MIDORI ADVENTURES

This is coming to you from Brunswick, Georgia Statute Mile 680

Last Friday we traveled 35.8 miles from Manatee Pocket to Vero Beach. This portion of the ICW is in the southern part of the Indian River. It was hot and humid and thunderstorms were threatening, so we parked at the dock rather than take a mooring ball.
We took the free bus to the Library and Publix and upon our return contacted Val & Harold on LA BUENA VIDA, friends from Boot Key Harbor who are making their way north, but are waiting for some engine parts. They invited us to join them for dinner at a local restaurant. The rain struck when we were supposed to depart, but we waited it out for about half an hour and it stopped. Val and Harold picked us up in their dinghy as we had not launched ours. Needless to say, we had wet bottoms when we got to the restaurant, except for those who had worn proper rain pants. At dinner we were joined by Carla & Rick of EUPHORIA and Jeff from MOONSTRUCK. We had a great dinner.
On Saturday, Carla and Rick ,who had rented a car for the weekend, gave us a ride to the Verizon Phone Centre where we bought a broadband access card. Most cruisers have been using this for access to internet and it seems to work very well. (It simply slips into a port on the laptop.) We will no longer have to rely on free wifi signal. We also bought a SKYPE phone that works on internet, but have not quite got it figured out yet.
It would have been nice to stay longer in Vero Beach, but our boat insurance policy requires us to be North of Cape Hatteras (North Carolina) by June 1st and although we know we are not going to meet that deadline, we wanted to get as far North as possible as quickly as possible.

On Sunday, May 25th we departed Vero Beach and traveled 58 miles to the Canaveral Barge Canal and stayed at the Harbortown Canaveral Marina. Too bad we were a week too early for the launch.

On Monday, May 26th (Memorial Day holiday), we traveled 50 miles to New Smyrna Beach. We encountered lots of holiday boat traffic in Mosquito Lagoon, but just like the long May weekend in Canada, people were out enjoying the beach and their boats and fishing and swimming and other water sports!

On Tuesday, May 27th we traveled 42.8 miles to Palm Coast which is just past Daytona Beach. This route took us through the North Indian River, the Halifax River, Tomoka Basin, Halifax Creek and Fox Cut. As we were nearing the Daytona Seabreeze Bridge, we saw someone waving at us from the anchorage - it was Jeff on MOONSTRUCK!

We have been motor sailing a lot more on this return journey. The headsail is self-tacking and goes up and comes down very easily, and it gives a boost to our speed. We were in the Halifax River in the Daytona area and decided to put up the mainsail too, and as I attempted to head the boat up into the wind, we ran aground! We called Tow Boat US, but got no response. With the sails up we were still catching some wind and with the motors still running, we were able to back out of the mud. We were able to carry on with both sails up, both motors and doing 8 mph! Brian noticed afterwards that the VHF was not transmitting properly.

On Wednesday, May 28th we traveled 55.3 miles to Palm Cove Marina , Jacksonville. We had to get up early to make the opening of the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine at 11:00 a.m. So as not to be disappointed, we estimate our speed at 5.0 m.p.h. In this case - with the motors, both sails up and a push from the current, we had speeds in excess of 8 mph. We made it to the bridge almost two hours ahead of time, so we had to anchor for awhile. As we were departing the anchorage, we briefly went aground again, but Brian managed to get us out quickly. Lots of dolphin sightings on the Matanzas River.

On Thursday, May 29th we planned on having a short day and travel to Fernandina Beach (30.9 miles). We departed at 9:00 a.m. after breakfast at the marina caf�. We were in Pablo Creek, crossed the St. John's River into Sister's Creek, crossed Nassau Sound into the south Amelia River and then into Kingsley Creek to Fernandina Beach. Without planning - just dumb luck really - we were traveling on an ebb tide and getting a push all the way. Our average speed was in excess of 7 mph, sometimes 8 mph - with motors and the headsail up. When we got to Fernandina Beach at 1:00 p.m., we decided to carry on as far as we could. The route took us across St. Mary's Inlet and we were in Georgia! We carried on across Cumberland Sound, into Cumberland Dividings, the Cumberland River, St. Andrew Sound, Jekyll Creek and the Brunswick River. At Jekyll Creek our speed decreased to under 5 mph. The tidal current was against us now. We made it into Brunswick Landing Marina at 8:00 p.m.

It was a long day, very hot and humid, but we saw lots of dolphins, pelicans skimming over the water, a couple of stingrays, and the darned horse flies drove us crazy! We are delighted to have made it to Brunswick, but we missed friends Margaret and Phil from SUNSHINE by only one day. We touched base with Skip from ISOLDE II this morning.

We will stay here for the weekend while we await word from our insurance company. If we can get approval for a decent rate, we will leave MIDORI here, instead of going all the way back to Virginia. Apparently, Georgia has not had a hurricane in over 100 years.
Otherwise, with Brunswick being at mile 680 - at an average speed of 5 mph, it could take us up to 14 days to get to Norfolk!

Stay tuned.....................

Lynn