Fernandina Beach 30 40.201 N 81 28.216 W

Saturday
We decided to stay another day in St. Augustine because the weather forecast was not good. (See! We are learning!) But we had recovered the dinghy the night before and it was just too windy to relaunch. Fortunately the marina offered a water taxi and so we called for a taxi and took a ride into the shore.

There was a bike race underway when we made it down town. We watched a couple of laps and moved on to the Post Office and then walked a couple of miles to a supermarket, and caught a cab back to the marina. By the time we were back on the boat it was really blowing and so we settled down for a quiet afternoon. We had dinner plans with new friends in the marina, but we had to cancel out because the water taxi ended at 6PM and it was still blowing.

That afternoon we ran out of water! The tanks on the boat have sight gauges, and you have to open and close the valves top and bottom to get a reading. (Honestly, this boat has more valves then the MMBW) Well, after the first few readings I forgot that part, and was consistently amazed at how little water we were using! So that put a damper on things - no washing and no coffee. (Deidre used ice tea to add moisture to dinner that night.)

On the bright side, our water lasted 10 days, including two showers a day, one fresh water toilet (the other is salt, thank goodness)  and a couple of loads of washing. I think the tank is 350 gallons, so all up 35 gallons a day. We have always planned making one marina visit a week, so that will work out fine.

Sunday

Bob Voyage

We needed the water so we went straight to the fuel dock in the morning. I loaded 200 gallons of diesel while Deidre loaded the water. (It would be rude just to go in and take water.) The fuel was $4.29 a gallon, so the total was about $860. The boat will hold 800 gallons of diesel, and we now have about 500 total gallons on board. Our travelling companion for the day was "Bon Voyage" owned by Bonnie and Jon. They are really fun people from Aimes, Iowa. Bon Voyage is a newish 44' Krogan, a classy boat. (Trawlers have a definite pecking order, and Krogans are at or near the top).

We had planned making the trip to Fernandina in two days, but Bonnie and Jon wanted to do it in one, so we changed our reservation and made the distance by about 6PM. It was a very pleasant run, no miss-steps, and Tide Hiker ran very well. The weather started out a bit blowy, but settled down as the day progressed. Part of the trip was through the suburbs of Jacksonville Beach, and we saw a lot of amazing houses.

After settling onto a mooring ball at Fernandina Beach, we launched the dinghy, picked up Bonnie and Jon and went into town for dinner. By the time we dinghy-ed home the water was like glass. Despite the background noise from the paper mill, we slept like logs.

This morning we plan to take it easy, cleaning up the boat in anticipation of visitors. I also need to re-visit the forward bilge (where we had the nasty spill a few weeks back) and do a follow up clean. After lunch we will dinghy ashore to "register" for the rendezvous.

Friday Morning.
This is not quite the image of the quaint port of Fernandina that we had expected! There is a huge paper mill, just south of the marina and down town. This photo was taken from the bow of our boat, moored in the harbor.

We know from experience that paper mills can really stink, plus it generates noise 24 hours a day. Such a shame, as the rest of the place looks great, We went ashore last night for dinner, and the old town is indeed quaint and appealing. We are here for the MTOA rendezvous, staying 5 nights.