Jacksonville Beach, FL to Fernandina Beach, FL

On the morning of April 8, we were ready to leave Jacksonville Beach for our cruise to Fernandina Beach. We had been watching the depth gauge, as well as the issue that when we came into the marina, the depth gauge showed less than 1 ft. of water under the boat as we entered the marina the other day. They have a 6 ft. tidal range there, and we have a 4.5 ft. draft (waterline to absolute bottom of the boat).  Our depth sensor is at the bottom of the propellers, not something you want to hit a rock bottom. So we take extra precautions not to hit bottom. 

The depth gauge on Thursday morning 

So instead of leaving at 9:00 am, we waited until almost noon to leave when the depth at the dock (under our boat) was 2.8 ft. The depth in their channel was below 1 ft. as we went by. 

On the way, Fred decided to play "Chicken" with a container ship moving faster than we were.  I was getting quite worried until he backed off on the throttle. Needless to say, by the Law of Gross Tonnage, the container ship won. 
Playing "Chicken" with a container ship.


Yes, it was too close


A large boat in dry dock

The longer we cruised, the higher the wind became. In order to dock for the evening, our marina was located on the St. Mary's River in Fernandina Beach, FL. Generally speaking, with a 48 ft. boat, the marinas have been putting us on the "face dock". It's the long dock most marinas have, usually near their fuel dock.  Since most transients don't spent more than a night or two with most marinas, it's more trouble to get a larger boat back in a "parking space."  But on this marina, the face dock was across a bay directly in the direction the gale force winds were coming from. Therefore, it created a large "fetch" (movement of the water across open water), so the water under our boat was quite turbulent.  
Hard to see in the still pictures?  Try these:  

Our fenders were being pummeled against the dock. 
And they and the boat hull have the dirty foam on them that the wind created.


Pretty calm inside the marina


Not so calm in the open water

Another Looper in increasing wind

And yet another Looper, however the water is now getting worse in the wind.

Well, THAT was fun!!
This is what it was like out on the water at an Atlantic Ocean inlet.  Yikes!!


Comments

  1. Michael RossieApril 12, 2022 at 9:56 AM

    Good call on waiting for the tide. Being grounded can impact your fuel consumption rate significantly!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Taurus Great LoopApril 17, 2022 at 1:43 PM

    Yes, and not to mention your prop rotating ability.

    ReplyDelete

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