TwoGether

Wednesday 3/14/12.           We woke up to another prefect cruising day.  I saw this man, who was as least as old as me, (older than dirt) paddle surfing.  When I first saw him he was over a half mile away.  He paddled past and we saw him later about two miles up the river.

I thought today would probably be boring since we are going back over old steps.  Not so.

We entered the channel behind three sailboats headed north.  No, not the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria… but Common Ground, Finistere, and Celebration.  Soon we caught up to the trawler Escargot.  The five of us made quite the parade.  It was no sense being in a hurry because only a few miles up the Halifax River is the J. B. Knox Drawbridge with only 15 foot clearance. (aka, where I ran the main tanks dry on the way down)  I ain’t gonna screw up this time.

 The front sailboat made a quick turn to port and radioed that there were people in the water trying to rescue a manatee that was caught in either a net or rope.  We all idled through so as not to cause any wake.  We hope the rescue was successful.

Then the cruiser Sandy by the Sea, who was in a big hurry and putting out quite a wake as she passed all five of us, beat us to the bridge by at least 10 minutes.  Apparently the bridge tender wasn’t too impressed since he made Sandy BTS wait until the other five of us arrived before opening the bridge.  He even made us wait until another trawler came up behind us. So now there would be seven boats in the parade going through the bridge.  Once the bridge opened Sandy BTS disappeared in a flash.

 Just as the bridge started to open, the other trawler, Lowe Key, who was behind us, radioed and asked if he could pass me on the port side.  At this point all six of us are less than 500 feet from the bridge and he wants to pass!  I replied “If you feel it’s necessary... pass me on the port side.  But I have three sailboats and a trawler in front of me”.  He must have felt it was necessary because he passed us within ten feet of our port side when we were lined up with the opening in the bridge.  I could see this was going to be an exciting day!  After we were through the bridge Linda called each boat, one by one, and asked permission to pass since we normally cruise just a bit faster.  Soon we were behind Lowe Key going as fast as he was.

 The trip past the Palm Coast / Crescent Beach area was pretty straight forward.  There are few no wake zones and the riverside is dotted with mansions, normal houses, shacks and open marsh.

In the afternoon St. Augustine came into view. This is a beautiful town with the Spanish architecture, the fort Castillo de San Marcos, the Great Cross and the Lighthouse.

 

The lighthouse is supposed to be haunted but we didn’t stick around to find out.  It was featured on one of the ghosts hunting TV shows. 

There was a flurry of activity while going through St. Augustine.  Half a dozen U.S. Customs and Border Patrol boats; a sightseeing boat we met at the bridge; dredging of the inlet; divers down at a bridge; and more dredging in the ICW.  That’s a lot going on in five miles!

We were going to anchor in the same oxbow at Pine Island on the Tolomato River, but there were already two boats anchored there (the one being Lowe Key)(sorry but I wasn’t feeling real neighborly)  We anchored in a little cut off the channel about a half mile short.  Soon Hammer came by.  Hammer is a Coast Guard tug pushing a buoy-setting barge.  We believe we saw Hammer in South Carolina or Georgia on the way down.

Now there are rumbles of thunder off in the distance.  It could become an exciting evening too!

Tolomato River anchorage: N 30° 02.383           W 081° 21. 833