Lets go outside. Wait, where are we going?

[The Garbone]

My wife and I initially planned to take 3 weeks in April, sail from Titusville to the Keys possibly the DT. Life has other plans of course and our initial 3 weeks has been cut down to 12 days. Note wanting to over extend I am thinking 3 days to and 3 days return with a bunch off fudge days in the plan.

Option A is St.Augustine. Maybe go outside from Ponce and come back in at Jacksonville or St. Augustine.

Option B. Savannah via outside passage. Problem being no autopilot make for long shifts and being outside overnight with no AIS in a pretty busy area.

Option C. Key Largo or more realistic Miami. We could go outside from Cape Canaveral to Fort Pierce.

This will be our first foray outside the ditch on our own. Savannah seems a bit of a stretch.

Any suggestions? I was looking at the tide tables and the highs and lows seem to line up with our departures and arrivals.

Any one destination better than others. We love St Augustine but have been there in a car a few times so it is not new.

Thanks,

[skipmac]

Hi Gary,

Considering your time frame and location you are a bit tight for a holiday. Too bad your schedule was cut back.

Savannah would be nice but about 250 miles would take about 2 days non-stop with decent winds and weather. I wouldn't worry too much about the AIS thing. I may be spouting heresy, but I sailed thousands of miles without AIC back in the dark ages (before even GPS) and I never came within a mile of a freighter or any other boat that would today have AIS transmitter. They are huge and you can see them coming for miles and not too hard to get out of the way. The only close calls I ever had were with other sailboats that would probably not show anyway.

Jacksonville is closer but I never saw much to do around there for vacation. Maybe St Simon's Island.

Miami at a bit over 200 miles might be the best option. You could probably get there in three long days without doing overnight in the ocean. There's a lot to see and do in the area, the water would be warmer, diving if you're into it, lots of restaurants (including some waterfront where you can dock and eat), museums, attractions. Plus going home if weather and inclination permit you can go outside and have a 2 kt kick in the butt toward home with the Gulf Stream.

[The Garbone]

Thanks for the suggestion of St.Simons, it got me thinking of the Georgia coast.

Looking on ActiveCaptain at Amelia Island, Fernadina Beach and St.Mary's all look pretty interesting and may not be all that crowded. I think we could get there in 3 days an spend 3 or 4 goofing off going up the coast. I would like to get up to Kings Bay and maybe see a sub go by.

Talked to the wife about it and she perked up, someplace new to both of us is always good.

It looks like this will be our big trip for this year. The good thing is we can do the Keys next year or the year afte and then there is the Bahamas also. Plenty of places to go, so little time off work.

[skipmac]

It's really a shame how work interferes so much with sailing. To make things worse, I have this really insane boss that expects me to work, every single week, just because they pay me every week.

Unless you're looking for big city and excitement I think the cruise to Amelia and St Simons will be fun. Plus you can stay inside if the weather isn't conducive to doing the ocean route.

[FSMike]

St. Simons is neat but you need to rent a car or plan on taxis. Bicycles are doable. Golden Isles Marina may have a courtesy car available for grocery trips, etc.
You might also enjoy Jekyll Island and the millionaire's "cottages". The old chapel in the millionaire's village has a stained glass window signed by "L. Tiffany". Yep.
Fernandina is walking accessible except for groceries and has a mooring field in addition to marinas. Make sure to visit Cumberland Island. You can anchor there and dinghy ashore. Worth the trip all by itself imo.
Caution - the ICW along the Georgia coast has areas that have not been dredged in a while. Check out activecaptain.com and cruisernet.net for current info.
The ICW from Fernandina to Jax can also require paying careful attention.
St. Simons Sound, St. Marys River (Fernandina), and Jacksonville are all class A inlets.

[onestepcsy37]

fsmike is on to something. go north.

fernandina beach is a really nice walking town; the admiral will love it. lots of nice old homes to ogle, a cutesy main street, and a home made ice cream shop that makes the best root beer floats around.

then go upriver to st marys. it's another nice old town, not quite as upscale as fernandina, but cruiser friendly. excellent anchorage and dinghy dock. if you need to do laundry, go to the ice cream shop - they have a machine in the back. you can also catch the ferry to cumberland island here, but don't. save that for your non cruising friends. st mary's is the site of the annual cruisers thanksgiving dinner.

go back out to the icw and up to cumberland island. anchor off the dock where the ranger station is. there's a free dinghy tie up, although you MIGHT be able to bring your boat up to the dock. then go ashore to see one of the great natural wonders of the east coast. an almost pristine sea island, complete with wild horses, turkeys, armadillos, one of the best preserved live oak forests to be seen, virgin seashore with multitudes of wild sea oats, the remains of an old mansion, and numerous old buildings and history. we spent three days there. then we went up to the north end of cumberland island and spent four days there. you can walk to the tiny old church where john f kennedy jr was married, if you're so inclined.

if you've still got time, head north as far as jekyll island. be sure to watch your charts here. you will have to go way out into st andrews sound and then come back in to avoid a large shoal that intersects the icw here. it's shown on the chart but not obvious. there's a nice marina there just before the bridge. weekly dockage is inexpensive and includes use of the pool, free wifi, free bicycles, and a loaner car. there's heads, showers, laundry, and a nearby strip mall. and an on-site restaraunt that specializes in low country boil. the island itself is worth a tour, paricularly to the old mansion district, which you can bike to.

while you're at the south end of cumberland, or transiting north, you may encounter two tug boat looking craft painted yellow and lime green coming down the icw. there may also be some coast guard looking rib patrol boats with manned machine guns. that's a sure sign there's a 'boomer' coming up or down the river. kings bay submarine base is just north of cumberland and is headquarters for the local missile carrying submarine fleet. and you are allowed to take pictures of all this, but try to stay out of their way.

i notice you're in titusville. i'm hauled out there right now at westland. if you've time, stop by and say hello. i'll be there tomorrow (saturday) working on my csy 37, 'one step'.

[The Garbone]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

fsmike is on to something. go north.

fernandina beach is a really nice walking town; the admiral will love it. lots of nice old homes to ogle, a cutesy main street, and a home made ice cream shop that makes the best root beer floats around.

You have the admiral pegged right there. Perfect. Should be a lot of fun.

Westland is a great place, they hauled my boat and did the bottom this winter.

Sadly I have to work today and with Easter and a party to attend next Saturday we will be lucky to make it out to the boat once or twice for a few hours in the next week. Hopefully we will be pulling out next Sunday. So much to do and so little time........

[Group9]

It may be too late now, but did you ever think about staging your boat? By that I mean, taking it down south a weekend or two and getting it farther south,and leaving it in a marina, where you don't have as far to go when your vacation starts.

[The Garbone]

We may do that in the future. I would like to stage it in Ft Pierce or some such and make for 2 or 3 weeks in the Bahamas. I could do the same to get it to the keys. Find a decent anchorage an throw out a hook from both the bow and stern to give me less worry and avoid marina fees.

Life is full of possibilities.