Crew Log for December 7th, 2022
Trip Summary:
• Cumberland Island, Georgia – Jacksonville, Florida
• Trip Distance of 34.6 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 2,258.5 NM
• Departed at 07h30, arrived at 14h00
We really enjoyed our time at Cumberland Island. While we recognize that it’s not for everyone, it is our kind of place and, we will be back. However, today was an exciting day. We were finally crossing over to Florida and were getting closer to our jumping off spot to the Bahamas.
Somehow crossing into Florida makes it feel like there is a change in the weather. There is also a distinct change in the feel of the ICW. We left the winding, muddy, remote section of the Georgia waterway behind us, and entered the relative straight Florida waterway. Unlike Georgia, the Florida ICW is rimmed with development that becomes increasingly more urbanized the further south you travel. Never in my life, have I seen so many boats, as I did in Florida. And, they like to drive fast.
As we left the peacefulness of our anchorage off of Cumberland Island, the first place we came to in Florida was Fernandina Beach, a popular spot with ICW cruisers. Unfortunately, Hurricane Nicole hadn’t been particularly kind to Fernandina and left damaged docks, broken moorings and anchorages full of sunken boats. There was no fuel or water available at Fernandina, so our plan was to head straight to Jacksonville.
The waterfront at Fernandina is a sharp contrast to the natural beauty of Cumberland Island, although we have heard, the town itself is quite nice. Fernadina is an industrial waterfront, including a few pulp mills. Thankfully, after a few twists and turns south of the harbor, you are back into marshes and riverlike conditions, until you get to the St. John’s River Inlet.
A cluster of navigation markers fill the St. John River Inlet, guiding commercial vessels up the river towards Jacksonville, and diagonally across it for those continuing on the Waterway. It is a confusing array of red and green marks that requires close attention. It looks like a kid threw a handful of red and green lego pieces up in the air, landing in a random, chaotic cluster. Once you find your right “lane” however, the randomness seems to make sense.
In addition to the navigational challenges, the cross current and resulting waves on the St. John’s River made for some tricky maneuvering. On the north side of the river there is a free dock, just off the waterway, that many people will use to wait for a more favorable current. We found out about it, after we passed it, which seems happen a lot with us, despite the planning and research we do prior to each passage. I seem to recall it being full anyway so it likely would have made little difference to our plan. Once we crossed the St. John’s River and re-entered the ICW, it was obvious why the free dock was full.
The current against us was over 3 knots and intensified under the bridges. As we approached the first bridge we really wondered if we were actually going to make it through. It’s analogous to driving a car up an icy hill. We needed to keep our momentum through the white water under the bridge at the same time, taking care not to swerve off our line.
On our way past the St. John’s River we did note that sv Teliki and sv Onalee were anchored in a creek just off the ICW. They had left Cumberland Island the day before us so we were surprised to see them here. We found out later that they were held up making repairs to the engine cooling system.
We had reservations at Jax Beach Marina, which as the name implies is in Jacksonville Beach. It was a very nice full service marina with all new docks and a restaurant on site, which we visited, ironically, after doing a major grocery run. Anthony, our Uber driver for the trip to the grocery store was originally from Connecticut and came to Florida to escape winter. He was a big New York Giants football fan. Our driver on the way back was a chatty lady named, Jhumbur, who arrived in Jacksonville from India, via Guam. She married a US serviceman, came to the US and was trying to make enough money to bring her brother from India.
Over the last few weeks, we have been hearing this crackling sound under the boat. We notice it the most when we are in a marina. It was pretty loud and didn’t seem to be concentrated in any one particular area. We had been plugging the boat into the marinas’ shore power system so of course my paranoid mind wondered if maybe the issue was electrolysis or some other electrical issue. We are not sure we have ever definitively solved the mystery, but the most likely source of the clicking sound is from Pistol Shrimp on the bottom of the boat. Go figure!
Our friend Jay, on mv Nomaste who we met back in Old Saybrook with his wife Lesli, was experiencing a similar issue and started doing some research. Snapping shrimp, or Pistol Shrimp have asymmetrical claws and the largest one produces a loud snapping sound. I had never heard of them before, but noise from the Pistol Shrimp is reportedly disruptive to other marine species and even military sonar. They sound like a fascinating creature that has a very unique way of hunting for prey. Jay concluded that the snapping was actually from the Pistol Shrimp and until we can come up with a better explanation, we are sticking with Jay’s hypothesis.
Our food stores and water tanks were refilled and the mystery of the clicking sound under the boat was solved, we hoped. So, we were off in the morning to St. Augustine, the oldest, continuously occupied city in the United States.
But more about that, next time.
This is a very timely post as In today (January 15, 2023) there is an article that talks of how the reefs at Tonga, where there was a volcanic ash deposit, are now dead and they are now silent due to the Pistal Shrimp dying off.
Nice to read about your adventures on a -18 degrees day here. Thanks for these. They are extremely well written and will make you a book when the adventure is over. Love Ruth