After a nice pre dawn walk with Riva through the nice streets of Fernandina we sat around on the deck for a while finishing up yesterday’s blog, eating breakfast and then preparing the boat for today’s trip. As we were preparing for our departure the Bella Villa pulled out of their slip to also head north on the ICW. Pretty impressive yacht! Maybe they are just commuting by water to their jobs as managers at the local Taco Bell...lol.
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| We are pretty sure this boat would have the walk around bed and full shower that we want :-) |
We untied the lines and shoved off at about 8am and fortunately the boat and transmission that we had drained of fluid yesterday afternoon seemed to be performing just fine. Yay! It was a cool but sunny morning with a nice breeze blowing. As we continue northward on the ICW it is now a very remote landscape with few towns or even homes along the winding pathway of marshy waterway.
We were about 20 miles into the trip and cruising along nicely at about 15 mph. Erik was looking for our handheld VHF radio in the cabinets below the Flybridge helm while Renee momentarily took the wheel from him to ensure we stayed in the channel so that he could look closer when when suddenly the bottom of the boat abruptly and noisily found the bottom of the marked channel...ugh! Fortunately, the channel bottom in these areas are not usually rock or very hard and the impact was short and we went right through without getting stuck. However, unfortunately we were traveling at a fast enough clip that the grounding stalled the starboard engine. Upon startup it was immediately apparent that we had damaged the starboard running gear (prop?/shaft?/strut?....hard to say for certain). There was a nasty vibration throughout the boat. It is said by many Loopers and cruisers that there are 3 kinds of boaters; those that have run aground, those that will run aground and those that are liars! We now officially fit into the first category :-(
We shut down the damaged side and decided to continue north. This would AGAIN alter our plans for the day and very likely for the next several days depending on what the damage is and when we can get the boat pulled out for inspection and necessary repair. We were about 26 miles from Brunswick GA where there is one of only a couple large marina and boat yards in the area (Brunswick Landing) that has the necessary travel lift to get the boat out. We continued north at a much slower 6-8 mph which was less than ideal as we came to a section where we had to exit the fairly smooth and protected area of the marshy low lands and into a large wide turn at an opening to the Atlantic for a couple of miles. In this short stretch the swells of 2-3’ coming at our starboard side beam made for continuous steering and maneuvering to keep the boat on course while at a slow speed with only one engine. As we got through this area open to the Atlantic and rounded a bend back behind an island the swells decreased to almost nothing and we saw a nice beach area on the back of the island that had several boats pulled up anchored or beached and people enjoying the beautiful day. We motored over there and ran the boat gently up onto the sand where the rear of the boat and props were now only in about 3-4’ of water. Erik dawned his suit and goggles to dive under the boat and see if he could determine the extend of the damage we had done. It was hard to see, but by feeling around it does not appear that anything has distinct bends or damage. Good news....we hope! We are hopeful that it only bent something on the prop and not the shaft or strut. This would be a MUCH cheaper and quicker repair since we do have a spare set of props aboard.
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| sandbar at the end of Cumberland Island |
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| Most of the ICW was smooth cruising but occasionally we would come to a spot where we had to pass through an opening out to the Atlantic and things would get a bit rougher |
Being Memorial Day today the marina was hosting a shindig so after getting settled in on our way up to the office to check in we stopped in at the clubhouse and had a late lunch of potluck goodies. We may be having lots of issues with the boat but we do seem to be on a roll of obtaining free food! We are also wondering if someone is trying to tell us something because Brunswick Landing has free beer and wine as well every Monday/Wednesday/Friday....lol. We again chose to abstain.
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| Riva sunning herself on the aft deck she has a rufff life! |
After lunch and a nap (yep....it’s another one of those kinda days) we sprayed down the boat and bikes to get rid of the salty grime. Afterwards we brought Riva up to the nice dog park that the marina also has :-) For the first 30 mins we were the only ones at the park but that was fine and Riva enjoyed playing fetch with her ball and frisbee. Just as we were preparing to leave and head into town to get a couple of things at the dollar store two other dogs showed up so we decided to stay a while and let Riva play with her new, large friends. She and the other dogs had a blast running and romping. Riva is so fast and playful as were the other two dogs 🐕. It is hilarious watching her run and play with large dogs; their size does not intimidate her one bit!
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| Brunswick Landing Dog Park is large and very nice Riva can run! |
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| or she can just play in the balls |
We enjoyed yet another spectacular sunset from the dog park while visiting and chatting with the other dogs owners. One guy gave us the information for a marine diver locally that he has used to perform work on his boat. Depending on whether the folks here at the service yard can get us pulled and looked at quickly this may be another option.
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| Sun behind the palms while at the dog park |
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| we love sunsets! |
We rounded out the day with a short bike ride into town and our usual coffee before retiring to bed exhausted.
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| Veterans Memorial Park just outside of Brunswick Landing marina |
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| A huge THANK YOU to all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country! |
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