We left from Fernandina Beach this morning at 0710 and headed south down the ICW... destination for the day planned as St. Augustine, FL.

It was windy and raining for the first couple of hours and we had current against us again. It was a great start for the day... NOT! The current did switch around in our favor just before Jacksonville and stayed with us till about an hour and a half out from St. Augustine when it turned back to on our nose.

We called St. Augustine Municipal Marina to reserve a mooring ball about noon and we were told they were full... no mooring balls and no marina slip space and asked if we wanted to go on a waiting list. So, the destination changed for the day to ????

We figured we would go until sunset and anchor... as we came to the first anchorage area it was packed with boats... a little too tight for us... we continued on and each anchorage area we came too was either already full or was a little dicey and not what we felt would be good for us.

We continued on and soon it was dark... next option was anchor by the Matanzas Fort or the next marina was Marineland Marina. We opted for the marina. Susan called them and they had one spot left... 50 feet on their floating dock.

We were securely docked at Marineland Marina at 1910. Our position for the night 29°40.148'N, 81°12.899'W . We traveled today for 12 hours covering 69.2 nautical miles averaging 5.8 knots.

Getting in so late at night or early in the morning we decided to take a break for a day here in Fernandina Beach. I had several cabinet design tasks to take care of and Susan wanted to do a few loads of laundry.... so, this is a great spot to catch up. Plus we both needed to rest from the 20 hours cruising from SC to FL.

We will depart in the morning most likely stopping in St. Augustine for the night. We have to be away by 0800 as an American Cruise Lines ship is docking where we are docked now.

We left Port Royal Landing at 0730 and continued south... however, the plans today were a little different in that we would be leaving the ICW and going offshore... final destination to be Fernandina Beach, FL eliminating the Georgia ICW and it's winding swamps and many shoaled areas.
We left the ICW via Port Royal Sound and had 116 miles and 19 plus hours to go.

We did not have a great start in that current was against us as we exited the sound and well out in to the Atlantic.... eventually we did get up to 6 knots and a few times we ran at high as 6.7 knots. We were approximately 15 miles offshore at the mid point of the trip but even this far out felt the effects of tidal currents at the various inlets we passed.

The sea conditions were awesome.... not flat calm but an easterly 2 foot swell with about a 12 second period... felt like gently swinging in a hammock... very comfortable ride.

Very little boat traffic... a shrimp boat as we exited Port Royal Sound... a ship off Savannah, GA and a couple of other fishing trawlers along the way. We could hear a lot of boats we had been traveling with on the VHF... all of which had taken the ICW through Georgia.

It had been cloudy all day and I expected the trip to be a very dark one but was surprised to have the clouds disappear and the moon illuminate the water to the point we could of turned off the radar. But, all good things come to an end and near Brunswick, GA the clear skies turned to FOG... pea soup thick FOG. We could see to about 100 feet past the bow of SAILS.

The fog remained with us for the rest of trip offshore and through St. Mary's Inlet into Fernandina. When we reached the ICW again we left the fog behind us and has clear skies the last 30 minutes to the marina.

We were securely docked at Fernandina Harbor Marina at 0330. Our position for the night 30°40'13.9"N 81°27'59.2"W . We traveled today for 20 hours covering 116 nautical miles averaging 5.8 knots.