Jacksonville Beach and St Augustine

We left Fernandina Beach early on Saturday morning, excited about getting to St Augustine. The trip would be about 55 miles. Our daily trip planning involves not only weather and winds, but also bridges and tides. On Saturday, fixed bridges were all along our route, which made it impossible to arrive at every bridge during low or mid-tides. Tides in South Carolina, Georgia, and Northern Florida change by about six feet. Our boat is challenging to move along the AICW, because it has the maximum draft and the maximum height the AICW will accommodate. Our draft is 5.5 feet under the boat and our mast is 63.5 feet high. Fixed bridges along the AICW usually provide 65 feet of vertical clearance. At high tide, often the clearance drops to 63 feet. In Georgia, we planned to move during high tide, because of the many shallow portions of the AICW there. Florida keeps their portion of the AICW dredged. However, many bridges cross the waterway.

We passed under two bridges right away. At about 1020, we arrived at the Wonderwood Bridge just across the St John’s River. We knew the tides would be high and hoped the bridge would still have at least 64 feet of vertical clearance. Thank goodness for vertical clearance markers under the bridges. The marker read 63 feet. Consequently, we turned around and went back out to the St Johns River. For two hours we toured the river and explored the St Johns Inlet to the Atlantic Ocean. If the weather had been better we would have traveled on the outside. At about noon we floated uneventfully under the Wonderwood Bridge. Now we would be arriving in St Augustine in the dark. As we continued down the waterway, thunderstorms were building around us. We were about halfway to our destination, when the sky opened up and the winds gusted to 30 knots. We pressed on for about five more minutes until we reached the Jacksonville-McCormick Fixed Bridge. Once again, the tides were too high for us to move through. We stopped the boat and decided to wait out the storm which was becoming worse. Seeing the very dark sky ahead and knowing we would be delayed waiting for lower tides, we stopped for the night at the Jacksonville Beach Marina, just north of the bridge.

The next morning we departed early during low tide, and traveled uneventfully to Camachee Cove Marina in St Augustine. We stayed for three nights. On the first night we dined with our new friends, Bob and Christie, who were down from Jacksonville. Making new friends is still my favorite part of cruising. They introduced me to a fish called cobia. The Kingfish Grill had coconut encrusted cobia on special. What a light, white fish – so tender and flaky!

Monday was a very special day. We rented a car and drove to Gainesville to visit my aunt, uncle and grandma. Grandma is 95 years young and recently moved into an assisted living facility. I enjoyed seeing her so happy in her new home and with her new friends. John met her for the first time. He also met my uncle, Levi, for the first time. Aunt Joni, John, and I talked for hours until it was time to return to the boat. I am so thankful we had this time together and that John became acquainted with more of my mom’s side of the family.

Tuesdays are the days I work so we plan to be in marinas. I coach in the morning and evening and love it! Mid-day, we borrowed the marina courtesy car and drove into historic downtown St Augustine. We toured the old fort – Castillo de San Marco, then walked to the oldest schoolhouse in the United States, stopping for ice cream along the way. The temperature was about 50 degrees. It is never too cold for homemade cow tracks or strawberry ice cream! We finished preparing for our trip to Palm Coast after dinner and went to bed early.