We said farewell to Blackbeard after a fun few days with cruising friends Monday afternoon to go out on the high tide. Our next high tide was going to be 5:40 AM Tuesday and we didn't want to do Blackbeard Creek part way in the dark. We anchored out Monday night and headed into Brunswick Tuesday morning with Tide Hiker and Sea Pearl to take on some of the cheapest fuel on the
ICW at Ocean Petroleum. That night Joe and Julia treated September Song and Tide Hiker to some great cheeses and drinks at happy hour and then Joe's famous linguine and clam sauce for dinner. It's always a treat to go to Sea Pearl for a fun evening. Wednesday at first light September Song and Sea Pearl put the pointy ends South and headed to Fernandina Beach, our first stop in Florida, and Tide Hiker headed to Jekyll Harbor for some bike riding and exploring. We will meet up with Tide Hiker farther South. Fernandina is always a fun stop with the funky Palace Bar and some great restaurants. You never know when you are going to see cruising friends again, but as we were walking up the dock to go to town, Blue Heron was pulling into the fuel dock for fuel and said they were going to spend the night. We decided to meet later. Well, later we walked into the Palace, and there they were. If you want to find cruising friends that are in the same town, just look for the funkiest bar at happy hour and you will find them. All of you who follow our blog must think all we do is party. Well, when with cruising friends, it's always a party. After happy hour and meeting some other cruisers and locals, we had a fun meal at a really good Tapas restaurant. What a fun night!
Thursday at first light, Sea Pearl and September Song Headed for St. Augustine. We made it in in plenty of time before a cold front (keep them to yourselves, you Northerners) came through with wind and rain. Because it was raining we didn't make it to Scarlet
O'Hara's, one of our favorites, so we went to A1A for happy hour and then to our favorite Italian restaurant for the best Pizza in the South. The next morning September Song headed South and Sea Pearl decided to stay another day. At first light the current was ripping and the boat two slips over was bow in and had to back out into the current. Thank God there was a slip and dock between us, because he ended up going through his slip, taking out a piling and resting against the finger pier between us. On his second try (wish he would have waited for slack tide) he made it. I feared for our bow. We were bow into the current so it wasn't as hard for us to get out. Cast off the lines, full power, and make a sharp starboard turn. It's always a little scary when you see another boat have trouble, but we did OK.
From St. Augustine we headed to Cocoa Beach to meet up with our cruising buddies Doug and Tammy on Gypsies in the Palace. Gypsies have had to take some time off from cruising and go back to work for a while, but are still living on the boat. They both found really interesting jobs with way cool companies, Tammy is General Counsel and Doug is a CFO. Build up that cruising kitty so we can go cruising again together, Gypsies. I know it seems like a long time to get from Blackbeard Island to Cocoa, but we only travel at 8.5 knots.
Not long after we were tied up, we were off with Doug and Tammy taking us on a tour of Cocoa Beach, and, of course, hitting a few funky places along the way.
As I sit here blogging, Sea Pearl is about to dock. Be back in a minute, going to catch lines.
OK, Sea Pearl is in and it's time for happy hour and dinner
September Song (with our cruising buddies) out
Bob
Dozens of seagulls feeding on small fish September Song churns up. Don't you poop on our boat!
Blue Heron coming in for fuel and the night at Fernandina Beach.
