Georgia

We pulled into a slip in Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, GA on Sunday, May 24. Our time here will include installing new batteries and solar panels and checking out the entire electrical system.

We were stuck in Mayport, FL for five days. After 13.3 inches of rain, Mayport, Jacksonville, and surrounding areas were looking for sunshine and so were we. The St. John's River flowing (more like running) by Mayport hosts numerous fishing boats, cruise ships, a casino ship, pleasure craft, and a ferry that takes cars and passengers on the water portion of A1A between Mayport and St. George island. The ferry is pictured on the left.

We took a beating from the storm, the current, the flooding water, the large boat traffic and the dilapidated fuel dock that we were tied to. We lost four dock lines and have a noticable spot on our hull that will need to be refinished.

Both a large Naval Station and Coast Guard Station are headquartered here. So their craft are on the water often as well.

We thought we would just travel up the ICW to Fernandina, FL, but the rain continued, flooding began, and the Coast Guard cautioned that the ICW was hazardous due to debris. The weather, soon labeled as a Nor'easter, calmed some but hung on during the week.

Deciding that we just had to leave, on Saturday morning we untied the lines and headed back out the long St. John’s channel. This Navy submarine was coming in. The Coast Guard let us know to 'Stay Away' from both the submarine and the large navy shop going out the channel.



After several hours, with rain falling and a likely chance of a squall, we turned into the St. Mary’s channel to spend the night in Fernandina.

Located on Amelia Island in the northeast corner of Florida along the Atlantic Coast, Fernandina is a Victorian seaport village with small-town charm, southern hospitality, and rich history.

In the early 1900’s, Fernandina’s docks were among the South’s busiest and the numerous saloons offered a welcome to ships from across the globe. The Palace Saloon earned the distinction of being the “Ship Captains Bar.” Today, the saloon still has the original inlaid mosaic floors, embossed tin ceilings, and a 40-foot bar lit with gas lamps.

Having visited the area while attending a tile conference on Amelia Island years ago, we enjoyed touring the town again.

The ICW between Fernandina and Brunswick is very shallow with lots of shoaling, so we went back out the St. Mary’s channel (9 miles), 20 miles north to the St. Simon channel, then 10 + miles to Brunswick Landing. We saw no sunshine, but we encountered no squalls or even rain, so it was a good trip and we are delighted to be in a slip for a while.