Dolphins, Manatees and Rockets - We must be in Florida!

Hello again, with just a few weeks from coming home, I found the lost pictures from Jekyll Island, Georgia. They weren't really lost, I had moved them to another file during an absent minded moment. So happy to have found them and can share a few of our last days in Georgia.

On our last day on Jekyll Island, we borrowed the free bikes from the marina and rode around the island, heading first to Driftwood Beach. It's windy but warm and sunny,

Wouldn't it be nice to have an orange tree on your front lawn?

New construction of waterfront cottages.

We loved the bike ride, however, we didn't realize the distance was a bit
longer than we had thought -6 miles one way!
The people in the Red Bugs must have known this.

The bike path meanders along the beach front as well as through some small side streets.

With Christmas approaching, even the families in Georgia can have some 'winter fun' skating on a wax ice rink.

The trees have a constant blow of wind from the ocean, creating such interesting shapes and awkward lean toward land. Driftwood Beach is crowded with trees that have been swept onto the beach from the waves. Who knows how many years these 'wooden creatures' have been here.

Enormous roots of a tree.

This beach is a delight for all photographers.

Happy Hour drinks before we ride back to the marina. It begins to cloud over and the temperature falls, but we try hard to get through the icy, cold strawberry margaritas. And since it's Happy Hour, we order another round. It was a quick ride home through the trails, a wee bit tipsy, hee hee.

We've left the sweet southern state of Georgia and although the homes and warm weather of Florida are welcoming, we truly miss that feel-like-home hospitality we received in Georgia.

Deja Vu leaves Jekyll Island on Saturday at 8 am,  through some winding sections of the ICW, and for today's highlight, the U.S. Naval Submarine base in Cumberland Sound.







Arriving November 28th, at Fernandina Beach (Amelia Island), Florida on an outside dock tied up at 1 pm. Other rally members are spread around on the dock inside (Sea Horse and Cowboy), and a few on mooring balls too. The weather is warmer with lovely sunshine.

Many people walk the dock to see these large yachts, and ours too.

It's a Christmas fair on this day and tree lighting ceremony later at dusk.
The kids are entertained with bubble-making, roasting marshmallows, and of course visiting Santa.

It's cool to see both 'holiday' trees together.

 


We are here to enjoy 1 night, explore the very touristy town of Amelia Island, complete with gift shops, candy shops and Christmas decorations too!

We've found Barb and Steve and walked into town to have lunch and do some shopping. The rally gang meets for drink and live music in the evening at The Green Turtle Tavern.

Tony tries to chat with a local,

Sunset and mooring field at Amelia Island, Florida.

Our first Florida sunset and some sundowners.

Get on your shorts, it's summer on November 29th!! Well, almost warm enough at 8:30 am as we leave off the docks. With a decent 2.2 knots of current WITH us, Deja Vu coasts nicely doing 8 knots with only 2000 rpms. The group is headed for a free town dock just outside of Jacksonville, called Little Sisters Creek. It's quite popular and we soon find out that our hole group takes up almost all of the dock space and we have to raft up with one another. We are invited by Pigeon Toes IV (Sylvia and Greg and dog Max) to raft up with them for the night. We've arrived at 12:20 pm, in good time as we carefully navigated down the creek to raft up.

It's a busy area with many fishermen.

Sea Horse and Solace rafted in front of us.

Gypsy Wind rafted to Sea Squirrel.

As we await Cowboy's arrival, the men discuss which side of the dock for Rick.

They use a manual depth meter and quickly radio Rick to NOT dock on this side but to raft up as well.

The men are chatting about how much they love free docks.

Here's the group all safe and secure for the night.

Rick (Cowboy) and Tony go for a walk to see what is on this side of the dock.
They return to report, "There is no beer near here."

After a few rude fishing boats pass us on the creek, fenders need to be adjusted.

Our depth below us at high tide is 14.7 ft, and with a tide of 5 feet, at 5:40 pm we will have just enough under us: 9 feet, phew.

Monday morning, 8:30 am, 8 boats leave with the tide rising. Summer weather has us in shorts, t-shirts, hats and sunscreen. Even the dolphins, bald eagles and beautiful homes make us feel that it's summer in November.

Aduana, the Wonder Pup, takes her position on Gypsy Wind, as the group has many bridges and open water, with narrow channels, to navigate through to our next stop in St. Augustine.

We are followed by 4 group members, through the lift bridge.

Sea Owl looks like a nice size dinghy for us, doesn't it?

We are thrilled to see dolphins playing around today.

Bald Eagles pose for us.

Waterfront homes are spectacular.

Roof repairs - this house on stilts is oceanfront on the other side. 

We see a few of these stranded sailboats along  our route since we entered Florida on the ICW.

Wally always find time to put up his sail and gain some ground. We are really looking forward to seeing St. Augustine, as we've heard how beautiful it is. Wally warns us about the extremely strong current upon entering the marina, just past the Bridge of Lions.

Bridge of Lions, St. Augustine, Florida.

We are in for a historic treat, as we arrive in the oldest city in Florida! In the late 1880's, Henry Flagler (co-founder of Standard Oil) created this resort community. He built 2 hotels and took over another to serve as his office. He also founded the Florida East Coast Railway, which became the main transportation for guests to and from his hotels in St. Augustine, Palm Beach and Miami. Smart man! Today, those hotels are used as the Flagler College, the city hall and a newly opened classy hotel called Casa Monica Hotel.

Deja Vu is at her slip (centre of the photo). I tried to dock the boat but
 after hitting the cement beams and sitting sideways due to the crazy currents below us, we bailed and
went back out to come in and try again. Tony did his best and with some dock hands, we were able to stop the boat!

Sunset from our slip, looking at the channel we came from.

 We've booked our flights home and have decided we need to purchase 2 large suitcases to help us bring home our personal belongings. We've found a free service from the marina, that pretty much offers us a personal driver for the day. Barb, Steve and Rick come along for the ride, as we make a stop at the awesome Sailor's Exchange (flea market for sailors). Tony is hunting for the lens cover for our bow light that was lost in one of the storms off-shore. He finds the whole assembly kit (brand new) for a mere $15 (regular $60). Rick find a brass thru-hull and is a happy man.

Tony loads up our provisions and our empty suitcases.

 Tony treats me to an early Christmas gift - a new tablet with keyboard. The Nextbook retails for just $249 U.S., even with the exchange this is a great deal for a well reviewed product.

Bringing our goodies back to the boat. Great shopping day!

Some boats are getting into the festive mood.

St. Augustine is such an old town. With such rich history here, it's quite lovely to explore in the evening too, especially as the shops and restaurants are all decked out for Christmas.

Restaurant behind the stone walls.

The Tini Martini Bar and Hotel.

Here's an odd site - a mermaid sitting outside one of the shops.
Her name?  Ariel, of course.

Why not have coffee and treats at this quaint little shop!
They have dining available under the trees to the right too.

We really love seeing the city at night, but shopping the small cobblestone streets the next day turns out to be just as wonderful. The trolley cars have tours day and night however we delight in walking.

Here is the Bridge of Lions, built in 1927. It links the downtown with Davis Shores, a residential and resort community, dating back to the 1920's. The ocean and St. Augustine Beach lies just east of there.  The bridge is quite stunning at night, as it lights up the waterway over the ICW.

Here the streets surround a courtyard-like area in between, complete with gardens, a gazebo and this season, a huge Christmas tree. All the palm trees are lit with lights and kids on the trolley car shout out, "Merry Christmas!"
 as they pass by tourists on the streets.

Even Pirates love St. Augustine!

The streets are lined with gift shops, restaurants offering every kind of food you can imagine in very casual dining
as well as historic sites (a fort, the first Catholic Church in America, the first schoolhouse in America)
 for all the curious tourists.

I have to stop here and bring home some treasures. I choose some turquoise shells, a small starfish,
a sand dollar and a shell nightlight for a gift.

Tony has to stop here of course. I don't argue. It's hot outside and besides it's ice cream.

These historic areas of interest are surrounded by shops and restaurants.

I would have loved to bring home some pottery. All items were made in Mexico.
St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in 1565 and later became the first (oldest)
European settlement in America. Florida became a state in 1845.

Hungry for smoked turkey legs? End your meal with soft serve ice cream for dessert.
Tourists lined up here at the lunch hour.

A side street of local artists showing off their ware.

Daily tours are $10 per adult. We didn't take the tour so here's a bit of info below:

"Located near the City Gates, The Old School House is a surviving expression of another time. Built over 200 years ago, while Florida was under the rule of Imperial Spain, it was constructed of red cedar and cypress and put together with wooden pegs and handmade nails.The schoolmaster and his wife lived upstairs, above the small classroom. Their kitchen was separated from the main building, because of the threat of fire and to spare the house of any excess heat during the long summers. Several of the cooking utensils used in those days are displayed here for the visitor. In the schoolhouse, related artifacts and copies of the books the pupils studied from are exhibited." (Excerpt from Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse website).

Outside of the city streets, we decide to visit a National Park Monument, the Castillo de San Marcos. It's a huge fort that guards the city, just north of the Bridge of Lions.

This fort reminds me of the walled city in Cartegena, Colombia that I visited in the 80's. See below.




The heat is wonderful but it's time for a short nap at the boat then we are joining the group in town at the Tini Martini bar for a birthday celebration.

Tony and Barb.

Tony and I order a Cranberry/Orange vodka martini

Russ is head support for Aduana, a tired sailing pup, while Wally support her behind.

Chuck and dog Misty. Dogs are usually welcome.



.

 
Next stop after our cocktails, we go to the Milltop Tavern for pub fare and drinks, Chuck and Natalie sneak Misty in and she sits quietly under the hightop bar table. Aduana is allowed in, as she is Wally's service dog.
The breeze is blowing, it's Happy Hour and the live band is starting soon.

A few more cheap drinks and then we head back to Deja Vu for a nice sleep before we leave off the dock towards Daytona Beach. Depending on the tides and current, we will have to determine if we stay in Daytona or keep going further.

Another summer day, the breeze is welcoming and so are the sites!
Who lives in these homes?

We try hailing this turkey in the steel catamaran several times. No reply. With a narrow channel to navigate and watching our depths, we pass him on his port side, following another unanswered sailboat ahead of us. I finally catch his eye as we pass and give him the stern look of "why didn't you answer your radio?"

Here's a small one, just 1 large balcony.

Not sure I'd choose this colour for the whole house, but hey, if I have the money these owners do, I can always change it!

Resort-like living just north of Daytona Beach area.

Our charts and navigational aids tell us just a few more bridges and then we will stay at the Daytona Marina and Boatworks. It's been a good day, could have gone farther, but the day would end and we'd be without a marina or any safe anchorage, with currents and tides still affecting our trip.

We have the dreaded Matanzas River area to get through before we see Daytona Beach Marina. "Stay to the reds, whatever you do, stay to the reds. You will feel like you are heading into the beach shoreline, but just keep on your track to hug the reds and you should see enough water to get you through", Wally warns us and other deep draft members of the group.

We thought we were DONE with the shallows. We didn't realize Florida was going to give us one last gulp in our throats as we carefully hug those red markers.
Skipper Bob McLeran shares his observation, a comment found on Cruiser's Net forum:

Atlantic ICW, Statute Mile 792.5
Two of us transited Matanzas Inlet southbound at mid tide 3.5 feet this morning (10/30) at 0930. Despite giving the temp greens and reds their appropriate distance we saw only 7.5 feet total depth in a few spots. Boaters still need to be careful and play the tide if necessary for the boat’s draft.
Bob McLeran

Deja Vu gets through without even a kiss on the bottom. Depths begin to rise and we cheer! We did it! We did it! 
Now let's focus on getting into the next marina and enjoy some sailing!

The city of Daytona Beach.

Very narrow channel in the ICW for northbound and southbound boats,
between green and red markers. Just one bridge ahead and we are close to the marina.

We see Pigeon Toes IV has gone aground, just outside the channel. We hear their call for TowBoat US on the radio and wave to them as we locate our markers of the channel into our marina.

We've contacted the marina and we are told that they have about 8' of water all the way down their channel into the marina. We are also told of the 'bump' they have in their channel and we're advised to stay south of the middle of the channel on our way in. I'm at the wheel, trying to gage 'south of the middle' of their channel, with heavy winds on my port side, making 'south' of the middle a bit tricky. Depth below us is slowly decreasing and then I hit it! I hit the bump! We know it's only sand but, that was quite a bump. I freak out, of course, with winds blowing us toward shore, so Tony takes over and steers us 'south' of the bump and we scrape the bottom all the way down the channel.
I take the helm to dock us, just a tight 360 degrees around a million dollar yacht, no problem!

We are surrounded by luxury.

With just an inch below the keel, we settle in for a well deserved sundowner and plan our trip for tomorrow to Titusville.

N'or East'er cooking up. Winds blowing and temps getting cooler.

The next day we leave at 8:30, no point in waiting for the little to no tide in this marina for a deeper exit, as there won't be any more than we had coming in. I take us out and after hitting bottom again, I hand the boat over to Tony as I man the radio as we are talked out of the channel from the Dave at the marina. Depths going up and again we cheer! Jeepers! I am amazed we haven't called it quits. The stresses of this trip are showing as we are a bit short with each other on these mornings. With breakfast on the way, we laugh about our tough times and great times too.

We are entering Halifax River, and see more homes and although a quiet and somewhat boring run on this day, the dolphins and 'scenery' are quite lovely.

This is one way to mark your fish traps!

Scenery was getting boring until this guy came along.

Deja Vu prefers the open water, although the channels are narrow, the water around is open and gives us quite a nice feeling of being on the lake. The Halifax River brings us into the Mosquito Lagoon. We didn't feel any mosquitos but it was named that for a reason in a different season, I am sure.

After the lagoon crossing, we'll be entering the Haulover Canal and crossing into the Indian River. The canal is very narrow and full of fishermen in boats and some families on shore.

With rocks on either side, we stay in the middle and call the bridgemaster to open the bridge as we approach.

In the distance we see the R & R Bridge that remains open unless Cape Canaveral requires it to be closed so the transportation of rockets can take place. Rockets? Did you just read the word rockets? Yes, yes, we are heading towards Cape Canaveral, to the once booming city of Titusville. Since the Space Shuttle program was nixed by NASA, the town has lost it's luster. 

Railroad bridge that remains open. The Coast Guard would make a call through the VHF if it was to close.

We see the space vehicle garage at Cape Canaveral (and I see a speck of dirt on my lens <frown>)

We take a short walk through the streets of Titusville.

There are very few shops and other than a Wendy's, discount grocery store and a CVS Pharmacy, it's pretty much just a tourist town for the memorial of the NASA Space program, which is fine by us!

These are perfectly described monuments of the years of the space program.

Here's a very important monument of the fallen astronauts.

I have to admit, I am becoming a bit of a space nut. While I would never admit that I LOVE science fiction movies, I will admit I do enjoy Star Trek and Star Wars series. But the REAL science of space flight is really interesting to me. While doing some research of the area on Google, I find a very cool website https://spaceflightnow.com/.  This site has the most up-to-date news on all space flight in the world, not just from the U.S.   (Please don't leave the blog yet, check it out later)
I am jumping up and down in the boat, as I read there will be a rocket launch on the week we are here in Titusville!! What???!!! We are thrilled and plan to watch from our dockside seats.
The Atlas V Rocket will be carrying 7,700 lbs of supplies to be flown to the international space station one day between Dec. 3 and Dec. 6th. The dates are the optimal time for the space station to receive the supplies, as after that date, it gets quite busy up there as other countries such as Japan are also sending rockets up. Who knew that it was busy on the space station? This just opened by eyes to a whole new learning experience for me.
With the winds howling, as this N'or East'er blows for a week straight, we wonder if the launch will take place at all.

Meanwhile, our good friend Rick, from s/v Cowboy arrives at Titusville Marina. Tony helps him leave from the safety of the fuel dock to his slip closer to shore.

Cruisers warn each other to come into the marina rather than try to grab a mooring ball in the 30+ knot winds we are having at the dock! Good thing Rick comes in. The winds keep blowing and the temps fall.

We tell him about the rocket launch this week and he joins us for a drink to celebrate and see the once-in-my-lifetime event.

This is Rick. He was in the Vietnam War and after his dedicated time in the war, 
he came home to Baltimore, Maryland and became a very talented farrier.
(A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves
and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary) Wikipedia.
Now a single handed sailor, he tells the best stories and with his southern accent,
well, he's just so charming and we miss him.

Families around us prepare for the launch of the rocket.

It's getting cool and the clouds have come in. Will the rocket launch in these windy conditions?

Space enthusiasts line the bridge that takes you to Kennedy Space Center,
as they wait for the 4:44:53 pm launch of the rocket on December 6th.

 5...4...3...2..1 - BLAST OFF!!

Sooooo very coooool!!

With the rocket launch checked off our bucket list, we count the days until our journey ends here in Titusville, Florida, as our flight home is booked for December 10.
We had originally planned to stop our journey in Vero Beach, approximately 2 days sail from Titusville (Cape Canaveral area), however with this fall season being the busiest we decided to stay put here. We will rent a car from Titusville, drive to Orlando International Airport to take our flight home to Toronto.

Deja Vu will be okay without us, and we will take a much needed break out of the water to be reunited with our dog Charley and our family and friends after spending 94 days away from them.

Deja Vu will have the company of the manatees in the marina and the osprey too.

Manatees munch on the sea grass in the marina.

We have booked ourselves several appointments to see condo suites upon our return so we can get back to our home in Etobicoke. I start back to work as a Nanny the week after we arrive and I couldn't be happier! Tony will be planning his next career adventure, doing ??? Not quite sure yet, and he's ok with that.

We've learned so much while on our sail to the sun: the insides/outsides of  Deja Vu, navigation, the level of our patience, how to handle stressful situations, budgeting, preparing quick and easy meals, the fine art of dining out, becoming a true motor-sailor, and about each other. We are so proud of ourselves for making this journey happen and to all those who kept up with us and supported us along the way.

THANK YOU!

"It is good to have an end 

to journey toward;

but it is the journey

that matters in the end."

-Ernest Hemingway

This is the end of a chapter of Take Me to The Sea, but there will be more one day. I am looking forward to somehow converting this blog into a memorable book for our home. It's been a blast!

Love and fair winds,
Sailor Christine and Sailor Tony
xo