And Back to the Chesapeake – Day 11

Today we were up early and off the mooring shortly after 7:00.  We headed over to the Marina office and fuel dock to take on fuel and get pumped out.  That took a little while but then we were off and running by 8:00.  When we got up this morning we put on the usual shorts, t-shirt, and sandals.  But…. as we were motoring up the ICW, the winds were whipping at a pretty good clip out of the north, so it had a little chill to it, and we were headed north generally, so the wind was pretty much in our face.  Within an hour I told Rick, I was going to change, it was pretty chilly.  So I ended up with long pants, socks, shoes and a sweatshirt.  Much better.  Shortly afterward he did the same.  I think the days of shorts and sandals is pretty much over, the farther north we go.  We are not in the tropic zone any longer.  A rude awakening it is for sure.  The wind was blowing hard all day, and the we fought the current all the way Jacksonville.  There were times we were clocking 1300 RPMs and barely making 6.5 knots.  Once the tide changed, we were making 11.5 knots and only clocking 1100 RPMs.  Quite a tide here, 6 ft. tide changes. We will probably have that all the way through Georgia, big tides and powerful currents.  We motored on and reached the Jacksonville free dock, one of the choices for stopping about 12:30, so we continued on, shooting for an anchorage called Piney Island, just south of Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. We got there about 3:00 and decided to anchor and call it a day, after yesterday, neither one of us wanted another marathon.  We got anchored easily with the wind and decided it was bloody Mary time.   We each had two, which was more than enough for me. 

Looking ahead, it is supposed to rain sometime tomorrow late in the morning, then a front will come through and the constant wind will blow just a little harder for a day or so.  I hope we can be in Brunswick tomorrow by lunchtime, get tied up and settle in for a couple days before the wind starts blowing too hard.  It seem the wind had been in our face for days, it’s getting a little tiresome. I have a pretty good windburn going.  Down here you see people in small fishing boats zipping by pretty fast wearing a face mask/scarf over their faces.  I’ve wondered what they were for.  I thought it might be to keep bugs from getting in their mouth or smacking them on the face, but now I think it is to prevent windburn.   If anyone knows why they wear them I would really like to know.  Well boys and girls,

Until tomorrow…..

P.S. Hi Tyler.