Fort Matanzas

We had a peaceful night on anchor in the Amelia River. We awoke early before the sunrise.

Somehow we did not get moving till 8AM. We have a thing about trying to cover as many miles as we can each day and that means you need to use all the daylight there is on the ICW. Not so much this morning. The good news was that we were leaving on a high tide so little worry of running into a shoal with the added 5′ of tide.

Two tugs raced past us and I was reminded that you can tell when a full displacement boat is running at near ‘Hull Speed‘ by simply looking at the bow wake length vs the boat length. You can see the smaller tug’s bow wake dips and then crests almost at the stern of the tug. They were running hard and burning fuel. They must be in a hurry to get to the next job cuz running fast = diesel = $ = expenses for them.

Where the ICW crosses the St. Johns River in Jacksonville we always see large ships either underway or being repaired in the boatyards dotting the shore.

MV Pegasus
Ship Ocean Evolution’s fwd heli pad
Georgia Queen in Dry Dock
Underway Ship passing drift fishing boats

Last year we passed this sailboat on a small island and it still looks out of place. How’d it get up on the island? I can only assume a barge with a crane placed it there to keep it out of the way of navigation but why leave it there?

Derelict Sailboat on stands on small island

We passed this other sailboat that was using their dingy to reset their anchor. Their sailboat was too close to the ICW channel.

There are some beautiful homes along the banks and this was just one of them.

As we approached this bridge in Isle of Palms, FL we noticed 3 16YOish boys tied their boat to the bridge and were fishing beneath the support. This is a NO-NO in the boating world. It’s a federal law that you cannot tie a boat to any navigational buoy or bridge’s fender system (the boards that protect the bridge supports from boats as they pass through the center span).

As a boater you must treat bridges with special attention. When you pass under a bridge you must do so at no wake speed (about 6.4 knots for MV Simple Life). For the boats hanging out under bridges (usually fishing) you must not block the marked channel through the center span. You must also be careful as boats passing through the fender boards may not see you if you are hidden by the boards or bridge supports. Also after 9/11/2001 Homeland Security legally restricted areas under certain bridges and it’s a felony if you break that law. Individual states may have laws about simply being near any bridge in their state.

Florida Statute 327.44 refers to interference with navigation and states that anchoring underneath a bridge or adjacent to heavily traveled channels constitutes interference if unreasonable under the prevailing circumstances. There’s a lot of gray area here and not everyone has the same understanding of “unreasonable interference,” but you likely won’t get in trouble for anchoring under a bridge if you are well out of the way.

FWC (Fish & Wildlife Conservation) officers may stop you if you attempt to anchor under the bridge. It should be noted that the area around a bridge is more likely to have un underwater cable that either brings power to a lift or swing bridge or simply crosses over to the island. You don’t want to hook your anchor on these power cables.

Aside from all the bridge rules of boating, I was more interested in the expansion joint on this bridge.

We pass many engineering structures like bridges and this pier. I’m sure the first piers were only for boats to dock but soon “pleasure piers” emerged that were simply for people to stroll out onto or fish off.

I guess they want boats to know the name of this pier?

We find it interesting that “birds of a feather flock together”. It’s like all these white pelicans said … “Hey, why don’t we all me on the banks of the ICW over where Jimmy found that big pile or old crab shells tomorrow?”. They clearly enjoy each other’s company.

Soon we were waiting for Saint Augustine’s ‘Bridge of Lions‘ to open (every 30 minute openings). In line in front of us was a boat called ‘Yellow Bird” from Cape Cod.

MV Yellow Bird – Cape Cod @Bridge of the Lions St Augustine FL

We attempted to get a mooring ball in Saint Augustines FL but alas the City Marina only had balls for boats with drafts under 3′. I hear it’s a fun town but our plan is to continue on tonight and find a quiet place to anchor. As the sun was setting we settled on anchoring just off Fort Matanzas. Fort Matanzas was built by the Spanish in 1742 to guard Matanzas Inlet.

Our Sunset @Fort Matanzas did not disappoint

Our leg today looked something like this…

W02L022 – Ferdandina Beach FL – Fort Matanzas FL

St. Augustine, FL

Well, the no name island anchorage in Jacksonville, FL turned out to be very peaceful. Thankfully the strong current of the St. James River was not an issue behind the island.

We left that peaceful anchorage and retraced our path back over the 4′ bank that was not a problem this time due to the high tide that we left on.

As we made our way back down the St. James River we were reminded of all the commercial shipping that lined the river banks.

Our trip from Jacksonville to St. Augustine looked something like this.

As we departed the St. James River and got back onto the ICW we saw a ship in dry dock that had it’s bridge tower staged and shrink wrapped. It looked a lot like the navy vessels that were being worked on in Norfolk, VA.

A bit further down the ICW and it was back to beautiful homes lining the river banks.

We loved that someone put a festive scarf on their T-Rex. Who has a T-Rex in their backyard?

After a short trip down the ICW we came to Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor. A great little marina along the ICW.

We had reservations at the marina but when I hailed them on the VHF radio the let us know that we would have to anchor for an hour and wait for the tide to come in a bit before we could enter the marina. The entrance channel did not have enough water for our 5′ draft due the the tides and the recent West winds. When the wind blows from the West it pushes all the water in the ICW out of the inlets and back into the Atlantic Ocean. We decided that after 5 nights being on anchor we would spend the next two nights in a marina. We waisted no time and found a great little restaurant that was within walking distance called the Kingfish Grill. They had a great shrimp & scallop Alla vodka for me and an angus burger for Kelly. Below is the Kingfish Grill’s outdoor garden that was lit up for the holidays.

The next morning we re-provisioned the boat using a grocery delivery service. Kelly used her iPhone to place her order and set the delivery time the night before. We awoke to texts from our personal shopper texting us that she was on her way to the marina and and she would be the “girl in the gray Toyota”. After re-provisioning we spent the day taking on some more water and while Kelly cleaned the inside of the boat, I washed the outside. It was 80 something degrees out and seemed odd as Christmas is just a few days away. The next morning we shoved off and had no sooner started South down the ICW and we ran into a restricted bascule bridge and had to anchor for 45 minutes while we waited for it’s 12:30PM opening. Along the river bank you could see the fortress called Castillo De San Marco I snapped the picture below.

Below is a picture of a scenic tour boat that passed with it’s fenders permanently hung off their port side. Their pilothouse looked more like a gazebo to us.

When the bridge opened we were again making way and passing what appeared to us as a collection of derelict boats anchored along the river. The boat below appeared to have someone on board due to the attached dinghy. I wonder how the state handles these anchored boats?

Eventually we made it to a nice little anchorage near the Atlantic Ocean inlet known as Matanzas Inlet.

There is a strong current in here with a rocky bottom so we let out 40 meters of chain rode and settled in for the night.

We anchored right in front of Fort Matanzas shown below.

Tomorrow it’s back down the ICW and hopefully we’ll be anchored somewhere in Daytona Beach.

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.