weather

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Close Encounters

Broken record time again. Have you wondered how much longer we can say that and others will understand? “Repeat” just doesn’t cut it. So, another cold front is due while we’re in St Augustine; winds over 20kts, clocking around, rain, blah, blah, blah.  As I may have mentioned last fall, the St Augustine is not a “class A” all weather inlet. Even though it was dredged summer 2012, the buoys used to mark the channel are so small you need a damn good spyglass to find them buried in the 3-story high waves that routinely reside there- well ok not that bad- but almost. Many a boat has not only been grounded, but wrecked attempting to use this inlet in less than good conditions. On Friday, a large well-lit sign (if one existed) would have read, “DO NOT USE.”  No worry we’d ever use it again except in mirror glass conditions!

Saturday, and this will lead into a big pet peeve of mine- maybe it bugs others too- we planned a very short day. Our next stop was just across the GA border at the southern end of Cumberland Island by the Dungeness ruins.  Dungeness is pronounced with a slight accent on the “ness”, not the “Dun”.  This trip was a bit too long for one day so we split it in two with the short day first in an attempt to travel longer with favorable currents. That morning the Coast Guard makes one of their mumbled announcements and we catch a few words, “Sister’s Creek, closed to traffic, 3pm.” Uh?  Another befuddled cruiser calls the CG for clarification and we learn that thanks to some “round up” event, the ICW will in fact be closed to boat traffic until 3pm Saturday. Well, thank goodness we’d planned a two-hour day and wouldn’t be going that far.  Then, when we finally hear the announcement in full, the time is given as “from 5pm to 3pm.” Idiots- we know they mean 5am! If English was not our first language those announcements would surely be completely Greek!

The ICW through St Augustine takes you uncomfortably close to the inlet and the spit of beach that sits at the head on the north side. As we approached, this is the site we couldn’t help but stare at. What the? Mr. Curious got the “rest of the story” later.

On the plus side, sand is kinder to a boat than rocks

On the plus side, sand is kinder to a boat than rocks

Seems like the boat with just the captain and his dog aboard, was traveling (not sure north or south, but I’m thinking north) in his 30’ sailboat that only had an outboard engine at the stern. This means that if a wave lifts the stern out, the outboard doesn’t work well. Props like to remain IN the water. He diverted to St Augustine at midnight (Wed/Thurs) due to the approaching front.  A pitch-dark approach may have been a worse choice than continuing to St John’s River 30miles north. The channel, just to make things more exciting, has a dog leg approach close to shore. What are the chances this boat could safely navigate in? He almost made it. As the boat hit bottom and bounced, the beach welcomed it with open arms. Sure hope he got dug out.

For several days we’d been in touch with Indigo. They were in crossing and zooming mode starting Easter Sunday. Shared itineraries, but my words were, “..think we are fated to only meet up once per season.” Saturday’s anchorage was Pine Island with a wide and not too deep creek just off the ICW. By dark four boats called it home. Sunday, we overslept a bit and when I did my usual iPhone checking of emails and weather, the cell signal was too weak so I gave up. Cereal in bowls, milk about to be poured. Russ points out a catamaran heading north. “They must have left early”, I comment, figuring most boats leave from St Augustine. Then, picking up that trusty spyglass, Russ says, “looks like a Chris White… oh wait, it’s Indigo!” Sure enough, those speed demons did 100 miles Saturday, arriving at St Augustine in time to go into town. Glenn had emailed earlier, asking if we were at Pine Island, but I hadn’t gotten it yet, so instead we had a pleasant surprise and kicked fate in the butt. By 10:30 they’d arrived at their destination marina near Jacksonville; flying home that afternoon. Sure, leave us to enjoy the skinny water south of Fernandina.

Indigo drops by to say hello. Until next season then.

Indigo drops by to say hello. Until next season then.

Unlike m/v BIG Wave, we managed to not go aground in the stretch between St John’s River and Fernandina. Unlike m/v BIG Wave, we use ActiveCaptain. We shouldn’t be so smug though. For our trip on Sunday, Russ figured out the tides and currents, which isn’t easy due to the three sizable inlets that would affect us. Since we’re not usually in a rush, we run on one engine to save fuel. Using number two  adds 1 knot of speed at most, so when possible we like to have a favorable current helping us along, but not too much. A stretch south of where the ICW crosses the St John’s River is notorious for very strong current at “maximum”. Kinda like NYC’s Hell Gate, except under a bridge with a very narrow span with a river bend that keeps you from seeing if another boat is approaching. Amounts to choosing the lesser of two weevils (yes, I used that word intentionally); the crappy stretch from Fernandina to St Augustine via the ICW or the offshore run where the St Mary’s inlet at Fernandina is great and St Augustine can suck. We are 3 times inside and 3 times outside.

The trip provided photo-worthy scenery like this osprey with fish

The trip provided photo-worthy scenery like this osprey with fish

So back to the tides and currents: A+ on the currents and D- on having us transit a much shoaled-in stretch at low tide. Mucho thanks to ActiveCaptain and the hazard markers that warned us and told us how to proceed; to the vessels ahead of us; and to our minimal 3ft draft. With a tidal range of 6-7ft from roughly the St John’s River through much of South Carolina, the absence of deep draft boats is as noticeable as is the presence of comments such as, “gee how’d you like that Amelia River stretch?”  In all fairness to the captain, we really didn’t have much choice in where we were and when that day and s/v Cat Ching (get it?) zoomed along fine using his path from last fall. Cheater 🙂

4:30 found us anchored in GA off Cumberland Island, ready for a perfect weather day Monday where we’d finally explore the Dungeness ruins and trails.

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Weather Weirdness

Not our imagination, not simply whining because paradise is less than ideal, just the fact that this season was filled with more wind than last. What surprised us was learning that the months of December and March are historically windier months than Jan and Feb in the Abacos; so what months found us there? Yep- Dec and March. No wonder boats flock in toward late spring.

Cold fronts seemed more plentiful and double fronts kept us on our toes. While in George Town we saw our first (distant) water-spout in its early formation stage. Thankfully it did not mature into a true spout.

A spout begins to form out of the clouds- never finishes thankfully

A spout begins to form out of the clouds- never finishes though

Just because we scooted out of the Abacos early didn’t mean we’d escape some of the frontal systems that were headed south. Sat and Sun 3/23 and 3/24 were extremely hot days with highs in the upper 80s.  A massive rain and T-storm system covered the area from northern Florida (St Augustine) into North Carolina, undoubtedly dumping several inches of rain in a day-long deluge. Glad we missed that one. Our turn came Sunday with a small system, once again sent over from the Gulf Coast.

Sunday felt akin to being in a blast furnace as the wind blew 12-25kts all day with gusts 25-38kts. The temp held high at 86 during the afternoon. For once I was glad to have all that wind. We watched the rain blob inch closer (on the chartplotter), the wind speed increasing as it approached. Always looking for a photo opp, I noticed what I described as “billowing smoke clouds to the south. They were huge and lasted until the deluge began when I turned my attention to the lightning show. The next day we saw in the local paper that those clouds were real smoke from a 200 acre fire about 20 miles south. Ouch, not even yet 100% under control. Shows just how dry things are. Even Weather Underground displayed a warning.

Smoke clouds had me fooled; unfortunately they were real

Smoke clouds had me fooled; unfortunately they were real

Right after the one 38kt gust we looked around and saw a boat off its mooring, albeit under command. The boat slowly circled around the basin area during the rain storm, finally taking another mooring. To entertain ourselves we played detective. With lines hanging off her bow and the mooring pennant line still attached to the mooring ring, the vessel’s captain appeared to have made a slight mistake- as in tying a knot to form a loop in the pennant (these have no thimble, just a long line you cleat) through which lines were run to and from cleats at the bow. The marina received a call saying the pennant had broken and the boat moved to a different mooring. Captain did not make a big deal of it and said they’d be leaving in the morning anyway.

Rainbow after the storm

Rainbow after the storm

Monday morning we checked that pennant and no surprise; it was perfectly fine.  Good thing, as the marina put another boat on it before bothering to take a look. Most mooring pennants have a thimble, but if they don’t you are taking a big risk to tie a loop in it. Better to tie the bitter end around a bow cleat, then use your own line to run through the ring, attaching both ends to a bow cleat on the other side. This way you are attached to the mooring with two lines. Have to admit we didn’t feel all that bad for them; a lesson learned and not the disaster it could have been.

The relative humidity had dropped considerably. After my long, luxurious marina shower I used the hair dryer just to get my hair from wet to damp and when I combed it pieces of hair behaved as if this was the dead, dry of winter. Actually took me a second to recognize what I was experiencing as dry air is not typical wherever we are.

By Tuesday, the temp had dropped- plummeted is more like it- to 56; a drop of 30 degrees since Sunday. Yeah, thanks “up north” for giving us a taste of winter in spring!  None of this funky weather bothered the manatees and dolphins who continued their daily wanderings and feedings through the basin.  Too bad the water is so murky. Even from the dinghy in good sunlight we could just barely see the shape of a large mama manatee as she enjoyed a swim with her calf.