March 10 to 14, 2009 Updates - Leaving St. Augustine

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 - A BAD Navigation Day and almost Jail Time!
We left Port Marina around 10 am figuring we had an easy day up to the anchorage near the Space Shuttle Launch. WRONG!!!! I did some laundry, hung it out on the rail, we went through the bascule bridge right by the marina and into the lock. The Waterway Guide claimed that there were line handlers at the lock but that wasn’t the case so I was hopping around quickly trying to set lines in the place to get through the lock. Then I was worried about the laundry hanging on the rail getting dirty in the lock so it was a busy time! After we came through the lock, there was an “intersection” and I (as the navigator) told Chris that we should turn “right” (north). HOWEVER….and this is a BIG however, we were to go straight another 6 or so miles before turning “right”. We actually turned up the Banana River, a NASA restricted area and also an area where NO motor vessels of any kind are allowed. We went up the river to the first bridge and we called, but there was no reply. Now, I knew that the marker numbers were not matching the marker numbers on my chart but I attributed that to us having an old chart. When we called the McAuliffe Bridge and told them we wanted an opening, we were informed that they couldn’t “see” us. Duh…..that’s because we weren’t in the Indian River, but instead the BANANA River. Once I realized our mistake (an hour too late), I also realized that we were in the restricted zone. We hightailed it back to unrestricted water, but as our luck would have it, we got stopped by a FL Law Enforcement boat. He informed us to drop the anchor which we then asked if we could do in deeper waters, we apologized over and over. He told us that being in that restricted area was a $132,500 fine, impoundment of the vessel, and 6 years imprisonment. OH LORDY!!!! About that time, a Fountain go fast boat with triple engines went speeding by us and the Officer ended up going after that boat. I told him that we were going to Harbourtown Canaveral on the Barge Canal so I figured he would meet us there later. He didn’t show….WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ONLY cool thing about the day is that we had an EXCELLENT view of the shuttle sitting on the launch pad. Kind of is a scary thing though that we actually got as close as we did before getting stopped. Oh….and we saw our first wild pink flamingos!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - Space Shuttle Day
Position: N 28° .32’.437, W 080° .45’.164
We got to the anchorage about 1:15 pm along with a dozen or so other boats. We were SO excited. Our excitement was dashed when at 4:00 pm they announced that the launch was postponed until Sunday - BUMMER! By that time, the bridges were closed for the 5 pm traffic so we turned on a great XM radio station, grilled some burgers, drank some wine and just chilled in a beautiful spot.

Thursday, March 12, 2009 - Daytona Beach
We motored the 52 miles to Daytona Beach (boring) and treated ourselves to a Pizza at Stavros and walked around the downtown area a bit. The Halifax Marina was a very nice marina with great facilities.

Friday, March 13, 2009 - St. Augustine Anchorage
Position: N 29° .53’.758, W 081° .18’.549
We anchored in a TIGHT anchorage north of the Bridge of Lions and it was so foggy that visibility was only about 50 ft. It was not a restful night as we were afraid that since Long Gone swings so much at anchor, we may swing into another boat.

Saturday, March 14, 2009 - St. Augustine - Camanchee Cove Marina
We’re out of groceries so we took a slip at Camanchee Cove so that we could use their courtesy car. Chris and I went to Walmart and the liquor store (we were almost out of wine - horrors!). We were wowed by the prices and probably bought two of everything. In the Bahamas, the groceries were so expensive. Like a bag of Tyson frozen chicken breasts in the Bahamas was $32 (no lie) and at Walmart it was $8! Tom and Linda from Tomlin Too came over for the last time (sniff) as they are going to their home in Arizona and leaving their Hunter 450 in St. Augustine on the hard. We’ve been traveling with them for well over a week. We grilled some steaks, they brought some wonderful shrimp which we grilled and of course, drank some wine!

Sunday, March 15, 2009 - Leaving St. Augustine
We’re leaving here as soon as Chris finishes changing the oil so if you don’t see an update for a few days, you’ll know that we are traveling and don’t have internet!