a thin chart line that is a rock jetty

The chart above is of the St. Mary’s Inlet where this accident occurred. It is right on the Florida – Georgia line between Cumberland Island to the north and Amelia Island to the south. You can see my route line in red where I would was anchored in the Amelia River near the #1 waypoint. I used this route to exit that same inlet in 12 days after leaving Key West. I did a 40 hour solo offshore beginning the morning of 3/27/20. You’ll read about that when I catch up writing these blog posts. I’m glad nobody was injured in this accident.

Sapelo Island to Cumberland Island

Orange in the AM

Sunrises in the low lands of Georgia are amazing.

Get Up You Lazy Captain!

If you read the last post, I wrote about how 50 NM / day can be done but you have to get an early start. Well, I didn’t.

Tortoise and the Hare

Right of the bat I had a much faster boat pass me by. I’m sure he gets his 50NM in before noon.

Anyone Home?

I found this home on a small island interesting as I passed.

ATONs

ATONs (Aids TO Navigation) or buoys if you will, are important things to pay attention to on the ICW.

World is Ablaze

As I was approaching Brunswick, GA it looked like the world was burning.

No idea what was burning but there was a lot of smoke

Traffic

I hailed this tug & barge on the VHF and let him know that I would push over to the edge of the channel as soon as I rounded a narrow bend in the river.

The Unexpected

Next came something I did not expect. When I first saw it I had no idea what it was. I spy’d it with my binoculars but I still could not identify it.

Turns out this is the underside of the 656 foot long Korean RoRo cargo ship called “Golden Ray” that capsized in Cumberland Sound on September 8th, 2019. While 4 of the 24 crew members were missing 3 were later rescued and even the 4th was pulled out alive. They were trapped with a fire that was roasting them alive while they were stuffing their pockets with ice to stay cool.

Slow as She Shallows

I was making my way down Jekyll Creek just off Jekyll Island. I found shallows.

Foreboding

As I glanced up at the sky I could see that it was getting lower and darker.

Time to stop being a lazy captain and check the weather.

You Ain’t Be Around if You Ain’t Been Aground

I was happy that my anchorage was quickly approaching. However, before I could get to my chosen anchor location I came around a turn in the bend to find this trawler aground.

Like I always say, “If you want to know where it’s shallow… it’s where the birds are standing”

Have You Been Paying Attention?

Have you have been paying attention? Did you read my last blog post about how I plan on making 50NM legs like this leg shown below?

W03L017 Crescent River Anch – Delaroche Creek Anch

Well I got a late start, I ran into shallow water, Gale Warnings, slowed for all kinds of things like trawlers aground. When did I get to my anchorage? In the dark with gale warnings. OK, It may have been gale warnings out on the ocean but only strong gusty winds where I was anchoring. That said, I’m in the Georgia low lands. Nothing sticks up high enough to buffer the winds. I did not snap a pic while anchored because it was just black out. Anchoring did not go smoothly. I had a strong wind perpendicular to a strong current and I was challenged to find a spot that did not have the wind swinging Simple Life onto the creek bank. It’s going to be a long night on anchor. Now where did I put those IPAs?

D9 Brewing Company Hakuna Matata Tropical IPA

Fernandina Beach Florida

I awoke at 4AM before any of the crew. Neither Happy or Brody came out from under the covers to join me. We are in Georgia and it’s only 40 degrees when I awoke.

Heck, the temps were going to fall deeper before the 7:13AM sunrise.

By 6:30AM the sky was starting to lighten up on the ICW.

I decided to walk out on the bow while underway and snap a picture and a quick video before sunrise.

Once the sun rose you could see it burning the face of the daymarks as we passed.

It’s high tide and the rivers are swollen around here. Daymark almost underwater.

When you are at the helm for hours the internet is your entertainment. I was watching Mike-the-Drunken-Donkey from Mike’s Weather Page broadcasting FB Live video stream. I tuned in as Mike taught about weather and what to expect from the winter storm making its way across the US.

Thankfully, MV Simple Life will be in Florida by the end of the day

We were amazed at how flat calm the ICW was as we pushed along at 7 knots.

Not a frozen Lake but contrails in the reflected sky
Daymarks Reflected
Flotsam in the sky
Flotsam everywhere
My reflection as I snap a picture of the bow’s wake

At the helm I’m wearing my work pajamas because it’s still a bit chilly even with the diesel heat on. Happy just figured out that there is HEAT coming out of that little black round duct below the AC panel door. She parked herself right under my feet to steal all the heat.

We were making incredible time as we approached Cumberland Island in Georgia.

10.4 knots because we were enjoying a strong current on our stern.

Then as we looked out, we could see a current line on the surface of the water.

Opposing currents meeting causing white chop

We feared as soon as we crossed this line that our 10.4 knot speed would begin to erode. We could never have guessed just how much.

Strong Current on the nose. 10.4 => 3.9 knots

Knowing we would face this current from our trip around Cumberland Island we attempted to ride close to shore looking for an eddy current (reverse direction). But alas it was no use. We had a long slow ride around the island.

Then it happened. We crossed over the state line into Florida’s Amelia Island A.K.A. Fernandina Beach. As we passed we saw a ship that looked like a member of the Sea Shepherd fleet. We snapped a photo on the way by and low & behold, it was a Sea Shepherd ship.

Kelly & I have always been fans of ocean conservation and the crew of Sea Shepherd work hard to keep our oceans and their inhabitants safe.

We are currently anchored in the Amelia River just over the GA-FL state line.

*Sun is setting in the Amelia River as I finish this post*

Today’s leg looked something like this finger drawn route.

W02L021 – Darien, GA to Fernandina Beach, FL

New River South Anchorage

From Cumberland Island we pushed further North into Georgia.

Our route would look like this:

Route 5 Cumberland Sound - New River — Our Route from Cumberland Island to the New River Anchorage

We would pass this house that just looked like a painting..

Somebody should paint this house

Even better close up

We passed this sexy trawler.

Once at the anchorage it was windy and rainy all night but the rain let up enough in the AM to see the sun.

Jacksonville Florida

Breakfast in Delaroche Creek, griddle style. YUMM!

We don’t know if we are gaining or losing weight? We don’t have a scale onboard. I’m sure cooking my favorite breakfast this morning is not helping but how can you say no to hash-n-eggs with wheat toast?

Our trip today took us from Delaroche Creek (about the middle of Cumberland Island, GA) to Jacksonville, FL.

On our way into Cumberland Sound the VHF radio crackled with a warning from the US Navy. There was a warship in the area and they advised all vessels to heed the 500 yard perimeter around the ship. M/V Simple Life does not have guns or armor plate so we made our way cautiously into Cumberland Sound with two other boats, “S/V Whiskey Me Away” and “M/V Redtail”.

M/V Redtail (pictured below) appears to be a 42′ Kadey Krogen which is similar in size and style to our 43′ North Pacific raised pilothouse. Kelly and I love the classic lines of a Kadey Krogen.

As we approached Kings Bay, this Navy patrol boat with blue lights flashing moved out of my way after we hailed them on 16. (Note the machine gun on the bow)

We passed some sort of observation tower (maybe connected to the Navy base or the nearby plant/factory?)

Next it was into the Amelia River near Fernandina Beach. As we made our way South along Amelia Island, the current was strong and there were many sights to see.

The mast pictured above was the only thing sticking above the water of this boat.

This sailboats keel was missing as she laid on the shore.

Below this Amelia Research and Recovery vessel was jacked out of the water on pilings. Note the black marine day shapes on her pilothouse roof. They are signaling her as “restricted in her ability to maneuver”.

Pictured below is a guy on some kind of tiny single chair dingy with a cooler. He seemed to be enjoying himself just cruising around.

The barge below passed us with what looks like vessel debris from Atlantic hurricane season 2017 and especially hurricane Irma which hit Jacksonville hard.

Three simultaneous hurricanes active on September 8, with Katia (left), Irma (center), and Jose (right), the first such occurrence since 2010.

Below is a boat that landed on the shore. She appears in good shape but I would not want my propeller and thru-hulls sitting in the mud like that. Especially when the tide comes back in and the wakes are rocking the boat.

A Tip of the Hat: Navigating around the shallows in this area was made easier by the .gpx downloadable routes provided by Mr. Robert Sherer. Bob and his wife Ann have a great Fleetwing sailing blog that I follow. Bob has been cruising the ICW for a few years now and helps other sailors avoid running aground.

Even the crab pots seem to find themselves aground at low tide.

When we arrived at our planned anchorage, it was clear that it was far too narrow for us to be able to anchor in for the night. We pushed on and tried several other anchorages but they were either full like the free-docks in Jacksonville or just extremely exposed to current, wakes and wind. We made the decision to go up the St. John’s River as the sun was setting. I quickly realized that this was not a good idea when I felt the strong current that was running against us. There was also large commercial traffic moving swiftly down current. This tug and barge that hailed us by name before the captain ever saw us. The captain was able to do this because of the AIS (Automatic Identification System) that Kelly & I installed. You don’t want to be stuck in that current in the path of something like this when the current is pushing her hard at you.

AIS made us aware in time to stay out of her path.

We did not want to wind up like this poor motor yacht along the shores of the St. John’s River.

We scoured the charts looking for a good location that would protect us from this strong current and picked the backside of an unnamed island near Jacksonville center.

The only challenge was there was not enough water for us to enter. It was too shallow. With the sun quickly setting, we probed to find a way in. The first two attempts had the bow pushing into a soft silty shoal. The third attempt and we found a way over the shoal with an inch or two to spare. We quickly found our way into deeper water behind the island. We anchored up and it turned out to be a wonderful peaceful anchorage for the night.

Darien River and Delaroche Creek Anchorages

Kelly & I have been enjoying quiet nights on anchor and tonight will be spent on anchor in Delaroche Creek.

Below are the last 4 spots we have chosen to anchor.

Kelly & I both confessed that we like to anchor more than we like to stop at marinas. There is just something nice about being alone.

I have used the time to catch up on the walking dead.

I also got to watch “Anchorman” while on anchor. I think I laughed so hard I almost cried.

As we traveled down the ICW the weather just kept getting warmer. While it may have only been 65 degrees out, it was over 80 in the pilothouse.

Chief Martin Brody, our Boston Terrier, loves to lay on a pillow covered by his favorite Afghanistan and soak up the sun.

Along the way we were followed by bottle nose dolphins.

Many different sea birds.

The last picture is of these large white birds with black tipped wings. We keep trying to capture them up close but keep missing them.

We also saw cows grazing along the deserted islands.

We only passed 5 or so boats. We passed these fishermen who where combining their efforts to catch bait fish using a cast-able net.

This faster trawler passed us.

Heck, even the towboat who was engaged in an active tow passed us. We figured 6 knots isn’t exactly fast.

The towboat captain was quite friendly and chatted with us on the VHF for a bit. He warned us about the upcoming shallows in Jekyll Creek that goes around Jekyll Island. He was not wrong. We were approaching simultaneously with low tide. We thought we might anchor before the worst of it but instead pushed on and made it past Jekyll Island to Cumberland Island further South. Tonight we anchored in Delaroche Creek about halfway down Cumberland Island. It’s a tight fit in here. I had to shorten the anchor rode more than I wanted to keep from swinging into the banks of the creek. I snapped a pic just to show how close the edge of the creek is in here.

Last night’s anchor in the Darien River was a bit wider and lucky for that as the local Darien shrimp boats had to squeeze by us.

So tonight as we get ready to watch the Patriots play we’ll enjoy yet another beautiful sunset.