St Augustine - At a dock

The Bridge of Lions at St Angustine

Heading north from Daytona, our first real obstacle was the shallows of Ft Matanzas. For the past four years it has gotten shallower and shallower. The Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) has responded by installing lots of buoys and moving the passage within a few feet of land on the western shore where there was still deep water. This year they finally decided to dredge the entire area. In coming upon the area from the south, we noticed that two of the four green buoys were missing. Ann went forward with binoculars to look for the familiar four green buoys but could only find two. As it turned out, two of the four were no longer needed. The ACOE had the area dredged so widely that there was 12 MLW everywhere! What a difference dredging makes! The dreaded passage was a piece of cake.

Al and Jane dropped by for a visit - they use Bob423 postings all the time

We stopped by Palm Coast marina for fuel which is a great place to fill up. The prices are good and the dockhands are very helpful in tying up. We wound up at St Augustine marina at a dock which is no piece of cake in itself. The current runs up to 2 kts so you have to be careful on what you do coming in but we made it with no hits.

Sunset from the docks

We met one couple that has followed Bob423 posts on Active Captain in their ICW travels and they came over to talk and trade stories. We enjoy such visits and those in the area are always invited to stop by. We'll be here for another day before leaving on Tuesday for Jacksonville. Ann wants to walk along the shops and look in the art galleries and I've got to call Balmar about my charging problem.  It looks like the regulator is simply overheating and turning itself off, we'll see.