Departing Fernandina Bch for St. Augustine

We’ve been in Fernandina Beach on a mooring ball the last 3 nights enjoying this lovely little town. We had dinner at Peppers our favorite Tex Mex restaurant on the ICW and lunch at The Salty Pelican. It’s not crowded here with plenty of mooring balls available. So naturally I thought St. Augustine our next stop would be the same, but just for grins I called St. Augustine yesterday to reserve a mooring ball and to my surprise found they had only one ball left which I quickly reserved.

We’ll be leaving today at 10:00 for the 61 sm leg to St. Augustine. There is a shoal area just south of Fernandina Beach which has caused a lot of groundings. High tide here is at 13:30 so we’ll be passing by at not quite mid tide but rising. Sunset is at 17:23 so we need to leave at 10:00.

Anyone who has used Active Captain for hazard info on the East Coast knows that Capt. Bob423 from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. is probably the most respected contributor of hazard info. He has published 8 way pts through this ½ mile shoal area that keeps to the deepest water. Those WP’s have been verified by others. I’ve got them in the plotter so wish me luck.

Enjoying the fireworks and Happy New Year from Fernandina Beach

Happy New Year to you too, Tim. Fernandina was always one of our favorite stops, even though we never ate out there that I can remember. We plan to rent a condo or townhouse on the beach there next summer. We always anchored on the Bell River, quieter and less passing traffic than the mooring field. You'll enjoy St. Augustine if you're not familiar with it already, otherwise you can get some tips here.

Thanks George. We spent 4 nights at St. Augustine last year so have a pretty good handle of whats up. We plan on 3 nights this time.

We didn't make St Augustine yesterday. Our insurance is only good to Jacksonville and I forgot to contact the carrier and get FL coverage. They were closed yesterday when I called them. So we stopped at the free Jacksonville docks on the ICW just north of the St. Johns River. Will call them this morning and get coverage before preceeding to St Augustine. A stupid mistake on my part, but the free docks are pretty nice. Floating concrete docks in good shape. Plenty of room for us and the 2 other sailboats.

timjet said:

Thanks George. We spent 4 nights at St. Augustine last year so have a pretty good handle of whats up. We plan on 3 nights this time.

We didn't make St Augustine yesterday. Our insurance is only good to Jacksonville and I forgot to contact the carrier and get FL coverage. They were closed yesterday when I called them. So we stopped at the free Jacksonville docks on the ICW just north of the St. Johns River. Will call them this morning and get coverage before preceeding to St Augustine. A stupid mistake on my part, but the free docks are pretty nice. Floating concrete docks in good shape. Plenty of room for us and the 2 other sailboats.

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Did you get a visitor (greeter) from the free dock area?

There used to be a guy who either lived aboard or on the hard across the ICW that would come over and see if you needed anything or the lay of the land. Pretty sure his name was Browne Pitman. I have a pohne number if you get stuck there for a bit.

Good luck with the shoaling....I like the alert notes to keep me keen....but I rarely find the spots as bad as some report....have to wonder.

Yes he greeted us shortly after our arrival. Nice guy, offered to take us to the grocery store or where ever. We didn't need anything.

You're right about the hazzards on Active Capt. Going aground outside the channel is not sufficient reason to post a hazzard, as some seem to do frequently. I don't pay as much attention to the hazzard as I use to prefering to get the real hazzard info from Cruisers.net.

Currently in St. Augustine enjoying the rainy weather. By the way I was mis informed, plenty of mooring balls available here. The city is pretty crowded with tourists though. Holliday weekend.

Take a cab down to the Alligator Farm. Great place. You can walk across to the lighthouse and then walk back to the marina.

You passed about 800 yards in front of my house yesterday on your way to St Agustine.

menzies said:

Take a cab down to the Alligator Farm. Great place. You can walk across to the lighthouse and then walk back to the marina.

You passed about 800 yards in front of my house yesterday on your way to St Agustine.

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Well it's suppose to rain most of the day. I'll look into the alligator farm. We have bikes and maybe the trolley goes there.

Trolley does not.

timjet said:

.................... You're right about the hazzards on Active Capt. Going aground outside the channel is not sufficient reason to post a hazzard, as some seem to do frequently. I don't pay as much attention to the hazzard as I use to prefering to get the real hazzard info from Cruisers.ne t.....................

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I use Active Captain for marinas and anchorages but seldom for "hazards". For one thing, hazards typically change either from man made changes or natural causes.

The other reason is, that many of the people posting hazards just shouldn't be posting stuff like this without help. So you went aground and posted a "hazard". Why didn't you post your draft and the state of the tide?

Remember, nearly one half of the people supplying "crowd sourced" information are below average intelligence.

I remember a guy who gave an otherwise fine anchorage just one star because the nearest marina wanted to charge him to use their shower.