Pine Island - Lickety Split

We were ready to leave Ft George River anchorage this morning. At slack tide the boats pointed all over the place. We decided to leave a little earlier than planned like 8am.

It was difficult to pull the anchor. The current and wind had us over the anchor and the windlass would stall as the chain wrapped around the sides of the bow roller. We had to back up to alleviate pressure and get it up.

We were just off low tide and saw some skinny water leaving the anchorage and in the ICW until I got the rhythm down again -- takes about 10 - 15 minutes if I don't move everyday.

Once on our way we had some current on the nose until we hit the St Johns river. The marks and charts did not completely agree so I watched the marks and after a 1/4 mile all was in agreement and we were screaming along at 8 knots with a favorable current.

The first 3 bridges were no problem where at times they can be at peak current. Only one trawler passed us this morning.

The ride down the 10 mile canal was amazing to see so many million + dollar homes in one area. Absolutely gorgeous.

We lost the current about 3 miles from Pine Island but just pushed on. With that favorable current this morning we were in and hook down by 12:30pm. Shortly after that 4 trawlers came in and anchored around us. The largest kept short scoping his anchor and would drag. He must have tried to set it 4 times and then the wind died down and he seems to be okay -- I expect not but the wind should be down all night. The name of that dog leg is Miss Prisca.

Jim and Victoria Gaye made it and we are all anchored here this afternoon.

Then surprisingly BArefoot'n hails us. He had come in and anchored just behind us. Just one big cruising family here tonight except everyone is too lazy to drop dinghies in the water to visit.

Tomorrow we will make Palm Coast Marina. We are skipping St Augustine for now. That infection I had in my right knee has returned and I need medical attention. There is an urgent care near the Palm Coast Marina so I'll have it looked at there.

Unfortunately Palm Coast can only accommodate us for two nights because of reservations so it will be a quick visit for us there. We wanted 3 nights.

Salty Turtle with Vic and Gi are there for another day so we will see them tomorrow night before they move on. WOW what a crowd that will be.

It's nice here tonight and we plan to get an early 7:30am start to get to Palm Coast by early afternoon. I have a LOT to do when we get there. It's been 10 days since we've been to a marina. Lots of laundry and some re-provisioning to do. Need fuel and water too.