March 14, 2013 Day 307

Jekyll Harbor Marina
Jekyll Island, GA
Total miles to date: 5122.4

We left our anchorage off Cumberland Island at 0820 in a choppy sea. It was cold – low 40’s but sunny and windy.  We were well aware of the wind versus the tide which gave us 2’-3’ waves in the Cumberland Sound. We soon passed near the Navy’s Kings Bay Submarine Base, home of six Ballistic Missile Subs.  One of their patrol boats followed us until we were in the channel headed to the ICW; then he turned around, confident that we were not a threat.

We were in even rougher water when we entered St. Andrews Sound with 4 ft. seas for 15 or 20 minutes.  We were feeling the effect of swells coming in from the inlet to the ocean.

We arrived at the Jekyll Harbor Marina at 12:15 and tied up on the long transient face dock.  The staff is very friendly here.  Once we got settled and had lunch they drove us to the historical district of the island.

One of the "cottages"

Jekyll Island Club Hotel

We began our tour at the history museum and watched a film depicting the history of the island.  We decided to take our own walking tour rather than the 1½ hour trolley tour. The historical area is also known as “Millionaires Village”.  In 1885, a group of wealthy northerners bought the island and built a 60 room clubhouse in 1888.  Individual mansions (called cottages), golf courses, tennis courts, and a marina soon followed.  The club declined after the Depression and was closed after WWII.  In 1947 the State of Georgia purchased the island, and has restored 29 of the 34 historic homes. The Club House is now a hotel and the guests still play croquet which we were able to watch.  We also toured some of the public areas of the beautiful hotel.

We then toured the Georgia Sea Turtle Center which cares for injured turtles.  The center has treated and released 96 Loggerhead turtles. They also have many exhibits about the life cycle of turtles.

Always a treasure to see

The marina staff picked us up and we went back to our boat. We had dinner on board and worked on travel plans for the next few days.

We will go to St. Simons Island tomorrow.

 

March 13, 2013 Day 306

At Anchor
Cumberland Island, GA
Total miles to date: 5094.0

We had a full day walking around Cumberland Island National Seashore.  Most of the 36,000 acre island is protected and will remain undeveloped.  We took the dinghy to the Sea Camp Ranger Station dock and hoped to be able to join the tour of people arriving by ferry from St. Marys.  However, the five hour overland tour was full, so we set off on foot. 

Live oaks line the trail

Crossing the dunes to the beach

Walking over the saltwater marsh

We walked across the island through the forested trail to the beach and then spent over an hour walking south on the beach. This was a “jeans and jacket” kind of day – mid 60’s, so walking on the beach was good.  We picked up several shells, mostly scallops and whelks.  When we got to the south end, we picked up the trail to go back to the river side of the island which included a raised walkway along the saltwater marsh.  We stopped about half way and had our picnic lunch.  We soon reached the destination for which the southern end of the island is famous, the ruins of Dungeness.  Dungeness was the majestic forty room mansion of Thomas (brother of Andrew) and Lucy Carnegie built in 1884.  Thomas died a few months afterwards and Lucy continued to live here with their nine children until she died in 1916. It was sadly destroyed in a fire in the 1950’s and stands in ruins today.  There are other mansions on the island that Lucy had built for her children.

We followed the river walk trail back to our starting point at the dock about four hours later!  We were so impressed with the peaceful nature of the island.  There are wild horses on the island (part of Lucy Carnegie’s will that her horses remain there, and to this day there are horses there.)  We saw the horses on the shore after we returned to our boat!  We talked to two others today who saw armadillos but we missed them.

The Ruins of Dungeness

Wild horses

A lovely ending to our day!

We took the dinghy for a short ride to the north end of the island and then returned to the boat, exhausted but happy for our adventure today.  We cooked out on the grill and spent a relaxing evening.

We will go to Jekyll Island tomorrow!

 

 

March 12, 2013 Day 305

At Anchor
Cumberland Island, GA
Total miles to date: 5094.0

Another milestone to celebrate - today marks ten months since we started the Loop.  We frequently have no idea what day it is, so to think we have been gone ten months is hard to believe.  We also added Georgia to our list of states of travel as we left Florida this afternoon.

We waited until 2:30 to leave the marina at Fernandina Beach. We have to be vigilant about watching the tide which is about six feet in this area.  We only had 10.7 miles to travel today so the late start was not a problem.  We had the current with us until we entered Cumberland Sound, and then we went from over 10 mph to 5.8 mph without changing the rpm! We did see a dolphin today before we left Florida waters!

We are anchored across from Cumberland Island, accessible only by boat.  Cumberland Island is the largest and most southern of Georgia’s barrier islands and extends over 17 miles.  Most visitors arrive by taking the Cumberland Ferry from St. Mary’s, Georgia.  

We will arrive by dinghy tomorrow and tour the island!  We will include a more complete description of the island’s history on the next blog. 

 

 

March 11, 2013 Day 304

Amelia Island Yacht Basin
Fernandina Beach, FL
Total miles to date: 5083.3

We had another great day – this time touring Fernandina Beach, the only city on Amelia Island. We took a taxi to the historic downtown area and spent a few hours walking down streets with beautiful homes built in the 1800’s and also visiting many of the small shops.  A 50 block area is on the National Register.  Centre Street is the main street of the shopping area, and some shops and restaurants are cleverly named: "Front and Centre", and “A Little Off Centre”.

Amelia Island has a rich and colorful history under eight flags including well known ones of France, Spain, England, Mexico, Confederate States of America, and the United States.  The town of Fernandina was established in 1811 and was named for King Ferdinand VII of Spain.

We had dinner at a seafood restaurant complete with Key Lime Pie for dessert. This is our last night in Florida and it only seemed appropriate!

Prescott House
Built in 1876



First Presbyterian Church, 1858
Oldest church building on the island

Meddaugh House
Built in 1850

Baker House - 17 rooms
Built in 1859

Tomorrow we will leave Florida after having been here for 4 months.  We have many fond memories here and will look forward to coming back next year.  Fernandina Beach will definitely be on the list!

We will go to Cumberland Island, Georgia tomorrow and anchor out for two days.  We received some wonderful news tonight.  Our daughter, Kari, will be visiting us in Hilton Head March 21-25!

 

March 10, 2013 Day 303

Amelia Island Yacht Basin
Fernandina Beach, FL
Total miles to date: 5083.3

After studying the current and tide, we left Jacksonville Landing at 12:45 and retraced our route up the St. Johns River to the ICW and then headed north up Sisters Creek.  We were happy to have the current with us! After we passed the industrial ports on the river, we were once again surrounded by marshland.  A sailboat was aground just off the channel and in spite of our effort to “wake” him, he was still stuck and would have to wait for the tide to change.

Sailboat aground just off the channel

We eventually reached the South Amelia River, which continuously twisted back and forth.  We could see the condos on the ocean front in the near distance.

The South Amelia River at low tide.
At high tide this would all be covered.

Even though it is Sunday, there are just a few boaters out today-mostly in small runabouts enjoying this sunny day.  We arrived at our marina at 5:10.  The dock master waited for us to arrive and helped us get us secured at the dock. He was also so kind to lend us a truck so we could go to Publix for provisioning.

We had dinner on board then went to Publix. On the way, we took a slight detour and drove to the historical district of Fernandina Beach.  It is a lovely town filled with shops and restaurants. We will go back tomorrow!

 

March 9, 2013 Day 302

Jacksonville Landing
Jacksonville, FL
Total miles to date: 5043.6

From Dr. Seuss “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”

“Today was good. Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one.”

Another fun day!  Jacksonville Landing is the place to be this weekend!  Early this morning we watched (from our boat) runners participating in the 36^th annual 15K Gate River Run as they ran across the bridge near us. This is the largest 15 K run in the United States with over 20,000 runners. 

At lunch time, we wandered over to the PHINS Gumbo Festival. (PHINS means Parrot Heads in Natural Settings.)  This was a cook-off competition with about 15 competitors. We bought our tickets and proceeded to taste the various samplings of gumbo. There were many versions of it, some with seafood and many without.  The booths were cleverly decorated and the band played Jimmy Buffet songs, of course.  There were hundreds of people there and we had a fun time.  We have not checked to see which booth won, but we did not vote for the same one! 

Bill spent time this afternoon charting our course for tomorrow and also researching anchorages in Georgia.  We had dinner on board.

We will leave here late tomorrow morning and go to a marina in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island.  That will be our last stop in Florida which is still hard to believe.

The 15K Gate River Run

Joyce voted for them!

Bikini Gumbo Booth



The Brew Crew Gumbo Booth

March 8, 2013 Day 301

Jacksonville Landing
Jacksonville, FL
Total miles to date: 5043.6

From Dr. Seuss “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”
“Today was good. Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one.”

What a great day we had! Being docked at Jacksonville Landing in the heart of the city on the riverfront offers many opportunities.  We walked through the Landing and had breakfast at the Village Cafe.  Then we toured the Jacksonville Maritime Museum, full of many ship models from all wars.

In the afternoon we took the Skyway (basically a small monorail) to the other side of the river, and then rode it back after we had walked around for a while. The Skyway ride is free and is a great way to get around!



The Skyway

Jacksonville Landing
Carried Away is docked on far left in photo

This evening was the highlight of our day (and one of the highlights of our trip). We went to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra Pops Series “Broadway’s Leading Men”.  The orchestra and four soloists were beyond expectations with their performances of selections from musicals Man of La Mancha, Oliver, West Side Story, The Music Man, Gypsy, Les Miserables, and Phantom of the Opera.  We were amazed by the incredible talent that we were so fortunate to have seen.  

We returned to the boat and grabbed Bill’s camera so we could take pictures of the colorful Jacksonville skyline on the water.  All in all – another fabulous day to remember.

Colorful fountain and lights across the river from our boat -
a lovely view each evening!

Colorful bridge - it really is blue - not just at night



Landing at night