Our 190 mile run down the Florida coast from Georgia went smoothly, except for a forecasted Nor’easter.  A Nor’easter in Florida? They usually form in Georgia or South Carolina before roaring to the northeast – we experienced many living up in Connecticut.  This one formed more to the south & looked as though it would slam us in St. Augustine, with winds of 20 – 30 knots, gusting to 50.  This sadly shorted our planned 3 day stay to just one.

During our single day in St. Augustine, we still made it to our favorite restaurant, The Floridian. Not only is their food very tasty, their craft cocktails are outstanding!

These egrets kept this up for an hour – one would march down the dock forcing the other to fly off – repeat.  So much for catching any fish.

Meanwhile on the next dock over, this cute little rattlesnake floated in on a mat of reeds. The marina folks caught it in a net & brought it over to Florida Fish & Wildlife.

We got out of town just in time.  From prior experience we’ve learned that neither the St. Augustine Municipal Marina nor it’s large mooring field is the place to be in stormy weather – especially with northeast winds (the ocean inlet is only a mile away to the north).  This sailboat is one of several which broke free during the storm & was swept under the bridge with 3 people aboard.  Fortunately fire-rescue crews quickly rescued the people & were able to keep their sailboat from sinking.  Remarkably there were no injuries.

During all of this, we were safety tucked in about 15 miles further south at Marineland – a much more protected marina.  While we experienced nearly the same winds, we had no issues other than the tide pushing the water to 2′ over normal.  The normally gently sloping ramp down to the dock became a mid-air climb.

Once the winds died down a bit, we continued on.  We considered delaying our travels to anchor near Cape Canaveral to view a SpaceX launch, but that would have cost us another 2 days.  We’ve seen a few launches while in Florida, but never “up close” – maybe next time!

Landside view

Waterside view as we were leaving – quite the ship!

While still in Brunswick, as a large blue ship & over 40 trucks arrived, we learned a Marvel movie was being filmed.  For the next few nights, a portion of the upcoming “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is being filmed here.  The centerpiece appears to be 327′ offshore support vessel named “Harvey Sub-Sea”.  It is a nearly new ship built as a “swiss army knife” of support ships – it has several types of very heavy duty cranes, a 24′ x 24′ moon pool, a huge helicopter pad, can lay underwater cables & lots of features perfect for any action movie!

Brunswick had even more going on than just the Golden Ray salvage operation & the Marvel movie being filmed.  Within sight of the marina is the courthouse where the Ahmaud Arbury murder trial has begun with scores of demonstrators & dozens of media satellite trucks.

THIS is a “leisure trail” – Us bucks agree!

Our next stop at Jekyll Island is one of our favorites & a calming break.  Compared to Hilton Head, much quieter, much better scenery, no leaf blowers & no security to chase me down!  Seriously, the trails thru Jekyll Island are remarkable, mostly away from any roads, crossing thru maritime forests, hammocks & all types of habitats, until they glide along the most magnificent sandy ocean beach.

Jekyll Island, like most islands, has a fascinating history.  People have been visiting for over 3,500 years.  At first, Native Americans seasonally visited the island to hunt, fish & gather shellfish.  More recently from the 1880’s thru to post-WWII, Jekyll Island Club was built on the north end of the island for the wealthy elite.  After the war, the resort had begun it’s decline physically & the wealthy moved on.  Fortunately, the State of Georgia purchased the island in 1947.  Unfortunately, maintaining the island became too much for the State.  Fortunately in 1950, the idea of a quasi-public/private partnership was developed forming the Jekyll Island Authority, which manages the island persevering most of the island, while still allowing somewhat limited development – the best of both worlds.

In a few days, we’ll be crossing the Georgia Florida line & onward to Vero Beach for a month or so, with a likely Bahamas crossing on our mind.