Made it to St. Augustine! An uneventful day motoring down the ICW. No aground incidents this year. Arrived in good time despite a late start. We got up early, before light and were ready to leave by 7:45, but no power to the engine. Nothing happened, dead battery! Frantic calls to Jim who, when located talked us through a diagnostic procedure. The final step was to push the reset button on the engine, the red button at the back he says. So there I am looking at a monstrous diesel engine, and the whole damn thing is red! Boaters paint their engines! Looks pretty, I agree, but just try finding the red button on the red engine. Luckily it was labelled "reset" for the mechanically challenged. Pushing it actually worked. Remember the red reset button.
Yesterday we motored out from St. Marys to Cumberland Island. Quite the place. A large barrier island just off St. Marys, now protected by the government as a national park. Used to be the playground of the rich and famous. We toured a mansion of a Carnegie child, hundreds of rooms with surprising technology, like rain showers, heated towel warmers, and walk in closets. Multiple boilers and coal burners in the dungeon/basement, even the first refridgerator, a monster with 5 separate cabinets. Quite the place, and the original Carnegie mansion, Dunguness, is just a burned out hulk. Must have been quite something in its day. Apparently, in the winter, it was the center of American social life.
The island itself is a natural paradise, full of windswept beaches and live oak forests, teeming with wildlife, including a few hundred wild horses. A very neat place. We got the special friends tour, from a friend of Roz who caretakes a place on the island. She creates jewelry from the shells on the beach in her spare time, my gift will be on my picture site at www.picasaweb.google.com when I get the pics uploaded.
Looking forward to exploring St.Augustine tomorrow.