CUMBERLAND ISLAND, GA TO BRUNSWICK, GA

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015

Day 239
Miles Traveled: 37
Total Miles Traveled: 3093


  It was another day of multiple waterways - 4 sounds, 2 rivers, and 1 creek.  We left our anchorage at Cumberland Island, GA and headed north up the Cumberland Sound.  Just before entering the Cumberland River, we passed the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay.  This Submarine Base is the U.S. Atlantic Fleet's home port for the U.S. Naval fleet ballistic nuclear submarines armed with Trident missile nuclear weapons.  The base covers 16,000 acres of land, of which 4,000 acres are protected wetlands.  There are patrol boats at the entrance to make sure pleasure craft don't make a wrong turn into the surrounding restricted waters.  We have been told that if a submarine is entering or leaving the base and you start to enter the restricted waters, you will be politely advised by the patrol boat (with a machine gun mounted on its bow pointed at you) to turn around.  

submarine being worked on at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay

  The scenery is beginning to change as we cruise along the Cumberland River.  We are seeing fewer and fewer palm trees and more marsh lands.  The tides in this area are 7 feet, so what looks like plenty of water at one hour will be dry land six hours later.

Cumberland River

  After leaving the Cumberland River we entered our second sound of the day - St. Andrews Sound.  This sound is very large and can develop rough seas with 15mph winds, especially out of the northeast.  We had a near perfect day to cross St. Andrews sound with winds about 5mph out of the southeast.  The water was almost flat.  We had blue skies and white puffy clouds to add to the enjoyment.

St. Andrews Sound - calm winds and fair seas

  After leaving St. Andrews Sound we entered a much smaller sound called Jekyll Sound.  This carried us to the shallow Jekyll Creek.  Georgia has not done a good job at dredging the Atlantic ICW as Florida and the other states and Jekyll Creek is a fine example of this problem.  We came through about 1 hour after low tide (low water).  At that time the water level had risen about 1.25 feet.  There were several areas where our depth sounder showed only 1.8 feet under our keel (bottom) of the boat.  If it had been low tide (do the math), there was not much room for error in staying in the channel.  For any boaters reading who are planning on traveling this waterway, we recommend cruising this area at high tide, or at least a rising tide.  Fortunately, it is marked very well. 

leaving Jekyll Creek - if you look closely there is a large sand bar just at the exit

  Jekyll Creek dumped us into St. Simons Sound.  This sound in not as large as St. Andrews, so wind is not as much of a problem.  The wind had increased some by the time we arrived here, so, we did have some light chop (small waves).  From here we took a course off of the Atlantic ICW and went up the St. Simons Sound to East River.  Up this river is the town of Brunswick, GA and our final destination for the day, Brunswick Landing Marina. 

CUMBERLAND ISLAND, GA - CUMBERLAND ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE AND DUNGENESS RUINS

Monday, March 30th, 2015

Day 238
Miles Traveled: 0
Total Miles Traveled: 3056


  We put the dinghy down and boated over to the small public boat dock on Cumberland Island National Seashore Park.  This island is only accessible by boat and there is a ferry that leaves from St. Marys, GA to bring visitors to the park. The island is 17.5 miles long and has more then 36,000 acres of habitat.  It was first inhabited by the Timucua Indians nearly 4,000 years ago.  During the 16th century it was part of the Mocama missionary province of Spanish Florida.  Later on, several families significant to American history had homes here on the island.  
  James Oglethope, British general and founder of the colony of Georgia, built a hunting lodge, called "Dungeness", on the island in 1736.  
  The next "Dungeness" was built by Nathaneal Greene's widow, Catherine, in 1803.  Nathaneal, a Revolutionary War Hero, had acquired 11,000 acres of this island in exchange for a bad debt.  It was a four story tabby mansion.  The Greene house was abandoned during the Civil War and burnt to the ground in 1866.  
  In the 1880's, Thomas Carnegie purchased this property and built a new mansion on the same site.  This Dungeness had 59 rooms and was over 37,000 square feet.  Also on the property were several pools, a pergola, a recreational building, a golf course, and 40 smaller buildings to house the 200 servants who worked on the property.  Thomas never lived to see it completed, however, Lucy and her nine children did live on the island.  After the Crash and the Great Depression the Carnegie family abandoned the home.  In 1959, the house suffered a fire, felt to be started by a poacher.  At that time, the Carnegies owned about 90% of Cumberland Island.  In 1971, most of Cumberland Island was deeded to the National Parks Foundation by members or heirs of the Carnegie family.  Today, the federal government owns approximately 85% of the island.  
  It is a National Park where all can come and enjoy the outdoors.  There are numerous hiking and walking trails with a great canopy of trees and vegetation. 

walking path lined with live oak trees

  Visitors can also tour the Carnegie Dungeness Ruins.  There was an audio tour using your cell phone that provided some history.  We could imagine how magnificent the mansion and grounds would have been when the Carnegies were still living in the home. 

Dungeness ruins

  The oldest house on the Island is the Tabby House.  This is not the mansion of Catherine Greene, but rather, the home built for the her gardener.

oldest house on Cumberland Island - Tabby House

  There is a herd of feral horses that inhabit this island and they often can be seen grazing around the ruins area.  We came across a group on our walk today.

feral horses on Cumberland Island

  We took the dinghy back to the boat and had a nice relaxing lunch in the flybridge.  We had a beautiful view from our anchorage.  

"Seahorse" anchored by Cumberland Island

  A visit to Cumberland Island National Seashore would not be complete without a trip to the beach.  After lunch, we took the dinghy back to the park and walked the 0.5 mile trek across the island to the beach.  The sand dunes were amazing and untouched by civilization and the beach was pristine with fine white sand.  

walking on boardwalk across the sand dunes to the beach

sand dunes and the beach

beautiful blue ocean and tan beach

  

  We really enjoyed our visit to Cumberland Island National Seashore and finished our day with another beautiful sunset. 

sunset at Cumberland Island anchorage

            

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL TO CUMBERLAND ISLAND, GA

Sunday, March 29th, 2015

Day 237
Miles Traveled: 67
Total Miles Traveled: 3056



  Sunday at daybreak we left St. Augustine, FL.  It was a cool morning in the low 50's, but, the sun was shining brightly.  

Bright sunshine as we passed by St. Augustine Inlet

  We decided to drive from the lower helm in the cabin.  Our new chart plotter, a Raymarine a95, has built in wifi and will communicate with our tablet, giving us the ability to control its functions with the tablet at the lower helm.  It worked great today.  Since we had a long travel day, we had to come up with an idea for seating so we would not have to stand and drive all day.  We came up with a makeshift helm seat that worked very well.

Makeshift helm seat. 

  Our day took us on many different waterways, which is often the case with traveling the Atlantic ICW, as well as another state.  We left St. Augustine, FL traveling on the Matanzas River.  We passed St. Augustine inlet and began traveling the Tolomator River which connected with Pablo Creek which combines with the St. John's River.  We were only on the St. John's River for a brief time and then veered off onto Sisters Creek.  Sisters Creek connected with Saw Pit Creek which took us to Nassau Sound.  We did not go up the Nassau River, but instead crossed the sound and entered the Amelia River.  We passed by Fernandina Beach, FL and then entered the Cumberland Sound.  This sound is located at St. Mary's Inlet which is home to Fort Clinch and a large shipping channel.  The Florida/Georgia line runs down the middle of this inlet.  In summary, we cruised eleven different waterways in this one day.
  The scenery varied throughout the day.  First, it was a narrower river with homes and boat docks.  The docks are built on high stilts due to the 7 foot tide changes.  It then changed to  larger bodies of water as we crossed the sounds and inlets.  

Tolomato River with boat docks along the banks

Nice boat dock on the Tolomato River - on stilts due to 7 foot tides

Fernandina Beach, FL on the Amelia River

St. Mary's Inlet/Cumberland Sound

Fort Clinch along the St. Mary's Inlet

  We found a nice anchorage for the evening just beside Cumberland Island, GA where Cumberland Island National Seashore Park is located.  After getting the anchor set, we fixed dinner, and then relaxed and enjoyed the sunset. 

sunset at Cumberland Island anchorage

  

ST. AUGUSTINE, FL

Friday, March 27th to Saturday, March 28th, 2015

Day 235-236
Miles Traveled: 0
Total Miles Traveled: 2989


  Friday and Saturday we spent our time exploring St. Augustine.  This city is rich with history dating back to when it was first settled by the Spaniards.  The historic city buildings are undergoing some face lifts in preparation for the 450th Birthday Celebration which will occur this September.  To see about those festivities go to: http://staugustine-450.com/celebrate450/    

  Friday morning we took a trolley ride with Old Time Trolley.  The driver gave a narrated tour of the history and sites around St. Augustine.  The entire tour lasted about 1 1/2 hours.  One could get off at the different stops to further explore the area.  We choose to ride the trolley around the entire route and return later to see those things we were most interested in.  This was a great way to get a good overview of historic St. Augustine.  Friday afternoon the clouds moved in and threatening weather appeared to be approaching.  We remained aboard awaiting the storms that never came.  It did rain a little just before and after dinner.  There were storms north and south of St. Augustine, but we were spared.  This front did bring in some cooler weather into the low 60's for Saturday.  To read about some of the stops seen on Old Town Trolley check out their website at http://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine/ 


  Saturday we resumed our touring of St. Augustine.  We saw several "oldest" on our walk today.  The oldest house still standing in St. Augustine, called Gonzalez-Alvarez House, was built in 1702.  It started out as a single story, but, later on a wooden second story was added. 

The Oldest House in St. Augustine

  We also saw the Oldest Wooden School House in the United States.  It was built over 200 years ago while Florida was still under the rule of Imperial Spain.  

Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse in USA

  Downtown St. Augustine is centered along St. George Street which is a pedestrian only thoroughfare.  Along this street are many shops, restaurants, and some historic homes and buildings.  Even though it was cool outside, there were lots of people walking this street on a beautiful sunny Saturday.

St. George Street in downtown St. Augustine, FL

  We continued our tour and went to the Mission Nombre de Dios (Name of God).  On this site, September 8th, 1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles landed with a band of settlers to found St. Augustine.  This would be the first permanent Christian settlement in the United States.  Father Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, a Spanish Diocesan Priest, offered here the first parish Mass in this land.  The grounds here are very peaceful and serene.  There are several shrines to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche was particularly beautiful.  One impressive structure was The Great Cross.  Erected in 1965 for the 400th Birthday of the City, it is made of stainless steel and is 208 feet tall.  
For more about this Mission see http://missionandshrine.org/ 

The Great Cross

  Our favorite site was the Castillo de San Marcos.  This structure was built by the Spanish to replace the existing wooden fortification that was protecting St. Augustine.  Construction was started in 1672 and completed in 1695.

Castillo de San Marcos

  The Castillo was built out of coquina, a rare limestone made almost entirely of shells, which was found on a nearby barrier island (Amelia Island).  The coquina was made into blocks which were cemented together with mortar.

coquina blocks making the walls of the fort

  The walls surround the Plaza de Armas and within the walls are storage rooms called casemates.

Plaza de Armas - grassy area, doors are entry to the casements

  Every day they shoot off a cannon on the top of the fort.  It was interesting to watch the reenactment of soldiers shooting the cannon.  (Note: no ships, including ours, were harmed in this reenactment)

shooting the canon - see the smoke

  To learn more go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_San_Marcos.


  We really enjoyed our visit to historic St. Augustine, FL.  There are many more things to do and see in the great city.  To see more about St. Augustine and learn more about its history go to: http://augustine.com/


 

 

PALM COAST, FL TO ST. AUGUSTINE, FL

Thursday, March 26th, 2015

Day 234
Miles Traveled: 25
Total Miles Traveled: 2989


  Today was a very busy day between traveling and site-seeing.  We planned to leave by 7:30 am, but, were delayed again today by fog.  The fog began to dissipate, and, we got underway by 8:00 am.  There still were some patchy fog banks, but nothing severe.  With our new radar and chart plotter, we felt confident in our ability to safely navigate. 

Traveling in some fog

  We traveled along on the Matanzas River.  Like many rivers, there were twists and turns.  We came along an area of mud flats, which was different landscape than we had been seeing.  The tides in this area are 3-4 feet.  At high tide, many of these mud flats would be underwater and not visible.  When we passed by them, it was low tide, so they were very obvious.  

Matanzas River - part of ICW

mud flats seen on Matanzas River

  Just before reaching St. Augustine City Marina we caught a view of The St. Augustine Lighthouse.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

  Part of our reason for wanting to leave so early this morning was to avoid the predicted rain and thunderstorms for the afternoon.  We arrived at St. Augustine, FL just before the rain began.  We just finished hooking up to power and tending the lines when it started.  

approaching St. Augustine, FL

  The St. Augustine Municipal Marina is a great marina to stay at to explore historic downtown St. Augustine.  Most of the sites are within walking distance.

"Seahorse" docked at St. Augustine Municipal Marina with downtown St. Augustine in the background 

 After lunch, the rain began to subside and we were able to go and do some exploring.  We didn't have to go far to see a replica of a 170-foot wooden Spanish galleon called El Galeon "San Pelayo".  This ship was tied up right at the end of our dock.  The original ship served as the flagship for Pedro Menendez de Aviles's expedition to establish St. Augustine in 1565.  It was an amazing vessel to see.

view of the El Galeon as we were cruising into the marina

front view of  the El Galeon

Dan aboard the El Galeon

Angie aboard the El Galeon

  After touring this interesting ship, we decided to take a quick walk around the historic downtown area.  There were plenty of historic old buildings and monuments to see.  Below are just a few of the highlights.
  The Bridge of Lions, built in 1927, is a bascule bridge that spans the ICW connecting St. Augustine to Anastasia Island.  A pair of Medici lions made of marble guard the bridge.

The Bridge of Lions

Medici Lion guarding the bridge

  Plaza de la Constitucion is a small park in the middle of historic downtown.  Within this park is an old well, an old Public Market building, and several monuments.  We found the most interesting monument to be the Constitution Monument.  There is a lot of history behind this monument.  In March of 1812, the Spanish Parliament wrote the first Spanish Constitution and issued a Royal Decree for all Spanish towns throughout the empire to build monuments and rename their main plazas La Plaza de la Constitucion in commemoration of the new constitutional government in Spain.  The Constitution Monument in St. Augustine, the capitol of the Spanish colony of Florida, was constructed in 1813.  On September 15, 1814  news arrived that the constitutional government in Spain had been overthrown.  A second Royal Decree was issued to destroy all the constitution monuments.  St. Augustine's officials refused to tear down what they had sacrificed much to build.  It is believed that the Constitution Monument in St. Augustine is the only surviving, unaltered monument in the world from this campaign.   

Plaza de la Constitucion

Constitution Monument - over 200 years old

   The oldest catholic parish within the present day United States worships in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.  The first mass was in September 1565.  This church was built in 1797 and became a cathedral in 1870 when St. Augustine was elevated to a diocese.  On December 4th, 1976 it was raised to the status of minor basilica.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine

  The oldest platted street in the USA is located in downtown St. Augustine.  Originally called Hospital Street because the Spanish military hospital and many other hospitals over the years were located on this street, it now is called Aviles Street.  It has been recorded on maps since the 1570's.  Currently its streets are lined with restaurants, shops, and art galleries, as well as some old historic buildings and homes.  

Aviles Street

  Many old buildings in St. Augustine were made of tabby walls.  Tabby, made of whole oyster shells, is the equivalent of modern poured concrete.  The wall shown is the only known example of a colonial tabby wall in St. Augustine. 

Only tabby wall left in St. Augustine

  A very prominent building in historic downtown is the Alcazar Hotel.  Built by Henry Flagler, who founded the Florida East Coast Railway, it was one of the first multi-storied structures in the country constructed with poured concrete.  The hotel opened in 1888 and closed in 1932.  O.C. Lightner, Hobbies magazine founder, purchased the building in 1947 to use as a place to house his extensive collection of Victorian memorabilia.  After his death in 1950, the building and collections were deeded to the city of St. Augustine.  It currently houses the Lightner Museum, City Hall, several shops, and a cafe.  Within its borders is a beautiful courtyard. 

Alcazar Hotel

Courtyard of Alcazar Hotel

  After our walking tour of the historic downtown, we went to dinner at Harry's Seafood Bar & Grill - known for their Cajun cooking.  It was delicious.  We got to the restaurant just before a torrencial downpour - beating the rain for the second time that day.  After dinner we went back to the boat and collapsed, tired from the busy day.              

  
  

NEW SMYRNA, FL TO PALM COAST, FL

Wednesday, March 25th, 2015

Day 233
Miles Traveled: 43
Total Miles Traveled: 2964


  Our departure this morning was delayed by a little over one hour due to fog.  Fortunately, we didn't have as far to go today, so, that delay didn't cause us to alter our final destination. 

Fog delay at New Smyrna Beach, FL

  Shortly after departure we came upon the George E. Musson (Coronado Beach) bridge.  This bridge is 24 feet high, so some boats require it to be opened in order to pass underneath.  As we approached the bridge appeared to be opening, or was it closing.  No, wait, it was stuck and not moving.  Cars were backed up and trying to turn around.  Fortunately, "Seahorse" is not more than 24 feet high, so we were able to pass on through.  

George E. Musson (Coronado Beach) bridge stuck partially open

  We traveled on several waterways comprising the ICW today.  After leaving New Smyrna Beach we continued on the Indian River until the Ponce De Leon Cut.  This cut connects the Indian River with the Halifax River.  We passed by Daytona Beach Florida with its four bridges.  We then entered Halifax Creek which connects to Smith Creek which connects with Fox Cut.  Fox Cut connects the Halifax River with the Matanzas River (which we did not get into today).  Whew!  It was hard to keep track of all the names.  The river section was wider and when we entered the creeks and Fox Cut the waterway narrowed and along the banks were many homes with boat docks. 

Daytona Beach, FL

Fox Cut

  Adding to "You Never Know What You Will See on the River".  We noticed this interesting boat docked at a private residence.

interesting boat on Halifax River

  We also observed a large number of jellyfish when traveling Fox Cut.  We noticed one at the marina at New Smyrna Beach, but in Fox Cut they were many.  After an internet search, it appears they are Cannonball Jellyfish.  Considered a delicacy in Japan (Not sure we would want to eat one), their sting is mild and are considered harmless.

Cannonball Jellyfish

  Palm Coast Marina was our final destination this day.  We arrived in time to take the short 10 minute walk to European Village.  European Village has shops and restaurants on ground level and condos/apartments on the other five floors.  The developer must have been trying to put a piece of Europe in Florida.  The buildings are built around a courtyard and have European flavor architecture. 

One side of European Village at Palm Coast, FL

"Seahorse" docked at Palm Coast Marina