Day 353: We Can See Clearly Now

Tolomato River to Fernandina Beach Municipal Marina, FL (docked)

January 3, 2023

Determined to not repeat last night’s low tide escapade, we hauled anchor before 8:00 AM even though there was a bit of fog. I stood on the Lailia’s bow to look out for crab pots and any other potential hazards until the fog broke up.

We never knew that fogbows existed until yesterday and now we have seen quite a few. Maybe that’s 2023 letting us know adventures are still not over.

Fortunately, the fog lifted pretty early and we had an easy trip today.

At one point we had such strong currents that we were flying along at close to 10 knots. In general, we are pretty happy when we get 7 knots, so this was great.

Although we usually grab a mooring ball at Fernandina Beach, today we wanted to fill our water tank and grab some fuel. The dockhands at this marina are really great – after we fueled, they walked us back to our spot.

Last night’s misadventure left behind a little souvenir – a line showing where Lailia was resting on the mud last night. Since that wasn’t our favorite moment of the trip, John scrubbed it off.

We haven’t seen our friends Steph and Rick in probably 28 years; they just moved to Fernandina Beach, though, so we spent some time trying to catch up. If our last trip north through Florida’s theme was breweries, this trip’s theme has been family and friends.

Tomorrow we have to cross Cumberland, St. Andrew’s and St. Simon’s Sounds, big bodies of water that have the potential to be sporty if the wind is up. There’s also a big front moving in from the west that will bring some nasty rain and wind. It’s good that we had a good day today to give us a bit of a break.