We arrived Fernandina mid-day after the 24hr offshore transit from Charleston. We're getting tired of these offshore passages, especially when they are cold, but a 24hr trip is lots better than 4-5 days winding through the Georgia grasslands with numerous shallow spots and 8ft tides to deal with, and with 40deg weather.
We anchored right off the marina, which is normally a mooring field, but all the mooring balls have been ripped out of this area by storms. Eventually, Fernandina has great plans to renovate the mooring field and the marina.
Welcome to Florida. The good news is it's not snowing or freezing (that comes later). The bad news is that it is still in the 40s and windy, which is cold on the water. We're bundled up for a daily walk to get fresh produce, coffee and a beer.
The other bad news we encountered is that Fernandina Marina no longer lets you use their showers and laundry if you are anchored - and still charges you a $10 dinghy landing fee. Everything is getting more expensive. Fortunately, one of the dock hands that loved our dog told us to find him in the afternoon and he let us into the shower. A hot shower was great after our 24hr cold trip offshore.
Even more bad news, our favorite brewery in Fernandina, the Amelia Island Brewery, with its great stout beer, has closed. But that was only one of 3 breweries in the city so we walked the extra half mile to First Love brewery and had their stout, while sitting in the sun with our winter coats on.
Being at anchor, there is no heat on the boat so its a great idea to do some baking that helps heat up the inside a little. Sue made these sour dough biscuits which were delicious, especially when nice and warm just out of the oven.
No matter where you are, sunsets are pretty.
Despite finally being in Florida, the forecast for the weekend was for 31degrees and the possibility of snow.
We decided we needed to be plugged into shore power with heat for 30deg weather. Since we had never been to St Mary's and heard good things about it, we decided to drive up the river an hour and spend a couple days there, plugged in!
Well it didn't snow here (it did in other parts of Florida) but the frost was deep on the docks.
The St Mary's Marina was great with good services, hot showers (not unlimited hot water though) and free laundry. Yes the machines were very slow and it took 2 days to complete our laundry but we're not complaining given the price.
The town had numerous restaurants that all had good reviews. No fast food joints in town - all of them are out by I-95.
Saturday morning was a washout with hard rain all morning (but no snow) then, it cleared up (warm and rainy or cold and clear are the choices here), so that afternoon we took a 7 mile hike out to get coffee and produce at Aldi's, then stopped at the one brewery in St Mary's, the Brackish Brewery. The selection was very limited - the owner said "we are not a micro-brewery, we are a nano-brewery." They had just run out of stout so we had to settle for a jalapeno ale, which turned out to be quite good - and hot. Interesting glasses they have there.
Sunday was clear and cold. We made the 7 mile walk for coffee (there are closer places but the goal is the walk, not the coffee), then we relaxed on the boat with the heat on while getting our laundry done at the marina office.
Monday morning, cold and clear again, it was time to push off for further south. We are in no hurry this year so we had breakfast at a local cafe first, was great, and departed at 10am.
On the horizon in the photo is Fernandina with its paper mill and wood processing plant which smell up the town.
Given the significantly lower cost of living at St Mary's, that would be my choice of where to live down here.
Heading for St Augustine, which we won't make today, we have to cross the St John's River outside of Jacksonville. Watched this car carrier pass right in front of us as we made the crossing of the river.
Tuesday morning and arriving at Lion's Bridge in St Augustine on another clear and cold and windy day. The wind is blowing from the north at 20-25kts and the current is flowing from the south and Sue is worrying about catching the mooring ball.
Turns out she got it right off on the first reach and had it tied off in no time. Feeling pretty proud. She did a great job. We are here for a week hoping the temps will warm up. It is supposed to be in the 60s for the next week.
