On the big blue highway at last!

January – February 2017

After leaving Brunswick our first anchorage was just a 30 mile doddle south down to Cumberland Island. Pushing us along was a pretty fresh breeze from the south west with nasty short choppy seas. We decided that for our first day out it would be unwise to tackle an overnighter until we got our sea legs back again.

As we pulled into the anchorage just on dusk and were rewarded with a spectacular sunset. Ahhh the cruising life once again.

                    

Up early the next day we headed further south to St Augustine. Dia Gratia who we’d left Brunswick with decided to take the ICW for this leg but were caught short just before Jacksonville when maintance on one of the bridges crossing the waterway prevented them from going any further. Despondent they had to backtrack all the way back to Cumberland Island and make the trip to St Augustine the following day on the outside.

That night when they arrived they were pretty tired so we cooked an early dinner for them and sent them home for a well earned sleep. After a day or so at St Augustine we headed out for the overnight leg down past Cape Canaveral and on to the warmer weather of West Palm Beach in Florida. It was great to shed all the bulky clothes and jeans which had been the wardrobe of choice  and necessity for the last few months. It was shorts and tee shirt weather down here!

West Palm is a great place to stop. Good restaurants, great city entertainment  and handy supermarkets are the draw cards here for us. During our stay here it was Super bowl weekend and the town was really pumping.

Streets were transformed into walkways and  a big screen TV and outdoor dinning and bars were set up to watch the game. Friends Tina, Doug and their pooch Chloe drove down from Vero for a fun afternoon of lunch and people watching then later that evening we watched the  big game with local friends Bob and Lorraine from Scaramouche. It was a nail biter at the end with the New England Patriots defeating Atlanta after an amazing catch that threw the fans into a frenzy.

 

 

                      

Over the past two weekends President Trump has been in town. He hangs out at the very posh residence of Mar de Largo over on Palm Beach and along with his entourage creates quite a mess of the local traffic scene while he’s here. Yesterday afternoon we watched from our cockpit as Air Force One flew overhead whisking him back to Washington DC. It was quite a sight to see the big 747 fly past us, and naturally we waved . Not sure if he waved back though.

Well time has marched on as it always does and today we are leaving. Tonight will be an overnight sail to Bimini in the Bahamas. Unless something goes pear shaped GWTW will never dip her keels again in US waters. We will though  sometime in the future and for sure and for certain we will miss this  mighty country and her friendly people.

God bless all who live here.

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West Palm Beach Florida to Brunswick Georgia.

17th – 28th July 2015

After spending a very pleasant week anchored just off the city’s town docks in our old haunt of West Palm Beach, it was time to make our way north again. Cruising friends Daryl and Annie from “No Rehearsal” were berthed just up the road in St Augustine (an overnight sail away) and rang us to ask if we’d like to drop in and spend a few days with them. Daryl very kindly had organised a complimentary slip for us next to his at the St Augustine Marina Centre so that we could check out their facilities and haul out yard as a possibility for later in the year. Deciding to accept the free marina slip was a decision that took a nano second, after all how could we turn down an invitation like that? So off we set.

The distance between the city of West Palm Beach and St Augustine isn’t far in sailing terms, a mere 200 miles. Following the western edge of the Gulf Stream we made good progress with a full mainsail and alternated between the jib and the screecher, our very large reaching sail, as the wind gods dictated.

Offshore passages can be boring at times but this wasn’t one of them. Great TV reception, a lot of the time better than when we are at anchor, kept each of us amused and informed on the off-watch and to our delight, Liam caught a couple of good sized beauties along the way, a mahi mahi and a sumptuous wahoo.The wahoo was earmarked for dinner once we caught up with No Rehearsal, while the mahi would be gracing the dinner table at a later date.

      

 

Arriving at St Augustine Marine Centre late in the arvo Liam backed GWTW into her temporary home. Annie and Daryl played dock masters taking our lines and securing them as only seasoned cruisers know how. Over the next few days we met with various marina staff chatting about our prospective haul out, the costs and the timing. We also inquired about having a large awning made to cover the foredeck which would give us an extended shady area to relax with friends when at anchor. In between all this we socialised with friends, walked into the town, your’s truly swam laps at the municipal pool conveniently located across the road and we made very good use of the of the free wifi and cable TV in the Captains lounge.

 

 

Right next-door to the marina was the Dept of Homeland Security’s Marine Training Facility. The facility was one very busy place with recruits and their minders heading out in a variety of fast response vessels for training exercises throughout the day and night. Amongst other things, they’d practice their shooting  skills on polystyrofoam bad guys and judging from the bullet holes in the dummies when they returned their hit rate was pretty damn good.

 

After a week of hanging out in St Augustine it was time to get moving again. We’d heard from friends on S/V Hobo that the northern part of Cumberland Island was worth a stopover so that’s where the next dot on the chart was penciled in.

We have visited the southern end of Cumberland Island before but hadn’t ventured to the northern anchorage adjacent to the Plum Orchard Mansion located on the western shores of the island. To get there we would have to mooch along the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway) for about 10 miles passing the vigilantly guarded US Naval Submarine Base at Kings Bay before turning into Brickhill Creek and up to our anchorage.

 

Built in 1898 by Lucy Carnegie for her son George and wife Elizabeth, Plum Orchard is a 20,000 sq foot magnificent Georgian revival mansion. Not much has changed on the island since the mansion was built, I guess the sprawling oaks have grown taller over the years but they are still draped in beautiful Spanish Moss, a trade mark of the low country of Georgia.

The vast open spaces surrounding the estate and the wild horses that roam the grounds just add to the stately feel of the place.

 

           

 

We took the National Park Service tour of the mansion and our young guide was excellent, She had done her homework, dug deep and was very informative. Entering the foyer with its grand stairwell, high ceilings and huge fireplace, was an eye opener to the grandeur and wealth of the era and the meaning of true southern comfort. 

Animal trophies adorned many of the walls, while tiffany lamps spread a soft warm glow around the sitting rooms. On the upper floors were large bedrooms and ornate bathrooms with hot running water pumped from the basement, a first for that era. Amazingly,the shower roses bore a striking resemblance to the rain water heads found in expensive hotels and trendy bathrooms of today.

 

We spent two lovely days anchored in the peaceful Brickhill Creek surrounded by low country grasslands. Dolphins cruised slowly by a couple of times day  while a menagerie of birds flew over head, returning at dusk to roost in the trees along the silent shores. It was bliss.

 

With a booking at Brunswick Landing Marina (BLM) just a few miles further north it was time to make a move. Leaving the creek a couple of hours after the turn of the tide we gingerly edged our way out just kissing the entrance sand bar on the way back into the ICW. After turning the corner into the mainstream we were home and hosed as the depths fell away to a 20 ft nearly all the way to our exit point at St Andrews Sound. The sound has a reputation of shifting sands but our navionics charts were spot on and we just took it slow staying dead center of the channel back out to open ocean without a hitch.

Twelve miles north the next turn on the left brought us into the mouth of the Brunswick river. Roll-on roll-off car carriers have a terminal further up the river so the buoyage  and depths in the river is excellent. No chance of running aground here. Ducking, well not really, under the Sidney Lanier Bridge which spans the river with a clearance of 185 ft, signaled the start of our marina time for the next few months.

    

We’d heard and read great reviews about the marina and we were looking forward to spending time there before flying back to OZ mid September. Calling the marina office on approach, Sherrie the dock master boomed across the airways with instructions on how to find our berth along with a larger than life southern style welcome to Georgia. And as we would soon found out, Sherrie doesn’t mince her words… she also told us to get our asses up to the club house as it was happy hour and everyone was waiting to meet us!  The best kept secret on the east coast, Brunswick Landing Marina, had already taken us into it’s bosom. It would be  the place we call home for the next little while.

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Cruisers' Info : St Augustine Cruisers Shuttle Service. The shuttle operates several times a day and picks up from at St Augustine Municipal Marina, St Augustine Marine Centre as well as a couple of other marinas.

Shuttle drop off points: Includes Publix supermarket,Home Depot, Target,    Wal-Mart, West Marine and Sailors Exchange.

Fee : A small donation as the service is run by volunteers and not supported by the marinas.  For information re departure times please see the flyers at the various marinas.

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West Palm Beach : Where the living is easy.
26th November – 23rd December 2011
November 26th saw us drop anchor once again in West Palm Beach, Florida, it was great to be back.

However, as our USA visas would  expire at midnight, December 1st, we were intent on using our limited time to stock up with food and drinks for the Bahamas, collect and install the boat parts that we’d previously ordered, buy more spares (last chance really), sort out a couple financial matters on the internet, catch up with some Florida friends, take in a few sports bars and restaurants and be ready to leave the USA in 6 days time….yeah right! But you know what? We actually nearly made it. With just a few days to go before our visa deadline, the weather systems for the 50 mile Gulf Stream crossing to the Bahamas were not cooperating and it quickly became very evident we could not safely leave by the 1st. There was only one thing to do, so off we went to visit the local customs/immigration office to request, aka plead, for an extension, we were thinking that 2 weeks should be long enough. After some to and fro discussions between the uniformed officer on the front desk and his superior behind closed doors, we were told it wasn’t going to happen, definitely no extension, bugger! However, the officer did come up with a great suggestion - catch an overnight cruise ship to the Bahamas and return 2 days later, this would make us eligible for a another 6 month visa.The choices were, either set sail in GWTW in lousy weather and big seas or board the Bahamas Celebration cruise ship for a whirlwind trip to Nassau…it only took a nano-second to decide….where do we buy the tickets? One quick phone call and it was all arranged before we left the car park at the immigration office. We were booked on the ship departing the following evening, December 1st, at 6pm, Nassau here we come!

As this was our first “cruise” we were really quite excited and looking forward to it. The Bahamas Celebration is not a big ship by cruise ship standards, but she handled the rough seas way better than GWTW would have, and to think we were very nearly out there and sailing on that same, rough ocean!  The ship can accommodate 1,000 guests and has a compliment of around 500 staff, all of whom were very friendly and helpful. The cabin we chose, the $160 each, all meals included package, was very cosy, perhaps a little too cozy, you couldn’t swing a cat, but it worked fine as we really only slept there. Dining aboard was a treat, the food was excellent and there were lashings of it if you were so inclined, and many were.There was up market dining, the dress up for dinner type, pool side dining, pub style and trattoria dining, the choices were plenty.
  
And entertainment was provided each evening with singers, comedians and acrobats strutting their stuff. There was an onboard casino, deck games, karaoke, bingo and movies, there was never a dull moment and we had a fun time.

The ship berthed around 7am in Nassau and we ambled ashore a couple of hours later. The docks were teeming with tourists as four very large cruise liners were also in port, spilling out around 4000 people from each. Apart from indulging in a little duty free shopping, I’m not real sure just what you see and do in Nassau, other than visiting the mega hotel/casino/water park complex called Atlantis (we didn’t), but we did make like a regular tourist and enjoyed  strolling the streets, stopping for a cool beverage and generally having a pleasant time people-watching.


After checking out a few overpriced menus we decided to have lunch on the ship, so Liam headed back to sit by the pool and Annie wondered off to check out the  town and partake in a little retail therapy, and that pretty much sums up our time in Nassau. The Bahamas Celebration dropped her lines and left port at 6pm, arriving  back in West Palm Beach just after dawn. What a fast holiday that was!
                
After passing through all the barriers, we were greeted by a friendly immigration officer who stamped our passports and said  a cheery “welcome home”, and that’s exactly how the USA felt to us, it was home. So now we were good for another 6 months, with no frantic rush anymore the sense of relief was incredible. Now we could relax a little, take our time and enjoy everything that the city of West Palm Beach had to offer and head off to the Bahamas when we were perfectly ready to, it was a wonderful feeling, believe me. We hired a car and went down to Fort Lauderdale for a couple of days to do some boat-part shopping and to stay  two nights with some cruising friends  we’d met while in Corsica, Steve and Karen off Threshold, it was great to see them again and we made the most of their kind hospitality, particularly their bathtub! .

The car also allowed us to shop at leisure and we topped up on items we were certain would be hard to find where we were heading. And as the football season was winding up Liam, and Bob off Scaramouche, frequented  one of the best sports bars around, Duffy’s, where they had about 20 BIG TV screens covering every game being played. We even dusted off the golf clubs and smacked a bucket of balls up at the Country Club’s driving range, we were a tad rusty and it wasn’t  a pretty sight but we both needed the exercise.
For those of you not exactly sure of where West Palm Beach is, it’s located around 60 miles north of Miami and is basically a winter holiday spot for those who have an ability to afford the finer things in life. Most of the apartment blocks are empty a good part of the year and, as the holiday season approaches, you suddenly notice more and more lights coming on in the evenings. West Palm also has a number of prestige car dealerships, the most outstanding being the Aston Martin dealer. Maybe it was just for Christmas, who knows, but there were around a dozen brand new AM’s on the showroom floor, all gift wrapped with bows just waiting for a buyer, and we suspect there were quite a few people in the market for that very special present.
The city’s local council is very active when it comes to organising community events. We were anchored right in front of the main street, Clematis Street, and it’s adjoining waterfront park area where every Thursday evening a band would perform. Seating and tables were  provided and food and beverage tents were erected, it was a real family-style event with some  people relaxing under the stars with their dogs while others, kids and adults, kicked a ball on the grass or were up and dancing to the beat of the band.
 
      
During our extended stay we watched the Palm Beach Marathon, the runners filing past just a few yards from GWTW, and one Sunday the  annual horse-fest equestrian event was held in the park just across the road from us, there was a small ice skating rink installed in a local shopping centre with fake snow flowing from palm trees, it sounds corny and probably was, but it was neat to see the kids having so much fun.There was  also an  amazing sand sculpture exhibition with the works of these artists scattered around town in shop windows and on the streets corners.
      
America was now in full swing for Christmas and the holiday season and everywhere you looked , on TV, house fronts and  in the shops and the malls it was plainly evident that no one does Christmas quite like the USA.

Every Saturday morning  an excellent “farmers market” was set up, again right on our doorstep, we were especially partial to the lobster bisque and clam chowder, it came in pint containers and needless to say we bought quite a few containers to freeze for a rainy day, so to speak. Overall, there was something on every weekend and when you throw in a good selection of restaurants, bars, shops and great supermarkets  all within walking distance from the boat, you can understand why we were in no real hurry to leave town.




  

  
For a couple of weeks we were also joined in the anchorage by Remi De, with Bruce, Toni, Remi and their dog Ollie, it was great to see them again. They had plans for some extensive additions to their boat that would keep them in port long after we headed off to the Bahamas, so we made the most of our time together catching up for the odd meal or coffee and to celebrate Annie’s birthday, which was made even better with them bringing along a surprise birthday cake and boy, was that one delicious chocolate cake. 
  
They would be spending Christmas with friends up in Orlando, so we all got together  the day before they drove off and had our own mini Christmas in advance. Remi got lots of prezzies and really took centre stage, it’s always nice to see kids excited over what Santa, and in this case what his GWTW elves, had brought. It was a great evening and with more than a little sadness, we waved farewell  to our good friends and  to the USA the next morning, December 23rd, and pointed our bows east towards the aqua waters of the Bahamas.


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Cruising Notes: Formalities. Call Lake Worth CBP on arrival on #5618486922, open  M – F 0800-1600. Anchorage & Dinghy Dock: Anchor opposite or between the town dock pontoons. You can tie up at the docks between 0700 & 2300. Water is available from the water pipe under the docks. Trash receptacles are on the docks or in the waterfront park area. Dinghies can be left at the dock day or night.  Fuel: Fuel and water are available from the Palm Harbor Marina, to the right of the town docks. Supermarket: Publix is located on Rosemary St, 15 min walk or 5 min free trolley ride from the town dock. City Place: Shopping area and restaurants/cafes  also on Rosemary St, past Publix. Clematis St: This is the main restaurant Street, great variety including Cuban, Italian, Thai, Mexican and pub food.