Etiquette

Mile 765 ~ Pine Island ~ a little spit of land off the Tolomato River 50 miles south of Fernandina Beach and 15 miles north of St. Augustine, FL It occurred to me today as we continue to flee the cold that at least we have had mostly sunny weather. We decided to keep on going south instead of playing around the Cumberland Island area due to the wind and cold. We had a fairly easy day though there were shallow spots and one bridge that was a challenge as the current was about 3 knots – it produced standing waves.
Here we are once again with our friends Greg and Michelle aboard Argonauta – the VT and Maine contingent. They came down today from Cumberland Island – we knew they were behind us somewhere but didn’t see them until they came into the anchorage just minutes after us. This anchorage is shallow with 5 to 10 feet of water. A bit of a trick to get into.

As you might imagine there is etiquette out here regarding passing boats, going through bridges, sailboats meeting motorboats and so on. As Greg was coming into this small anchorage with 4 of us already here, slowly motoring to find a safe spot far enough off shore and just far enough away the other boats, the Canadian boat " Chenous" revved it up a bit and passed between Greg and our bow to nab his spot first. That is just not done ~ we cold only hope he would run aground – but alas he didn’t .

So here we are on the road again, recovered from our adventure out at sea. I just wish we hadn’t been so seasick as the experience would have been much more positive even with the cold front coming sooner than predicted and the high winds at the inlet. Don has become extremely proficient at handling this boat. It’s 32 feet long and weighs 22,000 lbs ( as example a 32’ Benateau weighs just 9,000 lbs. ) Our boat handled the wind and waves just fine out there - it’s solid as a rock and sails beautifully – in fact at one point Don said he was going much faster than he wanted as he wanted to be sure he didn’t get to the inlet until daylight.
When we docked in Fernandina – we were exhausted – the wind was howling and the current was pushing ~ the only space they had was on the inside face dock between 2 boats – the space was about 45’ long – Don literally paralleled parked us to perfection ( we are 40’) with the bow sprit and the thing on the stern. Amazing – It's not like you can successfully back up a double eneded sailboat ! I’m left with remembering the night sky out there and for now content to read the GPS and help us stay out of the shallows on the ICW. On to St Augustine tomorrow. ….
Don and Tiller in balmy FL; Nuclear power plant in Jacksonville; our anchorage - where we are told there are alligators but it's too cold and we won't see any ! Ahhh geee.