The Bucket Trip comes to an end

We wanted to leave the River City Marina in Jacksonville at 8:30 on January 15, but the CSX railroad had different plans. Just as we were getting ready to pull away from the dock, the railroad bridge came down blocking our path to the south. I called the bridge tender and he said they were starting repairs on the bridge and that I was very lucky that he would be able to open it for me in about an hour.

Sure enough, in an hour, he raised the span -- the last obstacle between us and the boatyard at Green Cove Springs. It was still cool by Florida standards -- 46 degrees. But the weatherman said it would hit 62 by afternoon. The bright sunshine and light wind made it feel warmer. We turned Agaliha south in the wide expanse of the St. Johns River. The water looked like iced tea...reddish brown. There was a half knot current setting us, but we didn't care because we had a short trip to make. At 11:30 we passed under the I-295 bridge, 65 feet over our heads. There was a light north wind that allowed us to motor sail, although it didn't affect our speed very much.

At 1:30 we turned into the old Navy docks, which now belong to Holland Marine. The docks were designed for warships, so we had had hard time tying up to the very high structures. As soon as were were secure, Bob helped me start taking Agaliha apart for the trip home. We removed and folded sails and canvas work. I disconnected the mast wiring and started other "decommissioning" chores.


I had very mixed emotions about the end of the trip. I marveled at Agaliha's performance over the past 2,101 miles. She had performed flawlessly. The engine never missed a beat, the refrigeration was still at 16 degrees and all systems were working like they did in Chattanooga almost four months ago.

The staff at Holland Marine did a great job of getting Agaliha ready for trucking. When she came up out of the water, we all marveled at how clean her bottom was. She had not sustained a single scratch in all those miles.





In an effort to total up the mileage, I flipped back through my logbook. The names of places and ports helped me realize how far I had traveled. I was reminded of the long list of friends who helped me get here -- and the fun I had with them. My life had been transformed to one ruled by the sun, wind and waves rather than by an alarm clock and a calendar. I loved the experience, but I didn't want to do it forever.


When you name a trip a "Bucket Trip" you also have to acknowledge the obvious. It is unlikely that I will be making this trip again -- and that's O.K. Many people dream of doing things like this and never do. I am very fortunate that I had the chance and that I made it happen.




You might expect the last photo of this voyage to be a sunset...but it is not. This is the sunrise on the last day of the trip. I think that is fitting because I am excited about the trips and experiences that lie ahead. So, while I don't think I will ever do this trip again, there may be others. But even if there are not, this trip will make me smile for the rest of my life.



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Into the Saint Johns River

Bob and I left a very cold Jacksonville Beach at nine o'clock. The overnight low was 39, but it had already warmed up to 46 and was headed to 55. The wind was very strong from the NE, blowing 15-20 knots.

In addition to a strong headwind, we were bucking a strong current as the tide was rushing in at the Saint Johns Inlet. When we got to the Saint Johns River about 10:15, the current was wild and frothy. I could feel Agaliha's rudder revolt in the strong conditions. As soon as we entered the river, the current started pushing us, but it was working against the strong wind, so we had some big waves that were splashing us in the face.

We followed the buoys upstream in the river towards Jacksonville to the west. We passed Sister's Creek, where the ICW continues north to Georgia and South Carolina. Our speed through the water was about 5.8 knots, but our speed over ground was almost 8 knots. Soon we were passing the giant cranes of the Jacksonville Port Authority.


Bob and I were concerned about the absence of ships in the port. We couldn't help but wonder if it was a sign of a stagnant economy. Before we knew it, we were approaching the Main Street lift bridge in downtown Jacksonville. We called the bridge tender and he matched our speed for a perfect lift as we sailed under as traffic waited. Our marina was just past the bridge, and getting into our slip in a 2 knot current was another character-building experience.


After I rinsed the salt water off of Agaliha, Bob and I walked over the same bridge that had lifted for us to visit the Jacksonville Maritime Museum. It was a disappointment. They are missing an opportunity to tell Jacksonville's role in a rich marine history all the way back to 1564 when the first French boat landed here in search of gold and silver.








When we checked the weather, the forecast had changed dramatically. Last night was the coldest night and the normal temperatures would be returning soon. I looked enviously at the charts into Georgia and South Carolina. It would be fun to keep going.

Maybe there will be a "Bucket Trip Two." But for now, I am very satisfied with all I have seen and accomplished. It's time to go home.

Tomorrow should bring us to the end of the line...the boatyard at Green Cove Springs.





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St. Augustine and another cold front

Bob and I got up at 6:00 on Thursday to prep the boat for a long 52-mile trip to St. Augustine. The wind was forecast to be 10-20 mph out of the SW, so we wanted to make sure everything was secured before we headed out. Bob had been with me from Clearwater to Key West, so he knew that everything needed to be ship shape before we departed.

We left Halifax Harbor in the moonlight and passed under the Daytona Memorial Bridge at 6:55 when the bridge tender opened it for us. A few minutes later, we passed under the Main Street Bridge when it lifted for us, too.


Once again, it was a beautiful day. Sunny and 75. I was well into my fourth month of this voyage and I had only seen rain twice. We motored most of the morning, wondering where the big wind was. I looked at the instruments and realized that we were being set by a one knot current (slowing us down). This was going to make our long day even longer.

About 11:00 the wind started to pick up. We unrolled the genoa and it boosted our speed. After a half hour it really started to blow. We were doing 7.3 knots through the water, which was about 6 knots over the ground with the adverse current. There is an impassible inlet nearby, called Matanzas. As soon as we passed it, the adverse current became a positive current. The wind also built. We saw some gusts to 30 mph and had a steady 20 to 25mph breeze blowing over the stern quarter. The combination of the wind and tide had us moving at 8.4 knots over the ground. St Augustine was coming up fast.

We arrived at St. Augustine Municipal Marina at 2:30. Fortunately, the slip to which we were assigned was against the current, so I was able to motor in reverse into the slip. It was uneventful. In a 2 knot current, things can interesting in a hurry. We plugged in the electricity and turned on the heat, getting ready for a cold night. It got down to 48.


Pulling into St. Augustine reminded me of European cities on the Baltic Sea. The beautiful old buildings on the waters edge were unlike anything I had seen on this voyage. We had a great "tapas" dinner at the restaurant "Columbia" in the old city. Once again, we were struck by the slow economy and the number of empty tables. Bob and I got treated with great attention, because we are so handsome...and because we have a credit card.











When we pulled out of St. Augustine on Friday morning, we asked the bridge tender of the "Bridge of the Lions" to open his bridge for us at 9:00. He obliged, and we were on our way to Jacksonville Beach.


We were set by and adverse current until we passed the St. Augustine inlet. It is so cool to watch the instruments and see the current turn. We went from a one-knot set to a two-knot push in about 300 yards.



We hunkered down into a WNW wind and motored toward Jacksonville Beach. The high for Friday was 55 degrees, and in Florida that it was a disaster. We felt bad until my daughters called to report snow in Tennessee and Virginia.

We pulled into Beach Marine in Jacksonville Beach in the early afternoon. We were very happy to find that the marina had floating docks because the tidal range here is four and a half feet, the greatest I have seen on the trip so far. We cooked on board and enjoyed Agaliha's cabin heater as the temperature dropped to 39 overnight.


Saturday will be another cool and sunny day as we head north up the ICW to the St. John's River and turn west toward downtown Jacksonville.

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Daytona for a crew change

On Tuesday, January 10, Beau, John and I turned Agaliha toward Daytona Beach. We departed New Symrna Beach Municipal Marina at 8:40 so that we could get under the draw bridge at it's 9:00 scheduled opening. On the way, we passed a huge pelican roost. The day was sunny and beautiful and headed toward a high of 75 degrees without a breath of wind.


We decided to leave the ICW and take the eastern path over to see the Ponce de Leon inlet. It required some careful navigating because these inlet paths shoal up and the shallows move around in ways that don't show on the charts. We got a good look at the lighthouse and a good look into the Atlantic through the inlet. It was very calm in the ocean, but we could feel the strong currents from the tide rushing in to the ICW.


We broke out the shorts and t-shirts for the short trip up the ICW to Daytona. We arrived at Halifax Harbor Marina about noon. It was a huge marina with 550 slips and even had it's own West Marine Store on the premises. We tied up in our slip and enjoyed walking the docks to look at all the beautiful boats. John and Beau needed to get back home to Knoxville, so we ate dinner at the Chart House to celebrate a great week of cruising together. They had to get up 6 a.m. on Wednesday to ride a shuttle to the airport.

I was considering making the next leg of the trip (52 miles to St. Augustine) by myself on Wednesday...until I checked the weather. There was an 80 percent chance of rain with a possibility of severe thunderstorms. I hadn't done any of trip alone yet and this didn't look like the day to start.


The sunrise on Wednesday seemed to bear out the old adage, "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning." But as the day wore on, the forecasted rain never came. The sun was even out most of the day. There has been so little rain in Florida for the past six months, I think the forecast was more wishful thinking than meteorological science.

I rented a car and drove to the boatyard in Green Cove Springs to meet my next crew, Bob. He was going to leave his car there, as it is my final destination. The yard there will drop the mast and load Agaliha onto a tractor-trailer for the trip home.

We drove back to Daytona and went to bed early because we needed to get an early start for St. Augustine on Thursday morning.

In the shadow of the space shuttle

Beau, John and I left Eau Gallie on Sunday morning as the church bells pealed in the little village. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but there wasn't a breath of wind. So we motored up the ICW toward Titusville. We hadn't been moving long when we saw a gargantuan building off to the east. As we got a little closer, we could tell it was the NASA Space Shuttle Vehicle Assembly Building. If only we could have witnessed a launch.


We enjoyed the scenic beauty, even if we didn't have any wind to sail.
We arrived in Titusville about 2:30 and turned into the Municipal Marina after passing through a very large mooring field. It was so warm (78 degrees) that we considered running the air conditioning. We decided that it would cool off pretty quickly, so we just put on lighter clothing.

Late in the afternoon we walked about a mile to the only restaurant in Titusville that is open on Sunday night -- Cracker Jacks. There was live music and a beautiful moonrise.


"Stomp Box Steve" belts out a tune as the moon comes up


Moonrise under the Titusville Bridge

On Monday, we left Titusville and turned north up the Indian River. As we approached the "Haulover" we actually bumped the bottom as we motored in the middle of the channel. It spooked us a little bit and kept us on our toes throughout the day. The "Haulover" is a mile-long canal that connects the Indian River to Mosquito Lagoon.


These yachts reminded us of home.

A little after noon, the wind came up out of the east and we were able to motor sail our way into New Smyrna Beach, which we reached at about 2:00 p.m. We called the Municipal Marina and -- big surprise -- they had room for us. In all my travels I have only been turned away by one Marina that was totally full (Miami Beach Marina on New Year's Eve).

As we were filling out our paperwork in the Marina office, the harbormaster asked us if we knew the owners of the other sailboat in the marina from Chattanooga. Are you kidding?! We were introduced, and we had a great visit with the couple (who actually live in Dunlap). We also met their dogs...who barked at the cat on a leash. I'm not making this up.


We walked a few blocks into the town from the marina. It is a very pretty little town that is 200 years old, a rarity in Florida.


We had a great meal at a picnic table restaurant near the marina and then headed back to the boat to watch the BCS National Championship game on TV. Congratulations Alabama!




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With Friends in "The Ditch"

When Linda departed from Palm Beach, I was joined by two old friends, John and Beau, who flew in to help me get north. John was actually returning for another tour of duty -- he was with me in the Keys before Christmas. The remnants of the cold front were still hanging around, so it was cool and winds were out of the north. Once again, the winds were coming from my destination, making sailing impossible.



Old Beau at the helm



Johnnio, as his friends call him

Thursday we departed the beautiful Palm Harbor at 8:30 a.m. and immediately called the bridge tender of the Flagler Bridge to ask for him to open the bridge at 8:45. The commuters backed up as he let us through. We felt a little guilty.

We repeated this about ten more times that day as we made our way up the intracoastal waterway toward Stuart, the crossroads of eastern Florida. It is called this because the Okeechobee River crosses the ICW into the Atlantic. Boats with a mast height of less than 49 feet can take the Okeechobee River across Florida to Fort Myers. If I had really wanted to go that way, I could have paid a vendor to put 1,000 gallons of water on the deck in bladders to heel the boat over so that the mast will clear the bridge.

But, we weren't going that way. We pulled into Sailfish Marina in a little cove called "Manatee Pocket." We were the only sailboat among a slew of Sportfish boats. Stuart claims to be the "Sailfishing Capital" of Florida. The marina allows you to use your grill (some don't because of the fire hazard), so we grilled up some steaks for dinner.

On Friday morning, we continued up the ICW toward Vero Beach. At this point, most of the highway bridges have 65-foot clearance so we didn't have any bridge openings to contend with. The weather was beautiful and each day was getting warmer than the last. We were back in shorts and enjoying the beautiful scenery on both sides of the boat.

This would be a good spot to comment on how much I like the Atlantic ICW. I had heard reports of big power boat wakes, narrow channels, etc. Maybe we were just there in a slow period, but every power boat that came by us slowed down to reduce their wake. Maybe they were so astounded to see "Chattanooga" on the transom of a boat that they were slowing down to see if we had shoes...or teeth.

The scenery of mansions and mega yachts slowly morphed into views of mangrove islands teeming with wildlife. Dolphins played in our wake every hour or so as all manner of seabirds put on a fishing show for us.





Bob, my crew from Clearwater to Key West, lives in Vero Beach so he came to the municipal marina as soon as we tied up. He took us on a tour of Vero Beach and drove us to a great restaurant for dinner. Then we went to the grocery store to replenish our food supplies.


As we left the marina on Saturday morning, we had to slow down to snake our way through the the Vespoli rowing shells of a local female rowing club. It was a beautiful day to motor-sail to Melbourne. We saw large numbers of beautiful white pelicans that had black wingtips. When we got to Melborne at 2:00 we decided to continue on for another 5 miles to a little village named Eau Gallie.

What a great decision that was! As we came down the entrance channel a pod of dolphins were jumping all around us at they fed on mullet. They were jumping so high we thought we were at "SeaWorld." The pelicans were also diving on the mullets all around us. When we got to the marina, it looked like we were in New England. The marina office was located in a canvas shop and a local artist was carving a block of cherry into a dolphin sculpture outside the door.


We walked into town and found a local bar called "Squid Lips" where they brought us some oysters and made our favorite cocktails. A couple of musicians were performing and Beau joined them on stage for some percussion assistance.





We came back to the marina and grilled a pork tenderloin. After dinner, we joined some other boaters around a fire pit and told stories. We also listened to an unfolding drama on the VHF radio as the Coast Guard attempted to assist a sailboat that was 100 miles off the coast with an very sick captain.

By the way, We heard some conflicting stories about the meaning of the town name, Eau Gallie. My college french has worn off, but I knew Eau meant water. Gallie means rocky, according to one resident, but another said the combined phrase actually means clear water. Either way, it is a cool little place with loads of character.


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A turn towards home

I don't know when it happened exactly. At some point, as I plotted my way up the east coast of Florida, I started to think about when I would be back home. Now...that doesn't mean I'm not loving this trip. But the further I move north, the cooler it is getting and the more I think about my fireplace at home.

I had a mental image of Forrest Gump when he was running with all those people following him. Then he suddenly stopped. I think he said something like, "The best trip is one that takes you home."

At some point in the last few days, my mental energies have turned toward home. A few cold blasts of arctic air have passed across Florida and reminded me and all the other sailors here that we are not immune from the cold influence of the rest of the planet. And, each day moves me further north about 35 miles. Over the period of a week, that adds up to a couple hundred miles change in latitude.


Full Moonrise under the NASA bridge at Titusville.

I have now made arrangements for Agaliha to have her mast lowered in a boatyard on the St. John's River 50 miles upstream from Jacksonville. I have also made arrangements for a trucker to to load her up and take her back to Tennessee. A look at the forecast says it is a good decision. A couple of small cold fronts are headed this way in the next couple of weeks.

Jacksonville is the logical port because going further north doesn't get you any closer to Chattanooga because of the way the coastline moves east at the Georgia border. Since the trucker charges by the mile, Jacksonville is the best choice.

The only disappointment from my original plan is that I didn't get to the Bahamas. I knew it was possible that conditions might not allow it and that turned out to be the case this year. But that does not take anything away from the fabulous experience I have had. When I finish, I will have circumnavigated the entire state of Florida and traveled about 2,000 miles from Chattanooga.

But as they say, "All good things must come to an end."



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The boating capital of the world

For the remainder of the week that Linda spent with me moving Agaliha north, we stayed at Turnberry Isle (New Year's Eve), Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale (Jan. 1), Boca Raton (Jan. 2).


New Year's Day on Ft. Lauderdale Beach as a cruise ship departs.


Ft. Lauderdale is celebrating its 100th birthday


The Jungle Queen was berthed right behind us in Bahia Mar Marina.


A typical scene along the Atlantic ICW, Jethro.

Next stop, Boca Raton!