Where There's Smoke....
08 May 2011 | Fernandina Beach, FL
Mike
I left my slip just after sunrise and crossed the St Augustine Inlet and continued north. Just after I passed through Jacksonville, I noticed the skies darkening to the north and west. I had checked the weather and there was no mention of any rain or storms in the area.
As the time passed, I noticed that the color of the sky was not typical of an approaching storm. It was more of a gray-green color. I then started to hear talk about on the VHF radio. As it turned out, there was a rather large brush fire in the Okee Fenokee (SP?) Swamp and the wind was carrying the smoke south and east over the Atlantic. Who would have thought that a swamp could catch fire?!?
Anyway, as the day wore on, the smoke became thicker and really blocked out the sun. The color of everything seemed muted, like those old sepia-tone photographs from the civil war era. It was kind of eerie. By the time I reached Fernandina Beach, I could even smell a slight odor of smoke in the air.
I arrived at Fernandina Harbor Marina without incident and prepared to spend my last night in Florida for this trip.