Rough Day on the Water; Anchored in the Mouth of Fort George River

The sky was red, the wind was howling and we were crossing the St. Andrews Sound. It was granola and fiber one bars for breakfast. It is All Saints Day and we hoped they were with us, and they were!

There was a lot of current in the Cumberland River. Wind were 15-20 knots. Our speed was less than 6.

We noted that at SM 701, markers 60-62A were moved and our GPS showed we were in the marshes, but we followed the markers, not the magenta line.

As the day progressed, we had up to 26 knots of wind in our faces. The tide reversed and was finally in our favor and we picked up speed to 6.5. The dodger was getting splashed and I was thankful for my stadium blanket with the windbreaker on the outside to keep Jazzy and I dry.

At marker 43, we started “hobby horsing,” because the waves were close together and we were moving at 10 knots. Chuck started tacking back and forth and that made it more pleasant.

At 11:40 a.m., we crossed into Florida. Once we turned into the Amelia River, the current was against us and slowed us to 6 knots SOW, 5 over land. We went through the twin bridges and the current was fierce, slowing us to 4.5 going under the bridges. Between markers 39 and 42 in the South Amelia River, we saw 4.6 feet in a few spots at dead low tide.

We crossed the Nassau River into Sawpit Creek and there was a dredge. It looked like it was going across the whole waterway and it was hard to see where to go. We looked with binoculars and thought we figured it out, then the skipper called the dredge to confirm before proceeding. We had to hug the bank to go to his starboard, go behind him, then turn left.

We are anchored just inside the mouth of the Fort George River. Chuck hated this anchorage on the way through the first trip because we had the wrong anchor, but we had no problems on the way back after buying a new anchor and there are few places to throw the hook.

Tomorrow: St. Augustine, where we have a reservation Saturday and Sunday nights for a mooring ball in the new mooring field. We’ll dinghy to shore, where my niece is driving down from Jacksonville and will meet us for lunch on Sunday.

The sky as we were leaving our marina.

The sky 10 minutes later.

The markers were moved since we were here
and our GPS thought we were in the marshes!

A homeland security boat by the Naval yard.

The current was whipping through these bridges!

The dredge in Sawpit Creek.

The dredge.