"2000, December 06-07 Florida at Last" Top 5 Page for this destination Fernandina Beach Travelogue by grandmaR

Coming in the St. Mary's inlet is a piece of cake. There are ranges to use and the water is deep and has a lot of buoys. The only problem is a multitude of shrimp boats all of which appear to be heading toward us. I start calling the Tiger Point Marina, but they don't answer. I try the cell phone and it won't even call. I try the bag phone and it rings and rings with no answer - even the emergency number. I try the radio and again no answer. Eventually, someone whom I apparently talked to last night and told that we were going outside comes up on the radio and advises me that Tiger Point is chock full and have stopped answering the phone, and tells me a couple other marinas to try. So I call on the bag phone to Fernandia Harbor Marina. He says that they don't take reservations, but that he's sure they can accommodate me. As we came in I took a picture of a submarine coming out of their base at King's Bay GA.

Ft. Clinch, Amelia Island

As we are going into the inlet we pass an ocean going tug and the Casino Ship STARDANCER coming out. Also a little sailboat which is trying to sail. I took a picture of Ft Clinch. I've never gotten to Ft. Clinch because it is too far away from the marina, and I have never felt like taking a taxi. In the beginning I was calling it Ft. Clink, like the German guy in Hogan's Heros.

RosalieAnn at the dock

We pass down the river past a paper mill and some cranes, and we see the anchorage across from the marina where among other boats COSMOS is anchored. I call on the radio, and they put us on the west side of dock #2. We have a hard time getting into that dock because we are port side to the dock and the boat won't back over that way. But we get tied up by 2:15 after 36.4 miles at 6.8 mph for a total of 780 nm. We go up and register, and then walk into down for lunch. Most places close at 2:30 or before.

Pelican on marina roof

We finally go to 27 North, a coffeehouse, and get sandwiches just before they close at 3. Then Bob walks to the hardware store to get (among other things) glue to fix his favorite sunglasses. I go back to the boat to write e-mail.

Fernandina Harbor is a municipal marina. They have a dinghy dock. I see someone walk up to the boat through the port while I am listening to Herb on SSB. I go out and it is Charlie and Sunny from COSMOS. (We first saw COSMOS in the Cape Fear River.) We have a long conversation. They've been biking around the island. They leave about the time Bob is coming back because they have to take the bikes apart to put into the dinghy to take back to the boat. They introduce themselves to Bob as he's coming down the dock.

Cranes with Christmas Lights

Bob has bought Santa Claus hats. He's thinking about getting a plastic reindeer to decorate the staysail boom on the foredeck. Everyone has decorated for Xmas. After dark, we see that even the big cranes at the paper mills down the river have Xmas lights. At this point, my computer froze, so I went up to get e-mail before they closed at 6.

Sunset at Fernandina

There was an incredibly intense red sunset, so I had to take a picture of that first.

After I did email, I put the computer back on the boat and then we walked up to the Crab Trap for dinner. We walked back to the boat and bought peanut brittle and ice cream cones at the candy store.

Shrimp boat at the dock

We decided to anchor off St. George island tomorrow and then go into St. Augustine the next night. SInce it is only 20 miles we think that we can use the marina showers tomorrow and I can send e-mail before we leave.We discussed going back outside, but the distance from the St. Mary's River to the St. John's River is too short for overnight and too long for a single day. Bob did laundry and took a shower. I download e-mail and get a shower.

Looking through our radar arch

While downloading e-mail, I hear about an accident that happened in the anchorage here last week - a tug hit and sank a sailboat that was anchored either in or very close to the channel (a no no). I don't think that the boat had an anchor light either because they were having electrical problems. One of the guys on board got out with no injuries. The other was killed. The tug was fined for not having a lookout.

Next: Fort George River