St. Augustine, FL to Savannah, GA

We went from the oldest city in Florida (and the U.S.) to the oldest city in Georgia. During the last 3 months cruising Florida, we have gone approximately 1,275 nautical miles. Trip total since September: 3,166.

Our path from St.Augustine to Savannah. The blue arrow points to a spot we had to go around a buoy so close to the Atlantic and it was NOT fun! We had a brief beam of 10’ waves! Ok—maybe a slight exageration.

Florida is a beautiful state—however, cruising in Florida can be confusing due to the several different wake signs we saw along the way. The following signs are not in one area—but all of Florida. We would use binoculars constantly to identify our current speed zone. AND, not to complain…BUT— the huge, multi level fishing boats that go fast and throw a 5’ wave must be exempt! Not shown is the sign that says RESUME NORMAL SAFE OPERATION. I can’t make this up!!

Ok back to the blog.

Friday, March 22. We left Titusville hoping to stop at New Smyrna Beach but it wasn’t meant to be—no room at the marina, it was an easy cruising day to continue toward St. Augustine. We opted to stop at the Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach on the way. This was a great stop. We walked to a nice little street close by with several restaurants and shops. We chose the highly recommended McK’s Irish Tavern and enjoyed live music, sheppherds pie for me and bangers & mash for Darth.

Saturday, March 23. Our spot at the St. Augustine City Marina. Reconnected with Karla & Paul to celebrate Karla’s birthday in the coming week. Wish I took a photo of us.

Sunday, March 24. This was a crazy wind with alot of wave action at the marina.

This would be a NO GO day. We spoke to some of the boaters that were on a mooring ball seen in the photo—it was a very rough day for them.

Great day to change the oil. The city marina has an oil disposal recepticle—so conveinient for boaters wanting to do this service on their own. This is one task that Darth would love not to do—but the cost to have it done was in the crazy zone.

Monday, March 25. We walked to Schmagel’s Bagels for breakfast—delicious. Then we made our way to Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. It is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. The fort was designed by the Spanish engineer Ignacio Daza with construction beginning 1672. There would be many alterations and renovations over the centuries. The monument is full of exhibits taking the visitor through the history of the fort.

St. Augustine from the Castillo de San Marcos.

Darth is in the tower from the fort.

Another view.

We walked by the Cathedral Basilica during the Royal Knighting Ceremony. This is performed every year during Easter Week by the St. Augustine Royal Family to bestow knighthood upon residents of St. Augustine who have been selected based on good civic deeds.

Tuesday, March 26. We left St. Augustine early. We cruised to Sisters Creek to a free dock known to Loopers.

Free dock shared with 8 boats. 5 were loopers—Island Time, (who we originally met in Alton, IL), Xtra Cheese, Legacy, and 80’s Lady.

We enjoyed traditional 5:00 docktails —-until we could no longer stay out with the ‘no-seeums’. It was a lovely group of folks.

Wednesday, March 27. We left Sisters Creek dock for another anchorage but weather kicked up. We ducked into Amelia Island Marina. They had a courtesy vehicle—the first one we have had access to since being on the rivers. We provisioned and picked up propane. This was an unexpected great stop. The weather came and went very quickly.

Amelia Island Marina—-the clouds looked pretty dark, a squall followed and left just as quickly.

Thursday, March 28. We crossed the Georgia state line. Woo hoo!!! Had to take a photo of our blue dot.

We stopped to tour the Carnegie Mansion at Plum Orchard on Cumberland Island.

This is one of the ‘wild’ horses on Cumberland Island. I thought we would see a herd of horses galloping along a sandy shoreline. But this guy looks happy in the front yard of the mansion.

Same horse after he stood up.

Carnegie Mansion. We had a wonderful tour of the 22,000 sq ft mansion. Truly amazed at how well the home was preserved.

The mansion was built in 1898 as a wedding gift for George Lauder Carnegie and Margaret Thaw. The family valued the island and their time spent with family and friends. Extravagant, yes— imagining the wealth of their time was mind boggling.

We moved a short distance to another anchorage along the island. A squall picked up and passed within an hour.

6:00pm squall outside our window.

One hour later—before sunset.

Friday, March 29th. We left the anchorage for Brunswick Marina. OH MY GOSH!! The water seemed fine until we had to stay in a channel that took us almost to the Atlantic ocean. Thankfully it was over quickly, and we arrived safely at the Brunswick Marina. This marina is one of the nicest we have stayed at. The marina hosts a happy hour on Fridays including wine and beer. Unfortunately, Darth came down with a bad cold so we had to keep our distance. We stayed two nights and gave Darth some time to recoup.

This barge was heading out to sea as we made our way to Brunswick.

We walked to the nearby park in Brunswick. These two little ones were so adorable. I asked their dad if I could photo them —he said they always stay together like that—big brother watching over little sister.

Easter Sunday, March 31. We left for Duplin River 33.6nm away. Had a quiet night.

Monday, April 1. Same location at sunrise. Of course on the East side of the boat.

Darth is feeling better. : ) We traveled another 38nm to Buckhead Creek. There were two other boats anchored. This anchorage was noisy with enough wind to have constant splashing waves.

Tuesday, April 2. We left the anchorage early to go through the Hells Gate passage. It is known to be very narrow and timing it with increasing tide was on our minds. We don’t normally worry too much since we only have a 2.5’ draft, we stay on the cautious side to avoid running aground.

Hells Gate is between the two islands in the Ogeechee River. We went very slow.

This is along the Skidaway River (right after Moon River) as we make our way to Savannah. Absolutely loved this cruise.

Southern mansions like this along the way.

We are very excited to have this bug zapper. The no-seeums are no joke. We had the thermacell for outside but these little pesky things don’t stay outside.

We will be staying in Savannah for the next few days. Our port hole window was damaged and the Thunderbolt Marina has a service department with reasonable prices. More on our stay in Savannah coming soon.