Life on Lailia

St. Augustine Municipal Marina

Ugh. It’s cloudy and windy here in St. Augustine. Our slip in the marina is fairly well protected by a break water- we can see the spray as it hits the wall. We have some movement in this slip but it’s not awful (look at the difference between the surfaces on each side of the wall in the video).

It’s in the upper 50s today but we expect the temperatures to drop and the winds to pick up over the weekend.

There are few opportunities to anchor in protected areas within our normal daily range of 50-60 miles…and we are well aware of how little we like *robust* winds. We are making decisions about when we’ll leave here.

Our bright spot here is getting to spend time with Abby and Cal, who drove from St. Pete. It’s so cool to love the people your friends’ kids grow to be.

We may get to finish Breaking Bad before the bad weather breaks.

Fernandina Beach, FL to St. Augustine, FL

Much of the ICW in northern FL is a straight line.  It can be a bit boring but boring is ok.  I can bake, exercise, and Zoom as we’re motoring.

We decided to use the sail for a bit of extra speed…not that we were ever speeding or anything. Motor sailing got us up to 7.8 knots/hour. 

The *fun* part was approaching St. Augustine.  The ICW gets a bit complicated: shoaling and lots of waves from where the St. Augustine inlet meets the Mantanzas River. Our sail furler got hung up.

Have you ever had a dream where you couldn’t control your car? Maybe in your dream the brakes failed or maybe the steering wheel became detached. While John was cool and collected, my anxiety was off the charts.

When the water is moving in one direction while the wind is blowing in another it’s difficult to know how much the boat is moving – even if we have dropped the anchor. John was working to untwist lines while I tried to keep Lailia pointing into the wind.

John’s definitely the calmer of the two of us. He got us fixed up and we were able to get into St. Augustine marina tonight.

We’re staying here for a day or two to catch up with a friend, get some groceries, and do some laundry.

Delaroche Creek, GA to mooring ball at Oasis Marina, Fernandina Beach, FL

It’s a gray day but there’s not a lot of wind and the water is smooth.  We are on a mission to get a new water pump and the West Marine in Fernandina Beach has something that should work.  It’s not the same one that we had but John made some adaptations. We have running water again!

Smooth water makes it easier to spot dolphin buddies.  We were also on the lookout for the feral horses on Cumberland Island – and we actually saw one.  There’s no doubt in my mind that my animal call is what brought it into our view. It works for dolphins, gators, and the bobcats at Charlestowne Landing, so…

Although we did not motor very far today, we did make it to Florida.  After West Marine, we actually were able to shower and check out the oldest continuously operating tavern in Florida, The Palace.  Just strolling feels like a treat after all of days on the boat.

It’s lovely sitting here in our cockpit, drinking wine, eating homemade pizza, and listening to music.

Darien River, GA to a creek somewhere near Cumberland Island,. GA to Delaroche Creek, GA

John attempted to repair our water pump last night but it’s still not working. Two different marine supply stores on our route today did not have what we need, but for now we’re ok.  We have bottled water, a few gallons of distilled water, and water in our cooler.  Dishes are stacking up, but we can ignore them, as difficult as it is.  We have hand sanitizer and wet wipes to help us with our hygiene needs, too.

We had a quick stop at Brunswick Marina to grab fuel.  Our hope was the West Marine in Brunswick would have a pump but we weren’t lucky.

We did get to see a suction hopper dredger near Jekyll Island.  Yep, I looked up the type of ship and proudly am flying that nerd flag. That’s water cascading over the side.

“A rising tide lifts all ships”

We navigate using our Garmin devices, an app on my phone, and two great spiral-bound guides (one with anchorages and one for marinas).  Although the guides use mile markers in their descriptions, mile markers don’t physically exist on the ICW.  Boaters use a series of green and red markers to navigate. 

Tonight we had some unclear directions (“…. Leave intracoastal headed south below marker red 40…”) and missed a few possible anchorages. We finally turned down a creek during low tide and were stuck as we waited for the tide to rise so we could float off.  This was nerve-wracking as we had to wait to get out of that creek tonight and head to a better spot. The moon has not risen yet but there is some ambient light from a nearby Fernandina Beach to give us a bit of assistance.

Updated: we moved about four miles and found better anchorage.  Hopefully this is the last night navigation we ever have to do. 

Savannah Marina, Wilmington Island, GA to Darien River, GA

We left the marina during the predawn slack tide; it was dark and really, really cold, with ice on the bow deck.  Luckily, John had spoken to a boat owner at the marina yesterday who showed up at 6:00 am to assist us.  Condensation on the isinglass of our cockpit enclosure made navigation even more difficult, so we had to unzip what we could…for a short time I stood on the companionway steps holding the front portion up so John could see.

Sunrise was gorgeous with calm water.  We passed Isle of Hope on the way to Hells Gate…

“You can stand me up at the gates of hell,

And I won’t back down…”

Tom Petty

Hells Gate is an evocative name, but in this case it’s an area with a lot of shallow water that can make navigation difficult.  Our timing worked out and we went through on a rising tide.  I had imagined a Scylla and Charybdis kind of thing and was let down by how normal it looked. 

Much of the northern GA portion of the ICW looks the same: lots of spartina and some clumps of trees here and there. 

We’ve motored for 11 hours and have found anchorage in the Darien River.  Our water pump stopped working so John is working to replace it. People told us that maintenance on boats is neverending and it’s proven true.

There’s a million stars out tonight, here where there’s no light pollution. How lucky are we that we are right here, right now?

Savannah Marina, Wilmington Island, GA

It’s been cold and it’s getting colder. It’s windy. It’s raining.

With our heaters on we are warm and cozy on Lailia. Having an electric hook-up in the marina makes a big difference when it is very cold. While we liked our last anchorage, it would have been difficult to be comfortable; we didn’t have the power to keep our ceramic heaters going continuously.

We’re settled in for the duration of the yuck. We’re planning on heading out on Sunday morning. We may even get to finish Breaking Bad before we go.

Thanks for your messages and good wishes.

P.S. Manatees only tolerate water that is at least 68 degrees. That’s not happening here and now, where it’s 53.6 degrees. I’ll have to try to see them in Florida.

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Herb River, GA to Savannah Marina, Wilmington Island, GA

We are about to get some bad weather here, so we decided to go to a marina for a few days.  This will give us reliable electric and internet so we can stay warm and entertained.

The marina is small and it’s pretty no-frills, but there’s a real shower and a laundry room.  We’re also in walking distance of both a pizza place and Publix.  I can’t express how good it feels to walk outside – to get exercise on the boat I resort to some aerobic moves that don’t require any arm flinging.

Since I have a virtual meeting tonight to discuss the findings from today’s remote school visit and we grabbed enough groceries, including a big bag of ice, we needed an Uber back to the marina.  Quincy was good enough to drive us almost to the waterline.

Tomorrow is my last day for the remote school visit and then we’ll hunker down with some crockpot chicken and Breaking Bad while we wait out the nasty weather.

Of course, I did see this sign at the end of the dock, so I’ll be watching during every break…

Herb River, GA

We had an early night – our generator is acting up so we turned off most of our power (we kept our fridge on, as well as our anchor lights). It was 47° onboard when we woke up.  Propane heaters warmed us right up, though.

I am thinking that silence is overrated in terms of promoting sleep.  We usually sleep with a fan running to block out a lot of ambient sounds.  When the fan was off, we could hear everything – every creak of line, airplane flying overhead, even John’s whiskers on the pillow. Either we’ll get so tired or we’ll learn to ignore it and just sleep

Working remotely during a pandemic helped me prepare to be a team member on a virtual IB visit today.  I’ve learned that to really be ready I have to get work clothes and makeup on.  I have to prepare my area the way I would from my office: laptop, pens, notepad, and sticky notes at hand.  Today I even had the nameplate from my last job on my desk   I used headphones so I could focus on the meeting while John motored us to get gasoline for the generator and outboard, as well as diesel for the boat.

Technology is really amazing.  My team is comprised of members from the DC area, Ohio, Costa Rica and me on a boat in GA talking with educators in Mississippi. 

A challenge for us right now is power – how to keep my laptop charged for an entire day of Zoom meetings with a generator that’s been a little flaky.  Today John alternated running the motor with the generator when I got below 40%.  Two more days of meetings for this visit and we’ll have time to experiment with other options before another visit in mid-February.

Thanks to everyone who has emailed, texted, or commented here or on social media. We like knowing you’re along for the ride.

Port Royal, SC to Herb River, GA (just south of Savannah)

It was decidedly less robust today, in fact it was just about perfect for motoring along in the ICW.  Light winds and no waves, as well as abundant sunshine, made today incredibly pleasant.

 Today felt extra magical with all of the dolphins buddies on our route.

Today we learned that we can actually use our wifi hotspot while we moving (most of the time) which meant I could get into a virtual meeting (until we got to a dead zone).

The Causton Bluff bridge was pretty fun-we had to motor under the one they’re building to get to the draw bridge.  There never seems to be enough clearance (holding my breath helps, at least in my mind).

We’re an anchor tonight just off the ICW in a pretty spot. It’s quiet here and I think we’ll be rewarded with great sleep.

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