Never did we dream that we would still be in Northern Florida, still fighting bad weather and freezing temperatures at this point. We escaped Charleston at 7AM on the 8th of January. After single digit weather, 6 inches of snow on the boat, rain and fog. The morning was still cold, roughly 30 degrees, but the forecast was to gradually warm during the day and the prospect was that we could sail some of the trip south to St. Mary's Inlet and Florida. In the past, St. Mary's meant time to break out the shorts and tee shirts, we like the anchorage, and have fond memories of last year there for Thanksgiving with a couple hundred other cruisers. The day was somewhat uneventful, cold but manageable and we motor sailed about half the day until the wind shifted southwest on our nose. Through the night was a bit different, it was a very dark, no moon and the sea and sky blended together like just a huge black void. There were no stars due to overcast conditions the only sparkle an occasional ripple on a wave and we rarely passed any lights on shore. The winds began to build late, and as forecast, we passed through a couple of squalls pushing the winds up to 20 plus knts, but with enough angle that we could turn off the engine and sailed a brisk 7-8 knts with no sound except the sea and the flag on the stern straight out like a piece of cardboard. It rained, but never heavy and as the squalls dissipated the sky began to open up to millions of stars, that stayed with us the rest of the night. As we passed the inlet to Savannah, GA it seemed like the sea was suddenly populated by dozens of tankers. At 2 AM, we found ourselves weaving through anchored tankers and cargo ships all awaiting their entrance to the shipping channel with only AIS, anchor and navigation lights to signal their positions.
With daylight approaching, it became evident that we were headed into a dense fog. It surrounded us about 8 miles out of the St Mary's Inlet Channel, and there was no indication that it was going to let up. With Diana at the helm, I watched through the fog, visible about 50 yards in front, both of us hoping this wasn't a day when the submarines left Kings Bay Naval Base out the same inlet. We crept along, eyes steady ahead and on AIS for any exiting traffic. After another hour we turned into the St. Mary's River, Georgia on our right, Florida on our left and followed our old track up the river to the harbor and safe anchorage.
St. Mary's is a lovely, quiet anchorage, the marshes on one side and a quaint small town on the other. We planned to stay only one day, but decided conditions were not good to go outside again so remained at anchor another day. It was surprising to see the damage hurricane Irma did to this little town. Their docks were nearly all destroyed, the only marina in town, Lang's, closed due to damage with uncertain rumors about possibly rebuilding.
Each day the fog was dense, not lifting until early afternoon which made progress difficult due to limited hours of daylight. On the third day, as the fog lifted in the harbor, we decided it was clear enough to move, take the ICW and continue south, as far as we could and anchor to proceed on the next day to St, Augustine. We got out to the river's mouth, at the ICW, and found the fog still so thick, and getting worse, that we could barely see in front of the boat. We turned around, went back to St. Mary's harbor and anchored again. The fourth day was forecast for dense fog, and we wondered if we would ever get out ! St. Augustine was 50 miles south, we planned to take the ICW there to see friends. I plotted out all the anchorages, and possible marinas because of the cold conditions and we agreed that as soon as the fog lifted the next morning we would leave, get as far as we could with daylight and keep moving trying to get to St. Augustine before the next front and freezing temperatures hit us again.
That fourth morning was a surprise, fog early but lifting quickly and only light fog still around at 9 AM. We brought up the anchor and set off, feeling we could make most of the 50 miles that day. The forecast was for rain, overcast and cold with another cold front through the next day, and still another deeper front in a couple more days. St. Augustine had limited slips available due to damages from Irma, and with temperatures forecast into the 20's we were considering other options. As we continued south, wet and cold, we pulled into Beach Marine in Jacksonville Beach for the night. Upon arrival, we decided to stay here a week, wait out the weather and once again enjoy the benefits of shore power in the marina....mainly heat ! So we are still here... another big cold front Wednesday night and the plans to move again on Saturday, sail outside south to Ft. Pierce. The location is good, everything we need is close by, restaurants on site, and the opportunity to see friends here rather than at St, Augustine. Meet new cruising friends in the Marina, and prepare our next leg. Welcome to Florida !