Well I’m here in St. Augustine and it’s freezing! What’s up with that? Leaving Fernandino Beach, wearing everything I own in the early hours, I got out of the South Amelia River and into Nassau Sound. After cutting across and into Sawpit Creek, I had the current and got through the bridge at the end of Sisters Creek with a call for an opening. Once through, Atlantic Marine Drydock on the St. Johns River had this awesome navy ship under construction. Talk about stealth! This thing was all kinds of angles, like James Bond stuff, and BIG. Huge dry dock there also as they build and service the cool navy ships. Across the St. Johns River through the swirling current as I made my way into Pablo Creek for a long day through the boredom of mile after mile of the straight cuts of upper Florida. I did change the chip in the GPS before I fell off edge of the earth. Some fast times towards the end and when I made the last turn out of the Tolomato River, the tide was ripping. I was hitting 9 knots when it suddenly was perpendicular to my course. Talk about sideways; finally I had to drive! The depth reads 10 feet, uh oh, just for a minute though. The autopilot drove all day for the most part with only a few degrees of change here and there and now the boat was all over the place. Against the tide towards the open Bridge of Kings, I called the operator to keep it open, and he was nice enough to do so. I pushed the engine to the stops. After making it through, the oil pressure was down and the temperature up, I slowed to idle and found a place to drop the hook. Poor motor; recovered though after giving it a shot (and me) upon anchoring in the mooring field. The engine took a quart, me not so much. As they say, sailing is hours and hours of boredom followed by moments of stark terror. Ah the wonders of the ICW. MM716.5
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