The big day finally arrived. After 2 years the trip home-Part 1 begins! We woke up to a perfect Florida boating day. We are happy to have Mike and Andrea Stasko, friends from Pt. Breeze, along for Part 1. We returned our rental cars and shoved off. A big Selene trawler "Duet" that was docked across from us, left a bit earlier to make their 18th trip up the east coast to Rock Hall, Maryland, where we bought Blue Moon.
We familiarized Mike and Andrea with Blue Moon's little idiocyncrasies and settled in. Our first hurdle of the day was waiting for a bridge passage about 1/4 mile from where we left. Seems a barge was trying to squeeze through and it was a slow go since he only had inches to spare. Mississippi River Deja Vu! Hope that's the last barge we have to deal with until we get to New York City Harbor!
After being away from all this for 2 years Dave and I were a bit rusty. Lost our boating mojo? Naah. We were about 1/2 hour up the river before we remembered that the large ball fenders were still swinging off the side of the boat. Oops. Slowed down to bring them in. Do not want to loose them. With Blue Moon's unique hull shape; those work the best for dock protection.
It was a nice, uneventful trip up the ICW (I think uneventful in boating and flying is a GOOD thing). Since it was a pretty mild day we decided to anchor out for the night. Using my trusty Garmin Bluewater Mobile App on the Ipad, we found a nice little anchorage called Honeymoon Lake. There were a few other boats anchored there for the night, which always gives me that false sense of security that I am constantly looking for.
The anchor held in a nice sandy bottom while we enjoyed the homemade baked ziti that Andrea had brought along. We sat on the back deck and had some wine and toyed with the idea of watching a movie but as usual, the sun and excitement of the day made us all pretty tired so we all went to bed early.
It was a bit breezy and the boat was a bit bouncy and woke me up quite a few times during the night. Our stateroom is in the bow of the boat so the constant slapping of the water against the hull and the sometimes squeeking of the anchor chain takes some getting used to again. Therefore, I slept in the next morning while Dave and Mike maneuvered Blue Moon out of the anchorage and back onto the busy ICW. There are many winter boaters heading north right now on this water highway.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Monday brought us fewer recreational boaters to deal with but there was this guy...
We traveled steadily without major slow downs all day. One sad little incident: a bridge tender on the VHF radio alerted boaters that there was a mother porpoise with a dead baby to look out for near the bridge. She was pushing the baby along--aware or unaware of it's death? Will never know. We were joined by some playful dolphins a few times through out the day. That made us feel better.
In the afternoon we all went up to the flybridge to enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful homes and docks along the way. We all fantasized about which one we would buy.
After nearly 12 hours on the water we pulled into the St. Augustine Municipal Marina. We were here 14 years ago when we made this trip. St. Augustine is still gorgeous. There was a huge, new and shiny, 65 ft. Sea Ray docked next to us. Do not miss the "plastic boat"--no offense Sea Ray owners.
The Stasko's treated us to a great dinner at the A1A restaurant. It's so nice to hop off your boat and be right in the middle of a pretty little city within walking distance.
Again, we all crashed early knowing that tomorrow might be our last dry day for awhile.
Wonderful recitation of a memorable journey for you all. Nice to have the best company, our cousins Andrea and Mike. May calm waters be yours...Liana U.
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