Blackbeard's Demise

April 27, 2014

Woke up to cloudy skies and cool temperatures. At 10:30 AM this morning a pod of maybe fifteen dolphin swam by headed up stream on an obvious foraging expedition. About an hour later they reappeared headed out. We noticed one with a torn dorsal fin, not an uncommon thing to see. Maybe an encounter with a shark or other predator – more likely an encounter with a boat in the ICW. These channels are narrow and, depending on where you are, crowded with boat traffic. Dolphins apparently didn’t get the memo about human activities that might be harmful to them.

This is a great anchorage – just off the ICW, shallow enough water, protected and private. A good place for next year on our return.

We proceeded north up the Mackay River through Buttermilk Sound, then up Little Mud River into Front River into the Sappelo River and finally into Sappelo Sound, past Blackbeard Creek and Blackbeard National Wildlife Refuge, both presumably named for Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard), an Englishman who turned to piracy as a career and plundered and pillaged his way along the Virginia and North Carolina coast and throughout the Caribbean in the early 1700 hundreds and who met his end at Ocracoke Island, NC on  Thursday, November 22, 1718 at the hand of Lieutenant Robert Maynard who engaged Blackbeard in hand to hand combat , finally wounding him with a pistol shot after which a Maynard crewman named Demelt stepped in and cut off Blackbeard’s head, which Maynard hung under the bowsprit of his sloop, Pearl, for all to see. Then Maynard traveled north to the Chesapeake Bay, all the while with Blackbeard, or a part of him so to say, hanging from the bowsprit, and finally up the James River to Williamsburg, VA to present his evidence of Blackbeard’s demise to the governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, who had issued a proclamation, that among other considerations, called for the capture of Blackbeard. Governor Spotswood apparently had little faith that Carolinians had enough balls to control piracy.

As most accounts go Blackbeard was a “moderate” when it came to torture and murder as tools of submission, relying more on his  formidable appearance to frighten his victims into submission, although David Cordingly, in his excellent book on piracy, Under the Black Flag, states that Blackbeard may have had as many as fourteen wives, one of which was a teenager, taken from her family by Blackbeard and who he ravaged often and when he was done invited members of his crew to do the same while he watched.

This is a guy we named a national wildlife refuge after.

So, we passed Blackbeard National Wildlife Refuge, crossed the sound into Johnson Creek and entered Walburg Creek at mile 622 ICW and after a beautiful passage and anchored in sixteen feet at mile 620 ICW after a forty-five mile day. Beautiful anchorage with forest to the east. Foraging wood storks, great and snowy egrets and great blues a hundred yards away on a wild beach on the lee side of St. Catherine’s Island. This anchorage lies just south of St. Catherine’s Sound and Inlet, a safe and very navigable outlet to the Atlantic. Speaking of wood storks, look up a picture of and read about this beautiful bird. For a long time ornithologists thought the wood stork was closely related to wading birds like the equally beautiful egrets and herons. Turns out that the wood stork is closer to vultures. 

Now that I have filled your heads with images of pirates and vultures, good night and sweet dreams.

Some Ecology Considerations

April 26, 2015

We woke up at 6:30 AM to a beautiful, cloudless sky with moderate W winds, 75 degrees. The weather report called for more severe storms in the afternoon. Of course that didn’t happen – so much for weather forecasts.

I weighed anchor and we motored north on the Amelia River toward Fernandina. When I got the anchor aboard it had a sprig of red alga (sea weed) hanging on. Red algae, phylum Rhodophyta, contain certain pigments that impart distinctive red color. While looking the sprig over I noticed that attached to the thalli (stems) were hundreds of tiny copepods (arthropods) about 1 -2 millimeters long. I suspect that if I shook all these little creatures off the sprig there may have been an ounce by weight total. If this particular red alga species is a ubiquitous as I suppose it to be (I have brought it up on anchor before many times) and assuming this particular copepod species is associated, there must be hundreds, maybe thousands of tons (probably more) of these creatures in the waters along the ICW in this country. This one example illustrates the tremendous productivity of these marine ecosystems - the tremendous amount of energy sequestered in living organisms. And I’m just talking about one species.

These little guys, who graze on even smaller organisms on the surface of the sea weed, are food for small crabs and other arthropods and fish, which are food for larger fish, which are food for even larger fish, which are food for yet larger predaceous fish and marine mammals including of course the dolphins, our daily companions.

What a remarkable thing to think about – a food chain – and what effect breaking that chain by somehow eliminating a particular link – what effect that can have on all the organisms in the chain. And think of all the food chains in nature!

I had a great ecology professor in college who started his course with the proposition that ecology was pretty simple. Every living thing needs a place to live, air to breathe and something to eat. Everything else is just detail.

We crossed Cumberland Sound and the St. Mary’s River, the boundary between Florida and Georgia, with a strong NW wind on the nose. Headed north on St Mary’s past King’s Bay Naval Base, a major US Navy nuclear submarine installation. We passed through the Cumberland Dividings on the Cumberland River, crossed Jekyll Sound to Jekyll Creek, and passed Jekyll Island to the east, crossed St. Simonds Sound and St Simonds Island to the east, up the Mackay River to finally anchor on Wally’s Leg at mile 665 ICW after a sixty-one mile run. We sailed for a bit in Jekyll Sound, but as usual the wind was forward and contrary.

All this talk of sounds. The sounds we crossed were either wide or narrow channels spilling out into the Atlantic. Sounds are bodies of water formed by the coming together of two rivers or creeks and are the final, defined “water” that feed a sea or ocean. For us, basically they are places to look out to the ocean and wonder what it would be like “out there”.

Sweet Dreams

The New Main Goes On

April 25, 2015

We anchored at our favorite spot in the St Augustine harbor in site of Fort Castillo de San Marcos next to mark #6 (mile 778ICW).  Also next to Sandy who lives in her little sailboat right at this spot with her little dog – Mighty Hercules. Sandy gets up every morning and, in the company of Mighty Hercules, takes her dingy to the Augustine town dock where she works. She is somewhat of a legend in these parts and well known around town. She is about fifty years old and has lived in Augustine for about fifteen years, much of it on boats. She stopped by Flicka on the way in and told us she lives in an imaginary boat with her little imaginary dog and she was on her way to her imaginary job and she told us all this in a most chipper and happy manner. Maybe we are all imaginary.

We woke up to a beautiful morning with west light winds and after much contemplation decided to stand down from going off shore because of a not so favorable weather report which called for SE winds 15-20 knots (which actually would have been good) but strong storms moving in with high winds, lightning and hail.

In light morning winds we decided to put the mainsail up which turned out to be a major job lasting a couple of hours. The sail, as mentioned previously, is brand new and we have never deployed it. So now, complete with newly patch rat holes, we can get it going. Our mainsail deployment system includes the sail and a bag referred to as a “stack pack” which is a very convenient contrivance for receiving the sail when you take it down. The sail drops into the pack nicely instead of falling all over the deck. It eliminates having to flake the sail on the boom and use “sail ties” to secure it – a task that can be daunting in high winds and seas.

So with new main secured in its pack, at 10 AM away we went “inside” north along the ICW. At about 2 PM the weather finally arrived in the form of a wide front of thunderstorms, moderate gusty winds and lots and lots of rain and fog – not the kind of weather to be in out in the Atlantic – so good stand down decision. 

From Augustine we traveled north on the Tolomato River past Point Vedra and Jacksonville Beaches, crossed the St. John’s River at Mile 740 ICW and reentered the ICW in Sisters Creek. The St. Johns is a major shipping route from Jacksonville, home of the Jaguars of course. At mile 735 ICW we entered Sawpit Creek and passed Talbot Island to the east, crossed Nassau Sound and finally anchored at mile 725 ICW next to Harrison Creek on the South Amelia River after a fifty-two mile run. On both sides of the rivers and creeks in this country there are extensive and very productive marsh wetlands, lots of birds and the delightful and ever present bottle nose dolphins.

April 22, 2015

11:30AM Calm west winds. Out the Inlet we go for a trial run, following instruction given by some cruisers who had just come in. “Favor the red marks, forget about #6 – it’s out of place.” Some inlets are notorious for shoaling – shifting sand – that can cause channels to wander about. St. Augustine is one of those, however we followed local knowledge and advice and made it out just fine. We motored out to the three mile mark. Out plan was to raise our brand new, never deployed mainsail as a celebratory function, which we did. But the celebration was short lived because we found much to our chagrin and mortification that the sail had two holes in it. Turns out a rat had nested in the sail over Christmas when we went back home for three months. What a bummer.

One cannot deploy a sail with holes in it. The wind will tear that hole into a rip and, before you know it, the sail is in shreds. So back to our anchorage we went, which is where we spent the night, contemplating options. Lucky for us, Paul knew of “The Irish Sail Lady” – yes a real Irish woman who happened to be a sail maker. We were able to contact her and set up a deal. We went back to River’s Edge for the night and the next morning Linda’s husband came to pick up the sail.

April 24, 2015

So yesterday we marked time at the marina and today Linda’s husband returned the repaired sail, so we are back in business. The estimate for the repair was $150 but the bill was only $87. That’s those Irish sail making ladies for you! Later today we are going back out on anchor to prepare for an early start on our off shore run.

Keep Breathing!

April 21, 2015

Beautiful morning, clearing skies, light west wind, 68 degrees. Great and snowy egrets feeding in the march lands at low tide. Other boats have left except for the “Passage Maker”. Had our usual Starbuck’s French roast, fresh ground, French pressed coffee, two cups per crew member, although Emily is heavy on the half and half so technically I get more coffee. Routine, routine, routine.

The plan is to wait for the tide change so we can run back down to St Augustine at seven knots instead of three. Big difference. Meanwhile we are taking care of a few maintenance items and tidying up – always projects on a boat – part of integrated boat living.

11:15 AM – Met Life blimp flies over.

We are going to run down to St Augustine and anchor as close to the inlet as possible to be ready to go outside at first light in AM assuming a good weather window (W to SW 10-15 knot wind steady for a couple of days).

                                                         Fort Castillo de San Marcos

Nice run down to St. Augustine with a helping current. Anchored at 3 PM in sight of Fort Castillo de San Marcos, a Spanish masonry structure built in 1672 to defend St. Augustine from marauding Englishmen.

Calm winds. A high pressure system has moved the storms out and brought pleasant temperatures and lower humidity. Predicted low of 58 tonight.

So now the movie begins. "Turn off you TV and move to the country", someone once said.

We are sitting in the cockpit with a cocktail watching birds come and go and forage on the exposed tidal mudflats. A roseate spoonbill is today’s local attraction. He prances along the shallow water foraging with that ridiculous spatulate bill of his (thus the name spoonbill). Ships come and go from St Augustine’s various marinas and private yacht clubs, many under sail, commercial, pleasure craft, law enforcement. The US Customs and Border Patrol fly by at thirty knots - fully armed and ready for action. At least three local law enforcement boats coming and going. Lots of dolphins. St. Augustine is an official port of entry. That might explain all the US Customs boats, all manned by armed men and women in their late 20’s.

                                                                     Shrimp Boat

                                                             Gaff-rigged Schooner

 

                                                         Ugly Box with Ratty Tourists

 

We were fortunate to see a once in a life time event. Right beside the boat at a spot Emily and I happened to be watching at the same time a fish of some kind, about sixteen inches or so, jumped straight up out of the water, which was surprise enough, but right behind him a dolphin surged up and snatched that fish right out of the air. It was spectacular. The fish never had a chance.

A shrimp boat came in a tied up to a pier just off our stern, hauled in his nets and raised his outriggers so he could pass through the bridge.

We capped the night off with grilled chops and Emily’s famous salad.

Tomorrow – we conquer the Atlantic Ocean.

Ah Ho!!

April 20, 2015

Winds S 10 knots, 75 degrees

Here we are marina bound in St. Augustine, FL, the oldest continuously occupied settlement in North America (excluding all those native Americas settlements here before us white folk showed up). Sign as you drive into St. Augustine from the south says, “Welcome to St. Augustine – Older than Dirt.”

We sailed up from Ft. Matanzas on Friday (April 20, 2015) and hauled into Rivers Edge Marina early in the afternoon. Paul, the marina manager met us at the dock to help tie up. Paul, who in his late twenties thirteen years ago sailed a Pearson 323 solo from his home in Cape Cod to St. Augustine, hauled into this same marina and has been here ever since, living on that boat.

We tied up in slip C-10 beside another Paul – Paul II – who came here from Cleveland aboard an old (1972) wooden power boat. He runs a construction company that chases major storms around the country. His crews replace roofs in the storms’ aftermath. Yesterday he was kind enough to take me to the Walmart Super Center three miles away (one of my favorite places) to pick up a new battery (long story to be told later). On the way he told me pretty much everything about his life – family, business, dissatisfaction with his job, his struggle with his weight (he is a big, big boy) and more. When we got back to the marine I thanked him for his kindness - boarded Flicka and sat for a while thinking about Paul and how intimacy comes to us in strange circumstances sometimes.

So we have been here for three days and now it’s time to move on. We are going to travel north today a short distance to an anchorage close to the St. Augustine Inlet – that is – an outlet to the Atlantic. Our intention is to go near off shore for a run up to Fernandina Beach at the top of Florida – a distance of about sixty miles. This is a big deal for us – our first off shore run. We will over night at the anchorage and leave at first light – to be able to make Fernandina before nightfall.

We left Rivers Edge Marina with moderate west wind on a near slack tide – which is not the same as a slack tide we soon discovered. Getting in and out of a marina in a sailboat is hard enough at slack tide, let alone with a strong tidal current. It’s amazing how fast a boat can move with current and distance covered is deceptive enough to measure – until, that is, you hit something. Here in Augustine the tide change is around four feet, channels narrow and the current can top two knots in some places. Most sailboats don’t back up easily or accurately and Flicka has a mind of her own in reverse. If you get broad side to the current you can quickly find yourself banging up against the dock or worst yet another boat. Boat owners don’t like that. With Paul’s help we made it out without hitting anyone but is wasn’t pretty.

We traveled north from St. Augustine and stopped at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina for fuel and a pump out. What is a pump out you might ask? All boats of a certain size are required by the US Coast Guard to have sewage holding tanks and approved septic systems. In most boats, on board systems allow for waste to be pumped directly into the holding tank, pumped directly over board or, in some systems, over boarded from the holding tank. You might ask, why is Steve Talley talking about boat septic systems? At first consideration, one might conclude that I live a pretty boring life with little to talk about, however waste disposal is an important and interesting question for all of us considering the enormous amount waste we humans generate, not only sewage but solid waste as well. Managing your our human waste aboard a small sailboat allows one to get "up close and personal" with the problem.

Sewage discharge within three miles of any coast in America is illegal and greatly frowned upon. Most recreational boaters we know abide by the regulations governing discharge. Adherence to the regulations governing the design and construction of on board sewage disposal systems is a little more problematic but the gist of it is most boaters play by the rules. Most marinas up and down the coast have pump out systems and generally charge for the service. All Florida marinas we know do not charge for pump outs. They figure to make it easy and painless for the boater. Free pump outs encourages compliance and makes for cleaner water – a good thing for manatees, dolphins and all manner of marine life that inhabit these rich waters.

Check out the picture of the ship that was anchored at the city marina – a replica of a mid-17th century Spanish galleon – a war ship – with eight ten pound cannon (four on a side) and other armaments. Imagine being a midshipman on that boat in 1756 and going up against a similar English boat in war time, especially knowing the ship’s surgeon was a barber before becoming a surgeon.

 

                                                       Spanish Galleon Circa 1650

                                             Up close and personal with the "ten pounders"


So we left the marina, passed through the Bridge of Lions Bridge and peaked outside (outside the ICW to the Atlantic) near the St. Augustine Inlet to get our brave on for our eventual off shore run, then proceeded north on the Tolomato River in a brisk west wind for about 10 miles to an anchorage at mile 765 – a beautiful spot – surrounded by tidal wetlands and many birds. A few boats including an all-aluminum 42 foot “Passage Maker”. 

 

 

No sooner than we anchored a fierce storm approached, featuring an intro fifty knot screaming wind for about three minutes. We freaked out, the anchor held and, just like that, it was over. Then it rained steady and gentle for an hour. Now the rain is over and we are having a cocktail in the cockpit (must be some connection there) in calm seas and clearing skies to the west.

Tomorrow back to St. Augustine for another peak outside and prep for the off shore run.

Namaste

April 20, 2015

Winds S 10 knots, 75 degrees

Here we are marina bound in St. Augustine, FL, the oldest continuously occupied settlement in North America (excluding all those native Americas settlements here before us white folk showed up). Sign as you drive into St. Augustine from the south says, “Welcome to St. Augustine – Older than Dirt.”

We sailed up from Ft. Matanzas on Friday (April 20, 2015) and hauled into Rivers Edge Marina early in the afternoon. Paul, the marina manager met us at the dock to help tie up. Paul – who in his late twenties, 13 years ago sailed a Pearson 323 solo from his home in Cape Cod to St. A, hauled into this same marina and has been here ever since, living on that boat.

We tied up in slip C-10 beside another Paul – Paul II – who came here from Cleveland aboard an old (1972) wooden power boat. He runs a construction company that chases major storms around the country. His crews replace roofs in the storms’ aftermath. Yesterday he was kind enough to take me to the Walmart Super Center three miles away (one of my favorite places) to pick up a new battery (long story to be told later). On the way he told be pretty much everything about his life – family, business, dissatisfaction with his job, his struggle with his weight (he is a big, big boy) and more. When we got back to the marine I thanked him for his kindness - boarded Flicka and sat for a while thinking about Paul and how intimacy comes to us in strange circumstances sometimes.

So we have been here for three days and now it’s time to move on. We are going to travel north today a short distance to an anchorage close to the St. Augustine Inlet – that is – an outlet to the Atlantic. Our intention is to go near off shore for a run up to Fernandina Beach at the top of Florida – a distance of about sixty miles. This is a big deal for us – our first off shore run. We will over night at the anchorage and leave at first light – to be able to make Fernandina before nightfall.

So, keep the faith, keep breathing and don’t take anything too seriously. More later.