North Florida

We’re now deep into north Florida. We anchored off of St. Augustine on Sunday night, and continued north on Monday for another night’s anchorage off of Fort George Island, which is just south of Fernandina Beach. On both nights, we had quite a challenge setting the anchor. It was very windy, and both locations were pretty open and exposed. That isn’t so much of an issue, as we’ve spent many nights at bumpy anchorages over the last few weeks. We’re now getting back into areas with stronger currents, and both nights the wind was blowing one way and the current was running the other. We set anchor according to how the wind or current will turn the boat. When they are going against each other, it causes quite a predicament.

At our St. Augustine anchorage, we had the added irritant of small boat traffic, causing annoying wakes. We anchored outside the channel, but the smaller boats didn’t seem to care to use the channel, and buzzed back and forth by us instead, adding another level of bumpiness to what the wind was already giving.

At our Ft. George anchorage, another boat showed up just after we were set. He proceeded to anchor right next to us, which peeved Scott, as both boats needed a lot of swing room with the wind and current the way they were. The newcomers had as much trouble getting their anchors set as we did (on occasions like this, Scott puts out two anchors). Scott was glad to see that he wasn’t the only one having so much trouble. The owners of the boat had no idea of the tidal range in the area, which way the wind was supposed to be blowing, or the fact that we had a chance of rain. We also found out that they are from Michigan, and have already done the Great Loop (East Coast up through New York, over to and through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi/Tennessee/other rivers to the Gulf, around Florida and back up.). We are constantly amazed at the amount of people who are cruising long distances, yet have very little clue as to water and weather conditions along their route. Our trip has been smooth and virtually stress free due to Scott’s knowledge and planning; I guess ignorance is bliss.

Despite the challenges, Scott managed just fine on both nights, and our anchors held well. We’re now headed for Fernandina Beach, and some St. Patrick’s Day celebration! Here are pictures from the past few days