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Date:Wed, 30 Nov 2022 01:21:00 GMT
Motoring to St. Augustine
Calm winds and glassy seas.
When we went to leave at 0700 the anchor wouldn't come up. We tugged and
pulled and eventually hauled up what looked like an old wooden mast. The
chain was wrapped around it 3 times. We finally managed to free it after
about 20 minutes of working with it. Upon checking the charts there were
several old wrecks noted on the charts! I guess we were lucky not to get
completely stuck. It pays to read the fine print!
After we got the anchor free we headed out the inlet under power in calm
winds. Normally we would have just sailed slowly but we opted (since we
were trying to get south before it cooled down on Wednesday, to motorsail. We
had about 5 knots of wind off the beam so it was enough to keep the sails
full and give us another knot of speed, perhaps saving a little fuel. It
was an uneventful sail and a comfortable ride at about 6-7 knots all the way
to St. Augustine. The trip was about 8 hours total including freeing the
anchor.
We we arrived we opted to get fuel and water from the Municiple Marine on
the south side of the bridge. The bridge is on demand on channel 9. We
docked easily and put on fuel and water. The problem came on leaving the
dock. We were being pushed down the dock toward other boats backwards by
the current and the wind was pushing us against the dock. After 2 failed
attempts one of the other boaters who had brought their dinghy over from a
mooring ball helped us pull Grace forward to the far end of the face dock
to give us more room. Then I hit the bow thruster to push us off the dock
and we gently pulled forward at an angle leaving the dock behind. The
entire maneuver took us about 15 minutes. One of the problems we have is
that the bow thruster takes a lot of electrical power and we can't always
charge it up fast enough with the motor so we have a limited number of
attempts before we have to recharge the battery. It means we have to get it
right the 1st time or we have to be very judicious about it's use. It's
terrible to need it and have it just poop out and quit! That didn't happen
this time, thank heavens, but I was afraid it would because I used it alot.
Anyway, after leaving the dock in the dark, we called the bridge and waited.
The current was pushing us toward the bridge and I opted to make a circle to
hold position but there was one of the party/tour boats that was barreling
along from our port stern quarter out of sight. When I made a starboard
turn all of a suden I was looking at this power boat bearing down on me
broadside and we both put it in reverse. Then he started complaining about
me on channel 9! I was a bit upset so I defended my self. I think he
didn't see my lights and was thinking he owned the road. Not to mention he
had all his party lights on and probably didn't see me at all. Just one
little sail boat with one white light from the stern against his lit up
Christmas light display.
We went back under the bridge and anchored on the east side of the channel
just north of the bridge in 18 feet of water. ST. Augustine is beautiful
when all lit up at night!