Friday April 15: Isle of Hope Marina

We left yesterday from our Walburg Island anchorage. It was an ok place to be for a windy night (which didn't die down as forcast!) but next time we'll choose a smaller creek. Won't be quite so much current.

Even hitting St. Catherines Inlet at slack tide was quite a journey! Fortunately it was only about 20 minutes across and then a turn west so we were with the incoming tide and sideways to the 20 mph winds. Uncomfortable for a period of time but certainly doable and we had reservations for the Isle of Hope (very appropriate name!) marina for a couple of days.

We finally started seeing the white pelicans again - apparently they don't like to fly any farther south than they have to - they seem to like it at the north end of Florida. So beautiful in flight with the black at the ends of their wingtips.

Usually they are on shore sharing a small slice of sand.

There were plenty of spectators on shore along Hell Gate - a notoriously shallow area of the ICW here in Georgia. Fun to see but my focus was really on just staying in the narrow channel that took us from the Ogeechee River to the Little Ogeechee River! Neither of these are really 'little' rivers and the wind was still quite strong. But again only for about 40 minutes to cross both of these large water areas.


Once past the rivers we were back to the protected areas of marshes and smaller rivers.

Made it to Isle of Hope Marina (Steve makes the marina reservations and thought to call a day ahead as the weather was forecast to not be very nice for today and tomorrow).

This morning the dock guys were dressed for winter! Really? A tossel cap? But then I had on jeans and a fleece - and I was in the boat!




We really like this marina. Not terribly large but nice folks here. And as an added plus they have 2 loaner cars for the transient boaters to use. Just about any store you need is nearby!

Including Sam's Club - for yet another battery. In the long run it's just insurance.

For whatever reason the battery we purchased in Eau Gallie just a short week ago proved to not have enough cranking amps to turn the engine over the way we would like. Not sure what the real issue was but solved it by finding a battery at Sam's with 1050 cranking amps! Turns the engine over like a charm :-)

Another stop was Home Depot. The hot water in the faucet has been reduced to a dribble.

A repeat problem. Small crystals form in the hot water (not the cold) lines for ??? reason. Eventually it clogs the line.

End result - very low flow. Only in the kitchen sink which has really small lines right at the faucet. Fixed and done!

Such a beautiful area with the live oaks and the spanish moss hanging.

The rains predicted never came. One more store run tomorrow for a few more things.

Hopefully it will be nice enough to take a bike ride through the area near the marina.

Then it will be off north again. We're headed for Edisto Island for a stop to see friends Jim and Linda Murray. Met them in 2011 when we were bring the boat from Cleveland to Florida. Such truly 'salt of the earth' people .....

Wednesday April 13: Walburg Island Anchorage - GEORGIA!!

It was once again time to change the oil in the injector pump on this Lehman engine. It's one of the older styles designed so the injector pump has it's own oil supply instead of using the oil which circulates through the engine.

I like to think there was a very good reason for this because it's a pain to change every 50 hours as opposed to the whole engine oil change which happens every 200 hours.

There must be a better way ..... and we now have it!

Sitting next to the engine and unscrewing the drain plug on the injector while trying hold a baggie open to catch all of the old oil without spilling it into the bilge (always a bad thing!) was shaky at best.

So we put Steve's minnow net to good use - remove the net, put a ziplock baggie with the edge folded over. Now one handed easy to use oil catcher!!

Marvelous :-)

Travel in Georgia is at the same time easy and difficult. Difficult because of the 6 - 8 foot tidal swings. Easy because of the 6 - 8 foot tidal swings! Just depends where we are when the low tide hits :-)

You can see the sand bar next to the dock at the St. Johns River. When we first arrived the water totally covered this.We knew it was there only because we'd been here before (and the charts of course indicate it is shallow there).

Not a good thing to run into so we try to time the tides so there is always plenty of room where it is needed most.

We've traveled 120 miles the past two days - mostly out of necessity not because we wanted to go that far.

The plan was to stop at Cumberland Island (land of the wild horses) for a night with plans to roam the island for the day.

Weather said not today! So we continued north into Georgia farther as the weather grew worse. Wind and possible storms.


It just wasn't very nice. But the rain held off until we were 10 minutes from the marina on Saint Simons Island.

Steve was soaked by the time we docked - and then of course the sun came out!

We like this marina because they deposit the day's paper and a couple of muffins on your doorstep! What's not to like :-)

Today was also overcast, quite windy and cool. There is more wind due in this weekend. What to do. It's two days to Isle of Hope near Savannah for us and marinas are few and far between in the marshes of Georgia. Stay or go.

Ended up leaving Saint Simons Island and headed for Darian. A small town 8 miles off of the ICW and of course then 8 miles back to the ICW.


In the end we just kept going and figured the wind would not be an issue for us. Then we crossed Sapelo Sound! The last major sound for the day. Current was running west. Winds were blowing from the NW. Should be ok to run the 5 miles or so east on the sound until we're back on the smaller rivers running through the marshes.

After all, the sounds get nasty when the wind opposes the current so it should be ok. And it was sort of ok. No real issues just some waves kind of going everywhich way!. At one point Steve called to talk to me on the VHF radio as he didn't think it wise to attempt to come up to the flybridge!

Smart person ;-)

It wasn't too much longer until we were anchored for the night just south of the last large sound: St. Catherines. Then it'll be across Hell Gate (with plenty of water under the keel) and off to Isle of Hope Marina to wait out the next day or two or three of bad weather.

Fun things:

Two tug boats were moving dredging equipment somewhere. Fortunately they were very easy to pass.

Shrimp boat coming in the Altamaha Sound.

Monday April 11: St. Johns River

Steve found this little guy quite cute - siting outside the restaurant near the marina and had to have a picture. Definitely unique!

Breakfast was great - love that place! - and we were off as the current was going our way.

The best part of traveling through Daytona, for me, is the coolest bridge. There's only one but it's very well done.

So we were off Saturday headed for Marineland. It was only 40 miles (about 5 1/2 hours ) and with a fairly early start we would be able to arrive in the early afternoon.

Another very pleasant day to travel (still north winds so cool out of the sun). And for a Saturday, it was surprisingly empty of boat traffic.

After getting in and settled, it was off to the beach. Great piles of coquina rocks (made from shells) strewn around on the beach.

Very unusual for a Florida beach.

Steve walked quite a ways down the beach while I found a nice flat rock and waited.


There was a ridge of shells left by the receding tide. Maybe this is how the coquina rocks begin their formation?

For more info on these rock formations, click here.



An amazing sunset Saturday night!

And then an early morning. This marina is located at the original Marineland and we decided to finally check it out.

Of course the first thing Steve was drawn to was the really well done salt water aquarium. These fish are so colorful! Most are the same fish we see on the reefs in the Keys or occasionally around Banana Bay.

The main attraction here is the dolphins and the sea turtles. Left is a mother and its baby. Very cute!


There was even a place to take a picture with Flippy :-)






The history of this park (which first opened in 1938 with an admission charge of $1) is pretty interesting as it was the first it it's kind.

The movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (who hasn't seen THAT classic!) was filmed here.

For more info on Marineland history, click here.

Later in the day we had an opportunity to take a tour of the Matanzas inlet in a vegetable oil powered jet boat that runs tours out of the marina. This inlet produces some crazy strong currents and is quite dangerous with the numerous shifting sand bars in the entrance.

Definitely not for large boats! A plus was the great view of Fort Matanzas. It's really a just watchtower though but had enough firepower to keep the unwanted from reaching the next large northern city of St. Augustine. This site is maintained by the National Park Service. Their website has all of the history of the fort you will ever want to know! Click here to see it!

So much for the fun of Marineland! And as always there was a bike ride through the former campground that still has the bike friendly trails. Short as it was getting on time for dinner.

We quietly left this morning before sunrise in order to catch the currents going north. Steve tried to convince me the sun was already up - that it was just cloudy and I couldn't see it.

As soon as I turned on the GPS and noted the "nighttime" colors I knew I had been had :-)

My suspicions were confirmed when I actually SAW the sunrise after we were on our way for 15 minutes!

Another beautiful day to travel - we have been so fortunate weather-wise in the two weeks since we left Marathon.

This area of Florida is a preserve so lots of open grass and flats area and no sign of development for about 40 miles of waterway. Very much like the grassy areas of Georgia.

Very cool house south of St. Augustine. Loved the turrets .....

And the shipyard on the St. Johns River. Not sure if this is a military ship but suspect it is. It was really built to take any kind of seas as it didn't look like it had any open decks of any kind.

Finally arrived at the dock at a park near where Sister's Creek and the St. Johns river intersect. The only boat here ..... for about 10 minutes and then 3 sailboats and a catamaran all pulled in - one after the other.

The wind blowing hard one direction and the current coming just as hard from the other made for some interesting docking. Took me 4 tries to come into the small inlet and turn into the wind and make it to the dock.

But we're in for the night and tied safely to the dock in this wind that is still howling!

Friday April 8: Daytona Beach

Once we left Eau Gallie (pronounced 'oh golly' by the way), it was a very long, boring ride north on the Indian River.

This river is so long with so few inlet/outlets that by the time we were half way up it there were no longer any tide changes. Which is kind of nice for tying to docks but it makes me wonder how the water ever changes over in that river.

We'd been traveling north on it for the past 50 miles already and then added another 70 miles by the time we reached New Smyrna. Hardly any turns - just keep on going straight.

So after a relatively pleasant anchored night in Mosquito Lagoon on Wednesday, we left early - headed a short way to New Smyna. There were no mosquitos in the lagoon which was nice. Too windy I suspect!








Off the boat pretty quickly as we had a destination in mind: Thai for lunch!

We've been trying to find a Thai place for lunch for the past several days. Arrived too late at Ft. Pierce, no Thai place at Eau Gallie, tried to stop for lunch at Cocoa on the way by but they are no longer open for lunch - New Smyrna was our next hope.

Check the website: the place we've been to before is still there and open for lunch! It was finally a score for the Thai lunch :-)

We didn't check out the Museum of East Coast Surfing above the restaurant - probably should have.

Instead we went to the museum downtown that had a very well done history of the New Smyrna settlement and the trials and tribulations the settlers endured trying to get the settlement going.



The folks that came were actually from Greece with the whole thing being an investment idea to make money for the Englishmen involved.

Excellent videos - just color me happy :-)

Steve then fixed what I broke: the front hatch! Seems when I attempted to open the hatch, the metal slider was jammed in next to the fan that lives in the hatch.

Didn't stop me though. Just pulled it up. And pulled the block of wood right off - sad.

Clamps and epoxy glue to the rescue. And a better way to hold the hatch open so hopefully this will not happen again.

Good time to clean the inside of the hatch anyway!

Today it was a short 11 miles to Daytona Beach - and we had the current! Traveling at one point at 10.2 mph!

We always stay at this marina, Seven Seas, as it is one of the few marinas located on the ocean side so it's an easy bike to the ocean.

Favorite place to eat; the small restaurant right next door. It's been there forever - food is good and the price is right. Lunch today, breakfast tomorrow.

The neighborhood here is very modest - high rises on the beach at the next block but a very pleasant ride to the beach on the side roads with little to no traffic.

Of course it's again like every other beach in Florida: miles of sand and waves - with one exception: it's ok to ride our bikes and drive a car on the beach!

Couldn't resist the flamingo on the mailboxes. These folks in Florida do like their flamingos :-)




Tomorrow: 40 miles to Marineland Marina - another of our favorites!

Mmmm... seems like everyplace we stop is a favorite doesn't it?

Wednesday April 6: New Battery and New Rule

We were up early and pulled anchor at Serenity Island for a short trip of 12 miles to Eau Gallie. Not too far from the space center which was the hotspot for watching the manned space flights lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

Although there are still launches from the center, it's mostly rockets carrying satellites into space or resupply missions to the International Space Station.

The next one is actually Friday 4/8. Maybe we should have dragged our feet ....

Tuesday was another really nice day to travel. Sunny and a bit breezy but daytime temps in the high 70's.

Eau Gallie is a very small city which years ago was incorporated into the city just south of it - Melbourne.


There is a well done public park across the waterway from the marina that was on our left as we entered the channel. After we were settled, a bike ride was in order to check out the park.

Lots of wildlife including squirrels everywhere! White herons and blue herons as well.


And possibly alligators. Steve went looking for them but apparently it's not the right time of day/year for them to make an appearance.

But there was work awaiting us at the boat so we headed back. So while in Banana Bay, we replaced the house bank of 4 golf cart batteries (this enables us to run fridge, freezer, lights, tv etc. using the inverter when we are anchored).

There is a separate 12-volt battery that is used just to start the engine and power the windlass - the idea being we would never run the engine starting battery down. Good in theory and in this case in practise as well!

Should have replaced the engine start battery though when we did the others especially since the permanent magic marker indicating the year of installation was no longer legible!  No problems other than the water (acid??) coming out of the between the top and side of the battery. Never saw that before!

Karen at the canvas shop at the marina was kind enough to drive Steve and our old battery to an auto part store to pick up a new battery. Installed and done.

The ride around town included finding the original cemetery for the area. It was locked up so closer investigation wasn't possible.

Kind of interesting though. And the cemetery seemed to be pretty well cared for.

The cutest dog lives here. His name is Beagle :-) Karen said to be aware he would hop right onto your boat if he smelled food cooking.

Guess he smelled the muffins Steve was baking :-)

Beagle wasn't tall enough to hop onto our boat or I'm sure he would have if he could have!

NEW RULE: Steve is never to get a haircut anywhere near any military base!!

Guess I'd better get back to cutting his hair or quit complaining, right? :-)