Goodbye Florida, Hello Georgia

 First and foremost, we are safe and our boat is safe.  We are truly blessed.

We have been on the move for four straight days and have the longest day yet in front of us tomorrow.  We will stop tomorrow night, Wednesday, March 19, for two nights and not move on Thursday as rain is predicted all day.

To back up a couple days, we last left you in St. Augustine, Florida, where we spent the night on a mooring ball in front of the historic fort.  

St. Patrick's Day was a rough day for us.  But all turned out well after a hard day and we are grateful.  We had planned for a short day, about 34 nautical miles, to a free dock in Jacksonville, Florida.  We departed late, at 9:30 am, with hopes of a short day and a free stay.  Less than one hour into our ride, we had very strong winds.  Sustained around 17mph and gusts over 30mph.  Our canvas couldn't take the exceedingly strong wind from the west.  Five panels of canvas on the port side (left side) had to be quickly removed so as not to be lost forever.  They were completely white with salt spray and nothing to do except carry them inside and lay them out on the bed to keep them from being damaged.  Challenge #1 of the day successfully navigated.

We arrived in Jacksonville at the free dock, around 2:00pm.  We had traveled 34 nautical miles.  Multiply it by 1.15 to get actual miles, so 39 "regular" miles.  Happily there was space on the free dock, but unhappily strong wind gusts and a strong current prevented us from a safe dockage.  During our attempt, we got caught by wind and current and collided with a parked vessel on the dock.  Full reverse of both diesel engines and full bow thruster was not enough to prevent the collision once the wind and current got ahold of us.  Lesson learned.  Very, very fortunately no damage to the other vessel and no broken fiberglass on Make Me Smile.  Thank goodness for rub rails!  Although we have two big white streaks down the starboard side, we have blue hull paint with us so at some point, we can self-repair.  

There was a less protected second free dock in the same park and we were able to tie there successfully.  We walked over with insurance information in hand to apologize to the vessel we connected with and to extended huge apologies.  They are fellow Loopers and were most gracious.  Again no damage sustained to their vessel even though in the moment it was very scary and sounded awful. Challenge #2 of the day successfully navigated.  On the same free dock were friends from Harbortown Marina on Merritt Island, Pat and Paul, so we were also able to say hello to them which was nice to see familiar, friendly faces on day three.   

"No overnight docking" in Jacksonville, FL

Pat & Paul's Boat at the very end of the free dock in Jacksonville, FL

Upon return to Make Me Smile and plans for a late lunch and an easy rest of the day, a local started hollering at us that the dock we were on was for the boat ramp and then we saw the sign "no overnight dockage".  So.......we untied at 3:30pm and continued north, in need of a new plan for the night.  After the canvas and the collision, Hilary's guts were in her throat and the heartrate was elevated the rest of the afternoon.  It took a lot to untie and figure out a new plan.  Our captain, Bert, never seems to be rattled and on the outside at least and is always cool as a cucumber.  By 6:30pm, we had traveled another 20 nautical miles to Fernandina Beach and caught a mooring ball.  The afternoon ride was on a falling tide, which was not our original plan for the day, and at one point we bumped bottom.  Unsettling.  No damage as the bottom was mud.  We just progressed very, very slowly.  Challenge #3 of the day successfully navigated.

Boat in a hoist at low tide.  Notice the water end and last starts at the edge of the pilings.  Folks base their boating around the tides.  We are learning.  The tide can be 7' - 9' where we are traveling.

Once on the mooring ball in Fernandina Beach, the work for the day wasn't done.  Bert had to change the oil in the Honda suitcase generator.  We were settled in with a generator running for electric lights and cell phone charging just at dark.  A nice sunset, steak dinner and long conversation with family closed out the day and the stress level came way down once settled safely for the night.

Time to change the oil in the generator so we can have lights and charge cell phones.

Sunset in Fernandina Beach on the Mooring Ball.  Peaceful and calming after such a big day.

Today, day four, was uneventful and we traveled 28 nautical miles over four hours and are safely tied up at Jekyll Island marina in Georgia.  No mooring ball, an actual tie, with power and water.  And we got off the boat and did a four mile run/skateboard ride late afternoon.  More details in our next post on Thursday.

Running/Biking trails are abundant on Jekyll Island.  Great to get off the boat for an hour today.

Our approach to Jekyll Island Marina.  Side tie on a wall.  Perfect!

Tomorrow we have about 75 miles, big day, and have a two night reservation at Kilkenny Marina.