Fernandina - at anchor

A good looking horse ride down main street

We left at 7:30 am to catch the last opening before 8:30. Although the Bridge of Lions opens every 30 minutes, they do not open at 8:00 am due to morning traffic. The day was yet another day for perfect conditions for traveling north with full sun and light breezes.

The only downside was that we hit every shallow spot between St Augustine and Fernandina at a drain tide of 0.3 ft! Even so, we did fine but you had to know where to go for the deepest water! I  called out the depths to Ann and for the first time, she had to ADD the tide to the actual reading. We were below MLLW all the way!

Somewhat of a sunset, the docks are still not repaired!

Even with the extra low tide, all the routes were doable without touching bottom. Along the way, I saw one sailboat grounded at a location that is specifically called out in the Guide to avoid! It's amazing that some people will spend a thousand dollars for a tow off a shoal than a few dollars for a guide that will let them avoid the shallow spot altogether. Most of the shallow spots do not change year to year: you just have to know which ones.

We met up again with Gordon and Eta for dinner at Peppers. They went outside up the coast while we had fun doing all the shallows. We arrived roughly the same time at Fernandina and we jointly agreed we all needed some margaritas at Pepper's to relieve the stress of the past several hours!

Ann has an appointment to get her hair cut at Magna's in Fernandina. It has become a tradition for Ann to receive her haircut at Magna"s on every pass through Fernandina. They do the best job in any place on the ICW.

We will head for Jekyll Island anchorage after Ann gets her haircut. It's a protected anchorage with a dock for Hoolie relief, perfect for us.