ICW crossing Matanzas Inlet at low tide with lots of current.

Our trip on Tuesday illustrated the benefits of keeping the bottom of the boat clean: we were a knot faster overall all day. The trip (51.2 nm) went pretty smoothly until we got to the Matanzas Inlet. This short stretch of the ICW is tricky with lots of shoaling due to strong tides. You look at the markers and it seems like you're going to run into the shore, but they are accurate. It's still not easy. Ralph made the first attempt and got almost all the way through before bumping the bottom. He got us off pretty easily but the current turned us around going back the way we came. We went back to the deeper water and idled around until some other boats went through, then Beverly followed them and vigilantly watched the depth finder to get us through successfully. We still arrived at the St. Augustine mooring field around 5 pm.

Yesterday was rainy all day so we didn't get anything done. We just relaxed and read. Today dawned sunny, breezy, and cool so we went to shore and met with our friends Dot and John. They took us to run errands and then out to dinner at Columbia restaurant (which we highly recommend).