After leaving Saint Augustine we headed up North on the ICW.  We really did not plan to spending the whole day on the river.  14 hours later, at sunset, we found our self stuck in the middle of the channel again.  The chart reads one depth, the GPS reads another.  Yet the ICW has her own depth not charted.  We were able to get Beauty unstuck with out any help.

I was down making dinner and turned to see Bryce.  Bryce called Tow boat us to see if they knew how we should approach the area. The young man said we had to stay two boat lengths off the green buoy side of the shore.  I asked Bryce what size boat length is he talking about?  I only received a funny look. Well, the following photos tell how nice the day actually was.

We had to wait till 7:30 for the bridge to open leaving Saint Augustine.

 

 

Boats started coming out of the marina and mooring balls to make the opening at 7:30.

 

 

The bridge tender stood watching the boats pass by.  I said smile you’re on Candid camera.

 

 

It wasn’t long and we started seeing working tows & barges pass us by.  Looks like someone is getting a new sea wall.

 

 

The ICW leads us through some pretty areas.  It narrows down going under this bridge. I was really surprised to see there was not a no wake zone with homes so close to the channel. 

 

 

The funniest thing happened.  I looked behind us. I believe it was nearing 2 pm; not for sure. I said to Bryce, I think Mike & Candy are coming behind us. I didn’t center the camera very well. They were headed to Jacksonville to have their boat pulled out. They are headed back to Australia and will return sometime next March.  

 

 

It is so scary to hear a plain take off and watch them go over your boat.

 

 

Dredging near the ICW at  the inlet to Jacksonville. Appears a lot of ships come though this area. 

 

 

We found an area where it looks like they build mega boats.

 

 

This was a really congested area lots and lots of big boats. They are building a new fixed bridge.

 

 

 

 

As we passed under the bridge. I was engrossed in watching all the people launching their boats and pulling them out.  I didn’t see who was tied up on the sea wall.

 

 

Mike and Candy again I yelled over to see if they were ok. Everything was fine; they just decided to stay there. They would head into the marina to get their boat  pulled out in the morning.

 

 

We were shortly passed by with another Tow and barge.  Sun River City is the name of this Tow. I have to wonder how they maneuver the ICW without getting stuck! Most of the tows draw 10 feet of water.  We draft 5.5 feet and have bumped bottom twice!

 

 

Well, it’s getting late. The sun will be setting soon. We really need to find an anchorage.  Bryce went down a looked at Active Captain every were they suggested. The water depth didn’t match up.   We just kept heading north. We tried 4 or 5 places to anchor; nothing to be found.  So this is where we headed into Fernandina Florida. After taking to Tow boat US we followed his directions and made it into Fernandina. Bryce called the marina but they were not open. The tow Boat guy haled us on the VHF and told us to take a slip or mooring ball and just touch base with the marina tomorrow.  Bryce had his eye on a mooring ball. 

 

Not a sight you want to see when you are headed into the same area to grab a mooring!  This double master sunk underwater.

 

 

Well tomorrow is Friday the 13th we will not leave till Saturday no sense in pushing fate. Thanks for following us. I am a few days behind in posting but please bear with me.