February 27, 2007

Shorty and I moved from San Augustine to Fernandina Beach today which was a trip of 65 statute miles. We are at the dock in Fernandina tonight and may stay another day just so I don't hit the Georgia border before the first of March. After I do the blog tonite I have to change chart books to the one that covers from here to the Chesapeake Bay of the waterway and if I remember right and it is 318 miles of Georgia on the waterway I could be in the Carolina's in six or seven days and I believe that it would still be to cold to be that far north this early. I could back track and go down the St. John's River in Florida but in that area if I am hearing it right on my radio there is a lot of Navy activity going on there and a lot of restricted space. The boat next to me in San Augustine went that way and maybe I can get in contact with them and see what it was like. I sure wish I had another pair of hands and eyes to follow things. The chartplotter can show more area but the detail I need is still better on the paper charts.

The trip today was a very nice and sunny one. North of San Augustine you began to sense a little change in climate. To my eye there were fewer palm trees and more palmetto and hardwood trees. The have a paper mill which is visible from the dock here and I thought I saw many more pine trees today. But the waterway at times was very wide and very deep in places. There were thousands of acres of marsh land and all of the birds that are associated with that habitat and more of those huge white pelicans which always stay outside of the range of my camera. Even at a distance they look as big or bigger than a turkey. We started out early enough today that it was still kind of cool and hazy and it seemed like every blue heron that I saw was sitting with its long neck just curled up on itself and with a very grouchy look. It seemed as though I was in Jacksonville before I even got warmed up. We did it a little different today since we were going to be in a lot more mile wide water than the narrow. I did a little experimenting since the marshes all looked pretty much the same. I increased the speed of the boat to around 3000 rpms and then watched the gas gauge and what I found out was that it was just as efficient as it is running at 1800 rpms. Based on time and mileage we were still getting four miles or better to the gallon. For todays trip I used and estimated 15 gallons of fuel. This means on big water and a good day I can really let it roll. And this was after taking into account all the idle speed areas and the manatee area slowdowns. I have been very pleased with that part of the trip, the economy is really,I think, very good.

I also noticed today that we are more in a working area of the ICW now. There have been more tugs and barges and more commercial facilities for working on them. I expect as the days move forward to see more of this.

Another thing which seemed different today was the enormous numbers of condominiums which Florida seems to be infested with kind of disappeared and a more rural and pristine look to the landscape even around the city of Jacksonville which is on the ICW became the look of the day. Maybe if I had gone into the St. John's River it would have been different. I really wish as I go along I could narrate what I am seeing at the moment. Today in side channels off the waterway I could see the masts of sailboats but not the boat itself as the tide was on the low ebb most of the way. At high tide it would have been a little better but I still don't think you could have seen the whole boat. If you see a sailboat anchored somewhere that definitely means Shorty will fit in there as well. Today there seemed to be more side creeks with deeper water even at low tide.

My plan was to be here in this spot by the first of March and I made it. So I am pretty much on my schedule but I need to slow down again.