Alex is an outstanding pilot. We would swap out every hour which worked out very well. Most of the inter coastal is deep enough for commercial traffic which means you share the waterway. Passing barges and tug boats can be intimidating. Meeting them at a bridge can create a pucker factor.
I will include a list later of all the places we stopped along the way. My crew would swap out along the way with the car driven from marina to marina and purchase supplies as needed. We got pretty good at planning and finding what we needed with Sonja doing most of the communications with marina reservations.
We swapped out crew members in Myrtle Beach just before the 4th of July with Alex flying home to prepare for his big family get together. A big thank you to Alex for his time and wisdom to get this adventure rolling. Sarah and Zack flew in the next day. The car was left at the airport and they caught up with us in Charleston, SC just in time for a night of fireworks and festivities. We celebrated Zacks birthday (the big 30) with a trip to one of the best BBQ houses on the east coast.
We managed to get through Georgia without running into any poop police. Georgia is one of the states trying real hard to regulate recreational boaters to keep them from dumping waste tanks in coastal waters. Of course big industry is still dumping billions of gallons of pollution into the waters every day but by golly they will stop those boaters from adding to it.
Zack was the most diligent fisherman I have seen in a while. He always had a line in the water trying new baits and tactics. Unfortunately trolling in the inter coastal at 8 knots did not prove to be an effective method. We stopped along the way and dropped anchor on occasion, swam, ate lunch and fished. I managed to feed a lot of worms to well deserving fish but never caught anything. Zack hooked a baby shark about a a foot and a half long but before he got it to the boat something bigger ate half of it. I mean clean bite like surgically dissected. We all stood there silently looking at this half a fish hanging on the hook. We decided we did not want to swim any longer and it was time to move on. Whatever ate that fish might still be hungry.
We passed through many draw bridges along the way. Some were railroad bridges. Zack and I were approaching a railroad bridge just outside Jacksonville FL and were discussing the fact that they were normally open but would shut when a train was approaching and how we would know if that was going to happen. Just then horns started blowing, lights were flashing and we were about 100 feet away. Panic filled the air, what do we do, what do we do, we started to reverse engines and get out of there when the bridge operator stepped out of his booth hollered at us and waved us through. Now we know what happens and what to do but what are the odds of that happening just then. God sure has a since of humor.
We all took turns at the wheel. It's a lot easier then you think. All you have to do is keep the boat on the chart plotter on the line drawn on the screen like a video game. You set the engine RPMs to the desired speed and don't touch them again. You have to watch the water to make sure you don't run into any logs or anything that can get caught in the propellers and that's it. Some of us enjoyed the job more than others but we all relaxed after a while and enjoyed the ride.
We finished the trip with a few R&R days at a marina in Jacksonville. Had a great pool and hot tub. Much needed after the last few weeks. Sarah and Zack flew out back to LA and Sonja and I put FIREFLY on the dry in Green Cove Springs Marina. Will go back first of October to prepare her for our first cruising season. We plan on continuing down the Florida coast to the Keys for our first season and get our open water legs and living at anchor experience before attempting a Caribbean cruise.
Sonja And I drove back to Co with a stop at my moms in Alabama and a few days with the grand kids in Arkansas. Went by the new house in Fairfield Bay. Cant wait to get moved.
