Brunswick - Jacksonville

As we left Brunswick the next morning many people made a point of wishing us a bon voyage and safe trip.  This is a very friendly marina with a lot of liveaboards.

On our way out, we were reading the cruising guide and noticed that the next leg of the intracoastal has some shoaling reported.  Since we were leaving at low tide, the Captain decided that the prudent move would be to travel on the outside that day.  As we headed for the inlet we saw another boat heading for the intracoastal and called them up, believing that they were experienced and would be able to say there was no problem.  That was not the case.  He commented that I called at an appropriate time as he was just discussing the shallow area with his wife.  He had timed his departure to arrive at the marina that afternoon at high tide but did not allow for the shallow cut.  He turned around and followed us out.

The trip outside was uneventful.  The winds were 10 – 15 and the waves were from our stern, so very little rocking and rolling.  The Admiral even spent some time beside the Captain instead of meditating!  We did see a lot of dolphins including one that spent a little bit of time just in front of the boat.  We are also beginning to see signs to be careful of Manatees.

One sight was a shrimp boat returning to port.  He must have had a successful catch as the boat was literally surrounded by Gulls hoping for a taste!

Like a swarm of mosquitoes!

As the Fernandina Beach marina where C’est La Vie stayed on their way north was closed because of damage from Matthew, and the other Marina in the area did not have the draft to take us, we pressed on to Mayport, just before Jacksonville.  This is a major naval port, with both submarine and missile destroyers.

Honoring Capt. Todd, did not get too close

Our chosen marina for the night specializes in dry-stack boats and due to some damage to the piers, only a few other boats were in the water.  We were the only transient there that evening, and this will not be a stop on the way back north.

As we docked, it was interesting with a 4 knot current, but as it was on an outside dock, we could come in against the current.  Settled for the evening we had a few lines on due to the current.  Did not calculate properly as when the tide turns and comes from the stern, it pulls the stern off the dock and pushes the bow on.  Crew was able to get off the boat and we attempted to put another stern line on with a better angle, but it was tough to pull such a big boat back to the dock.  We did move one of the fenders more to the bow.  Just in time as a large freighter came by at a fast clip throwing a big wake.  It bounced Seas the Day quite well.  After that we got the large fenders out and anticipated a lousy night.  Not so!  All the other freighters were much slower and did not throw such a big wake.

The next morning we got help casting off as it would have been almost impossible to get Crew to do so and get back on board.  This is increasing my handling skills learning how to handle these big currents.