Author: Chris McLean

Comachee Cove Marina, St. Augustine, FL (docked)

November 27, 2022

(Yet another catch-up post)

Since we can’t return the rental until tomorrow we made sure that we provisioned Lailia for the next week or so. It seems like a luxury to drive to the store!

John went to watch an Eagles game and I walked around this pretty marina. Although it’s considered St. Augustine, it’s not very close to the hubhub of downtown.

We’ll return the rental in the morning and then head south to the Daytona area. I have a three-day virtual visit that starts on Wednesday, so we’ll tuck into a marina for a few days.

Rosemary Beach, FL (housed)

November 23-26, 2022

(Yet another catch-up blog)

Kevin and Brianna were already at the house her folks rented in Rosemary Beach when we arrived yesterday; Eric arrived today with G, a friend of Kevin’s who picked up Eric in Birmingham yesterday. We are so very thankful be with our boys. Brianna’s folks are wonderful hosts who shared this beach house with our family.

I have never been to this part of Florida. We took some time to explore some nearby trails.

Camp Helen is Florida state park that was a former resort for the employees of an Alabama textile mill. It’s also the largest coastal sand dune lake in Florida. There’s a huge variety of biomes here – from sand dune to maritime forest.

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner was an all-day affair with some blended traditions: Lisa made sausage balls in the morning plus deviled eggs with our dinner. We cooked 10 lbs of potatoes for mashing and made macaroni and cheese, too. Of course we all agreed that the best cranberry sauce comes from the can and has ridges on it.

Thanksgiving dinner was on the screen porch of the beach house; the temperature was just right for us to be outside. Brianna decorated the table with natural items she’d collected on the way to the beach.

This area of Florida has a few ‘developer towns’ like Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach: developers bought the area and created family-friendly areas of residences and small shops. They have also set aside some land for nature trails.

We explored a trail in Alys Beach. It’s in the midst of a lot of residences but there were some cool wild things like carnivorous pitcher plants and a bear track.

We had heard that there are bears in the area. In fact, there was an information display at Camp Helen describing what to do if a bear is encountered. I’ve been on a mission to see a bear ever since we saw the bear crossing signs at the Alligator River Marina – I still haven’t seen one, but now we have evidence that one was near.

In addition to all of the cool nature things, the Alys Trail had a few public sculptures including a dragon on wheels and some running horses.

We also welcomed the holiday season with a visit from Santa and a tree-lighting.

It’s really never enough time to be with our boys, no matter how long we have.

St. Augustine Municipal Marina to Comachee Cove Marina, St. Augustine, FL (docked) to Rosemary Beach, FL (housed)

November 22, 2022

(Another catch-up post)

We left in time to make the 7:30 opening on this gray, dim day. The sea state is pretty decent which is always good.

Once we were near Comachee Cove, John called to see if, by any chance, the slip was open – and it was. We were able to get an earlier start to our roadtrip.

A last step before we leave Lailia for any length of time is to turn off the water pressure and the water heater. A few years ago we learned to take a photo of the electrical panel before we left so if we had any doubts about whether something was left on we could easily check (instead of driving back to the boat – which I had to do once).

It’s a misty gray day in St. Augustine but we’re both really anticipating seeing and hugging our boys. We have family text threads, phone calls, and Zooms but nothing takes place of seeing them in person.

We’ve got our trip snacks packed – along with some baking supplies (I have my mixer, flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cookie dough, and a meat thermometer packed). Somehow we’ve managed to bring three ‘cheese-ish’ snacks.

As we got closer to Rosemary Beach (and our kids) the weather cleared up, which seems right.

St. Augustine Municipal Marina, FL (docked)

November 21, 2022

We got behind in blogging, so this is one of the catch up blogs.

This marina received some damage from the summer hurricanes and storms but they are doing a lot of work towards repairing the problems. When we arrived we could see a sailboat that had been pushed up against the north side of the Bridge of Lions. It was bashed around a lot and suffered a lot of damage.

This afternoon, the sailboat was towed from the bridge; the tow driver pulled up to the marina to get fuel and to document the damage. It’s pretty sad.

No doubt this boat had been someone’s happy place. I could see through the damage that there were still snacks and decorations on board, so it seems as if it was used fairly recently.

The marina’s outside floating concrete dock was also damaged by recent bad weather – that dock really protects the boats inside the marina from rough(er) waves. They have had to close off part of the marina so there are less slips available overall. We won’t be able to leave Laila in this marina when we travel.

Repairs began while we were there. In anticipation of this, boats were moved from the other side of “our” dock so they would not get blocked in or damaged.

We picked up the rental car today, giving John the opportunity to pick up the parts he needed to repair the dinghy’s outboard. He replaced the fuel import connector and the kill switch. It’s now running like a champ so John won’t have to row us around when we get off Lailia.

The Bridge of Lions does not open for boats during the morning rush hour (after 7:30 until 8:30) so we will get up early to make that 7:30 opening. It’s a short trip to Comachee Cove Marina where we’ll leave Lailia as we travel to see our kids for Thanksgiving. We may have to anchor outside the marina for a bit, since the folks in that slip don’t have to checkout until noon or so. That will give us time to eat breakfast and pack, though.

Sisters Creek to St. Augustine Municipal Marina, St. Augustine, FL (docked)

November 20, 2022

It’s another dreary, cold day in Florida. It’s so gray and dismal, although we know it could be colder and it could be raining…

The current at Sisters Creek is really strong and the north wind was pushing us up against the dock. John has developed a sense of physics when it comes to Lailia and was able to think through exactly how to use the current, the wind, Lailia’s motor and a spring line to get us off the dock. A boat neighbor assisted with the lines and made sure that the dinghy cleared as we turned into the current.

We have been passed pretty regularly by powerboats coming from behind and from in front of us. Usually the captains are really courteous and slow down so their wakes are minimal. Today we were passed by a boat that was pretty rude; it’s a reminder that a few folks in the boat community don’t really understand what community means. Later on, we heard a boater on the VHF call someone a moron for leaving a huge wake.

St. Augustine is very close to an ocean inlet. There were some largish waves as we crossed it but luckily the waves were behind us.

St. Augustine is a good place to walk. John and I found a great pizza place the last time we were here and enjoyed tonight’s selection of slices.

The old city is lit up for the holidays and is filled with people. We’ve been staying in places that are fairly remote so this is a treat. We have a few things to accomplish tomorrow, including picking up the rental car. This marina does not have space for us after Tuesday, so we’ll move Tuesday morning to another marina that’s not so close to downtown and then head off to see our boys.

Brunswick, GA to Plum Orchard, Cumberland Island, GA (anchored)

November 17-18, 2022

A day in Brunswick meant that we could go to a coffee shop to get breakfast and provision Lailia for the next few days. It’s feeling like autumn with daytime temps in the 50s.

Since we’re heading to Cumberland Island (my favorite anchorage in the US) which is a short distance away, we were able to have a leisurely morning, including a pancake breakfast (electricity at the dock opens up a lot of possibilities for cooking).

When we crossed St. Andrews Sound we could see tidelines – the demarcation between two bodies of water. In this case we saw brownish water meeting a bluer water. Many birds were feeding in the browner water (while we didn’t see any in the other).

When we anchored in Plum Island in June, we were the only boat there. Today we were the third. The bird tree that in June was full of roseate spoonbills was full of ibis (and a few spoonbills). There were a bunch of buzzards who were hanging out there, too. I am not sure what makes that tree so attractive to birds but I could spend hours watching takeoffs and landings from it.

The feral horses grazing by the mansion looked sort of shaggy – probably getting ready for the cooler temperatures, hopefully. Since the horses are feral, the National Park Service does not manage these animals in any way, so if they’re on their own as far as any illnesses.

In June there were a multitude of armadillos; this time we saw two. They were a lot less active on this 55 degree day than they were back in the warm summer months. They do like to eat grubs and bugs, so maybe the cooler weather provides less opportunities to find food.

We hit this trail at the exact perfect time to catch the sunlight hitting the Spanish moss hanging from the live oaks. It’s just a beautiful place to walk.

We’re in for a cool night but we have plenty of blankets and I have downloaded a few movies. Places like these remind us of why we live on Lailia – it’s a serene world when you are around so few people and so much nature.

John: Charleston to Brunswick, GA (anchored)   Chris: St. Pete Beach, FL (hoteled)

November 12-16,  2022

This is the second time this year that John has moved Lailia while I am traveling – the last time he moved her across the Chesapeake to Piney Narrows, the marina that was our Maryland homebase for the summer. This time he moved her a lot further to Brunswick, GA where we planned to meet on Wednesday.

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Our friend, Abby, was in St. Pete at the same time so she and I were able to take a walk at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. This time with her was a gift for me and helped me get some Vitamin N before I spent the next three days teaching inside a windowless room.

John had some windy days traveling, including a sporty trip across the Port Royal Sound. (I am not a sporty fan at all.)

John’s skills are really showing – he was able to haul Lailia’s anchor in some high winds. Normally he steers while I take care of the windlass so Lailia’s movements are very controlled. Being solo meant that he had to be very methodical as he moved from the helm to the bow.

My trip from St. Pete Beach to Brunswick, Georgia took about nine hours – there’s not an easy way to get from one place to the other (the Brunswick airport is so small that only one major airline serves it, maybe a few times a week). A flight delay also added to the joy, but I did get to hang out with another workshop leader in the airport and view a fiery sunset through the terminal window.

Brunswick Landing Marina is a good landing spot for us – they have nice facilities. We’ll spend a day there before we start heading south again.

Plum Orchard to Jacksonville free dock (Sisters Creek), Jacksonville, FL (docked)

November 19, 2022

It’s definitely autumn! When we are at anchor, we don’t have heat at night so it can get chilly. It’s great snuggling and sleeping, though. This morning it was 56 degrees on Lailia.

Lailia is small, so we can heat her up quickly. The propane heater works, but so does baking, which means I have a good excuse for making apple cinnamon bread.

The bird tree was not yet filled with birds this morning, maybe because it was early, maybe because it was cloudy, or maybe because the wading birds are having breakfast while the tide is low.

The weather was so perfect for walking on the trail yesterday but today it’s pretty overcast. When it’s like this, the cockpit doesn’t warm up the way it does when the sun’s on it.

Occasionally, we’d see the sun and the cockpit would get toasty. A few minutes later, it would be cloudy and cool again. I sighed a lot.

There’s a pretty strong current around this dock that had one space left. Once again, the boating community showed how strong it is. Other boaters showed up to grab lines as John steered Lailia in. One couple, docked behind us, sailed here from Sweden! They’re badass, true mariners, for sure.

We’ll head to St. Augustine in the morning; Lailia will be docked in a marina there and we will rent a car so we can have Thanksgiving with our sons and meet Kevin’s girlfriend’s family. John and I are really looking forward to hugging our boys!

St. John’s Yacht Harbor, John’s Island, SC (docked)

November 8 -12, 2022

Our timing for stopping in Charleston was pretty great: we saw several friends, got to vote, and stayed in a safe location through Tropical Storm Nicole. The best part? We have really amazing friends who were gracious enough to pick us up and take us to dinner – thanks, Bill and Deb and Missy and Ali. You brightened our days so very much.

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We woke up early enough one morning to see the lunar eclipse. It’s not as dark here as it was in the anchorage last week, but it was still pretty cool to see.

John and I were able to borrow the “loaner” vehicle from the marina so we could vote; we’ve been of the mind that “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain.”

We were very secure in the marina (although John would have prefered to be at anchor somewhere, I like not worrying about our anchor dragging). Our wind instrument allows us to track the wind direction and speed.

I had a three-day virtual visit to complete while we were here. Being at the marina means that John is able to hang out with friends or, when available, use the loaner to get to the hardware and marine supply store.

The views from this marina during the years we lived here were always beautiful. Seeing them while we were was a reminder of the “big sky” moments.

Tropical Storm Nicole intensified and shifted a bit. Fortunately, we were on the south side of the dock and didn’t have to deal with waves slapping Lailia’s hull although we could see them rebounding off boats on the other side of the fairway.

As a celebration of our final night here, we had Missy and Ali over for pizza and tequila. We’ll have brunch with them in the morning, then John will head south on Lailia and Missy will drop me off at the airport. I will be in St. Pete Beach leading a workshop and will meet John in Georgia on Wednesday.

Seven Reaches Creek to St. John’s Yacht Harbor, John’s Island, SC (docked)

November 7, 2022

The moon was such a gorgeous orange this morning at 5:20 that we stopped for a moment just to appreciate it. Getting up early sometimes comes with its own rewards.

A few minutes later, we were surprised by the contrail from the Antares rocket that had been launched from Wallops Island, Virgina. We were in the perfect place at the perfect time to see it travel across the sky.

High tide was early this morning and it helped us avoid the shoal that was right outside the mouth of the creek.

We made it to the Ben Sawyer Swing Bridge at 6:40AM which meant that we were able to get an opening with no wait (which was our plan). (I still don’t love traveling when it’s dark.)

Charleston Harbor was pretty breezy and cool. I was excited to see some dolphin buddies there, too.

The Wappoo Bridge won’t open between 7:00 and 9:30AM (and as someone who had to drive over that bridge almost daily, that’s a good thing). Since we arrived there at 8:20, we anchored and ate our breakfast. There were even more dolphin buddies here.

There’s a really strong current in Elliott Cut that we had to motor against. Fortunately, we were the only boat in the cut, so we didn’t have to deal with any powerboat wakes.

St. Johns Yacht Harbor is our “home marina” where we lived for two years. They’re under new ownership and have made some changes but it still feels like home.

The marina has a loaner vehicle that we will use tomorrow to go vote (another instance of good timing). We’ll get some provisions before the nasty weather hits on Thursday or Friday, too, and of course, see our friends.