Fernandina Harbor Marina

The Norwegian Gem off Jacksonville, Florida
Another idled and anchored cruise ship

We are tied up at Fernandina Harbor Marina on Amelia Island, right at the border of Florida and Georgia between here and Cumberland Island. We spent one night in St. Augustine and then headed back out into the calm ocean and came here today, bypassing Jacksonville altogether. 

This is one of the nicest stops along the waterway because of the quaint little town of Fernandina Beach, which was thriving prior to the Coronavirus and seems to be gradually re-opening now. The docks were pretty much destroyed here by Hurricane Matthew in October of 2016. With a change of ownership, insurance claims, and complications of a property lease from the city of Fernandina Beach, it took almost four years for the marina to rebuild and finally re-open. When we passed here heading south in January, it was still closed, so we are delighted it is available again. The docks are built to last and very impressive.

Our plans have changed somewhat because we were headed to Jacksonville to have some work done at Lamb's boatyard there, but a call to them this week revealed the they are slammed with work, and could not get to us for several weeks. The same seems to be true of all of the boat repair businesses along the way. So the Lovely Laura Lee, who has work to do back home, will head back home in a rental car tomorrow while I spend the next three days or so getting the boat back to the Savannah area.  We will likely get the work done partly at a yard in Savannah and partly at home at The Ford Plantation.

It has been a beautiful cruise, and I have rarely seen the ocean so calm for over a week. We again had afternoon thunderstorms today, but the worst of them passed south of us as we came in the inlet. The channel here is unusually large and deep because of the submarine base at St. Mary's.

We have now travelled nearly 1,000 nautical miles to get our boat to the Bahamas, have it quarantined there for four months, and then try to bring it home. While we are disappointed that the Bahamas cruise didn't work out, we are grateful that we have retained our health and that all of our family members have remained well during this horrible pandemic. And what's not to like about spending time cruising on the water, wherever we happen to be?

Islands in the Stream

Weather changes and plans change. The Lovely Laura Lee headed home today and I stayed with the boat because it looked like I might have a weather window to get to the Bahamas this week. I am planning to depart Wednesday morning to Bimini, the closest of the islands of the Bahamas. Seas are projected to be quite comfortable and we should make it across in about seven to eight hours depending on seas and the strength of the Gulf Stream current. I will be accompanied by a hired captain recommended by my old friend Joel Davidson who is a yacht broker here with Outer Reef Yachts https://www.outerreefyachts.com/bio-joeldavidson.cfm. 

I first visited Bimini in the 1990's when The Compleat Angler Hotel was still standing. It was where Ernest Hemingway apparently lived and wrote in the 1930's when he was not staying on his boat in Bimini. The old bar in the downstairs of the hotel was thriving, and the walls were covered with Hemingway photos and memorobilia. This bar was the also site of the original ring toss game, where a ring is attached to a string hooked to the ceiling, and the object is to swing the ring and have it land on a hook attached to the wall. I credit my friend Chuck Butterworth with introducing this game to me well before I ever visited Bimini. You can still find kits of ring and string for sale called the "Bimini Ring Toss Game".

My last visit to Bimini was in 2008 with my friend James Abele (Perfect Deck Hand). Here is the blog entry from that visit on March 13, 2008 when we travelled from Chub Cay to Bimini:

Yesterday, we departed early for the long run across the Banks to Bimini. We covered some 83 nautical miles and anchored just before dark on the east side of Bimini, as it was too close to dark to attempt coming around the island and into the harbor. We thought we had found a perfect anchorage off a beautiful beach but it became very rough when the wind moved around to northwest during the night and swells came around the island, hitting us from the north. The boat rolled and doors rattled, and our anchor dragged slightly. But we made it through the night. This morning, we came around into the harbor and tied up at Brown’s Hotel and Marina, right next to the famous “End of the World Bar”, which we’ll check out tonight. 

Bimini has seen some improvement since last I was here. A gigantic development is going on at the north end of the island called “Bimini Bay”. We checked it out by golf cart today and it is going to be very nice. Unfortunately, the Compleat Angler Hotel, hangout of Earnest Hemingway, had a fire and may be gone for good. The outside walls are still standing but we don’t know if it will be salvaged or torn down. The remainder of Alicetown is still pretty run down, but there are signs of improvement, including the new docks at Brown’s where we are staying. 

In preparation for this visit, I have been re-reading Hemingway's "Islands in the Stream". In Part One of the book, entitled "Bimini", the main character, who resembles Hemingway himself, lives in a house that actually matches the description of the Compleat Angler Hotel. The hotel and bar are part of the story, but were called the "Ponce De Leon" in the book. I will again be docking at Brown's, mentioned in my old blog and the site of a great fistfight in Hemingway's book.

I'm excited to get back to Bimini, and I want to check out a few things. First, what I wrote of previously as "Bimini Bay" became "Resort World", and I will be interested to see how the resort has fared. Second, I want to return to the "End of the World Saloon", also known as the "Sand Bar" and see if it is still flourishing. It was a dive with Graffiti-covered walls, and the primary decor consisted of hundreds of pairs of women's underwear hanging from the walls and ceiling. There is just no telling what it is like today. And finally, I want to revisit the location of the Compleat Angler to see what, if anything, is left.

The weather has been terrible of late for crossing the Gulf Stream from Florida to the Bahamas. We have had one cold front after another for weeks, leaving few good "windows" for a crossing. Wednesday looks like a good one, but we shall see. I'm excited to get this boat out in the open ocean, because so far I have only had a few calm days at sea. I'll perhaps find out what needs to be better secured and what falls off the kitchen counter. I'll report back to let you know how the trip went.

Alone on the boat

Our original Hilton Head trip was delayed by terrible weather last Saturday. So we started Sunday afternoon and made it to Isle of Hope, and on to Harbourtown at Hilton Head Monday. After a pleasant Monday evening with dinner at CQ's here, and a relaxed morning yesterday, we left the boat here overnight to get back to The Ford Plantation for a meeting for me and work demands for the Lovely Laura Lee. This afternoon I returned to the boat by myself, and I will take it back to Ford tomorrow, weather, bridges, and boat gremlins permitting.

Our only issue coming up here was the Causton Bluff Bridge near Thunderbolt. It is a drawbridge between Thunderbolt and the Savannah River that we can normally go under without a bridge opening except at high tide. The bridge is under construction to be replaced by a high fixed bridge and was closed Monday to all boat traffic because the construction crews were lifting the massive concrete spans for the new higher bridge. We were informed by a marine patrol officer on duty in his boat there that it would be closed all day to traffic. However, he ventured that we could probably pass under one of the side spans not normally used by traffic. He said the depth there was 11 feet (we need six feet) and that the span was 25 feet above the water (we need 23 feet). So we tried it, with Laura Lee standing atop the dinghy on the upper deck and me driving at a pace of about 1/10 of a knot, fully prepared to stop dead if need be. As the man said, we cleared it by about two feet and went on our way.

So if the bridge is open to boat traffic tomorrow, I will be fine getting home. Otherwise, I will need to consider taking the outside route in the ocean from Hilton Head down to the Ossabaw Sound. I called the number listed for the bridge tender tonight and was told "I'm not sure. You'll have to check back first thing in the morning." Bridge tenders are not the most talkative people, but he was polite and really had no information. I do not want to go that route and be stuck, requiring me to turn around and backtrack to a different route, or spend the night anchored in the waterway. 

The forecast for the ocean route tomorrow is "NE winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts to 20 kt. Seas 2 to 3 ft." Acceptable on this boat if not ideal.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Charleston

For two weeks now we have been docked at the Charleston Maritime Center. This is a fabulous location for exploring the city. Both shopping and restaurants are just a short walk away. The only issue is that the marina is sometimes very rough and rolly caused by wind, current, and occasionally by gigantic wakes from ships and inconsiderate boaters. But despite the motion, we have been enjoying things immensely.

At last report I said that the dogs were doing well. They are quite adaptable, with the puppy Belle immediately taking to the artificial turf bathroom put out on the bow for them. We have taken them for lots of walks, and one morning to run free on the beach at Sullivan's Island across the river from us. 

There have been a couple of minor dog issues. Rhett fell into the water once while trying to get from the boat to the dock. Luckily, we were both here. The Lovely Laura Lee jumped into the water and pushed him up, while I lifted him by his harness. All ended well with just a wet wife and dog. The other issue has been caused by the fact that we let Rhett sleep with us at home, where we have a king size bed. It hasn't worked as well with the smaller bed on the boat. We tried for one night to make him sleep on a dog bed outside of our room, but it was a long night of a loving dog letting us know of the injustice. I think it will mean some adjustments to where everyone sleeps. We can't blame anyone but ourselves for the dilemma. 

At the moment though, we are getting a break from the dogs who are at their favorite vacation spot Camp Green Dog. We have guests in town and wanted to be free to hang out with them rather than be concerned with the pets. 

The Samfords and the Spotswoods

Our guests are dear friends Bob and Ashley Spotswood. They are not staying on the boat, but have done so in the past when they visited us in the Exumas and stayed on our previous boat Steel Magnolia. Following the habit of using nicknames for friends on the blog, they were referred to then as "Dahling Ashley" and "Bonefish Bob". We are glad to be able to spend a few days with them exploring Charleston. They are two of the people we dearly miss since we moved away from Birmingham.

One of the more interesting things about our location here is the steady parade of container and other cargo ships that pass us by. We are adjacent to the port facility used by what are called "RORO carriers", which means roll on/roll off car carriers. These massive ships come and go daily at all hours, both delivering foreign-built cars to the U.S. and picking up U.S.-made cars for delivery all over the world. Interestingly, we tend to think of foreign cars being imported to the U.S. But with Volvo, Mercedes, and BMW, among others, all having plants in SC, it is not unusual for these ships to be fully loaded both coming and going from the port of Charleston. Watching them pass close by keeps the size of our boat in perspective.

Division Belle at bottom left

Dogs and Boats, and a Distant Relative

I've always thought that dogs and boats don't mix well. This was reinforced back in the 1990's when I moved my boat up the west coast of Florida accompanied only by our young Lab "Moose". My trip plans constantly revolved around getting the dog out for his walks. It seemed annoying, much as I loved the dog. Then one evening I went out for dinner and left him alone on the boat for an hour or two. He found two large bags of potato chips on the counter and ripped them open, eating what he wanted. When I returned to the boat, it looked like it had snowed potato chips in the saloon. And of course the dog got ill later that night, causing other unspeakable problems. The next night when I went to dinner, Moose bit into a plastic gallon jug of bilge cleaner, a very strong soap that poured out and ruined the saloon rug.

But I am older and softer now, and I really can't love my dogs and my boat as much as I do, and somehow try to make them mutually exclusive. So we boarded the dogs while we got the boat from Beaufort to Charleston last Friday and Saturday and while we had friends Dwight and Jennifer Davies staying aboard Sunday night to celebrate my birthday. Then yesterday, the lovely Laura Lee picked them up. Last night was our first night with two dogs living with us on board.

I must say that it requires some planning, and consumes a lot of each day. But the dogs are remarkably adaptable. So far so good. The puppy, "Belle Watling", is actually somewhat easier to manage on the boat than at home because she can't wander out of sight around a big house getting into trouble, and she can't leave the property. The older dog, "Rhett Butler", is pretty cool most anywhere as long as he gets walks, water, and food. We are all adjusting. If they can handle living aboard in a marina, we will move to the next step to trying to travel with them on some trip where we have short hops. Just in case, we have a strip of astroturf available on the bow for times when we can't get the dogs ashore.

While walking the dogs this morning, we started chatting with the owner of the boat next to us in the marina. At some point I introduced myself, and he said "Wait, your name is John Samford?" I said yes and he replied "The friend on my boat helping me move it is also John Samford". As it turns out, it is a distant cousin from Albany, GA that I first met at Auburn in 1968 when we were assigned to ROTC platoons by alphabetical order. The two of us were standing next to one another and both answered the roll call when our name was called. The instructor thought the roll he had been given contained a mistake, and John and I briefly considered taking turns attending drill. I ran into John on occasion while at Auburn, and I understand he lived in Birmingham for some period in the 70's, but I don't think I was aware of that at the time. It was good to catch up. There aren't many of us in the world.

John Samford and John Samford