tender says, "Come on thru." ???Thursday 2-5-09
It was cold – the overnight low temperatures were in the mid 20s and there was ice on top of the fenders when Polly was taking them in. We began taking in the power cords as soon as we had enough light and by 07:00 we were on our way out of the San Sebastian River bound for Fernandina Beach, the northern most town in Florida. There was still some left over wind from the frontal passage and when we turned north on the ICW we felt the full effect of the 15 kts. with higher gusts. We had completely zipped up the bridge enclosure and were wearing wool socks, caps, jackets and gloves but even that didn’t prevent the cold air from seeping in to chill us. We kept reminding ourselves that NOAA was promising less wind and warmer temps by afternoon but we were still COLD. We moved down to the lower helm station in the pilot house and cranked up the generator so we could make use of the central heating system. Soon we were in shirt sleeves and sipping hot tea as the miles slipped by. We had two unexpected delays along the way – the first occurred as we approached the Jacksonville Beach area. The McCormick Bridge was undergoing some construction and the ICW was closed from early morning until 4:00 PM except for a one hour period between 12:00 and 1:00. We would have been at the bridge about 11:00 AM but when we heard the news on a Coast Guard broadcast we slowed down to adjust our arrival at the bridge for noon. The second unexpected delay happened as we approached a railroad swing bridge just south of Fernandina. All of the cruis
ing guides we have say that the bridge is unattended but always open except for the occasional train that must cross to handle freight to / from the paper mills in Fernandina. I (RCB) was at the helm just enjoying the shoreline sites as we were approaching the open bridge and about 100 yards from the bridge Polly says “is that bridge moving?” It sure was, so I stopped the boat and about 5 minutes later we heard a train whistle. Eventually, a slow moving engine with 4 or 5 cars came into view, and proceed across the bridge. About 5 minutes later the old bridge slowly swung open and off we went to dock about 4:00 PM at the Fernandina Beach town marina. We whipped up a batch of super nachos for dinner and opened the nice bottle of Pinot Noir that friends Jean and Carl Moser gave us as we left on this cruise.
It was cold – the overnight low temperatures were in the mid 20s and there was ice on top of the fenders when Polly was taking them in. We began taking in the power cords as soon as we had enough light and by 07:00 we were on our way out of the San Sebastian River bound for Fernandina Beach, the northern most town in Florida. There was still some left over wind from the frontal passage and when we turned north on the ICW we felt the full effect of the 15 kts. with higher gusts. We had completely zipped up the bridge enclosure and were wearing wool socks, caps, jackets and gloves but even that didn’t prevent the cold air from seeping in to chill us. We kept reminding ourselves that NOAA was promising less wind and warmer temps by afternoon but we were still COLD. We moved down to the lower helm station in the pilot house and cranked up the generator so we could make use of the central heating system. Soon we were in shirt sleeves and sipping hot tea as the miles slipped by. We had two unexpected delays along the way – the first occurred as we approached the Jacksonville Beach area. The McCormick Bridge was undergoing some construction and the ICW was closed from early morning until 4:00 PM except for a one hour period between 12:00 and 1:00. We would have been at the bridge about 11:00 AM but when we heard the news on a Coast Guard broadcast we slowed down to adjust our arrival at the bridge for noon. The second unexpected delay happened as we approached a railroad swing bridge just south of Fernandina. All of the cruis
ing guides we have say that the bridge is unattended but always open except for the occasional train that must cross to handle freight to / from the paper mills in Fernandina. I (RCB) was at the helm just enjoying the shoreline sites as we were approaching the open bridge and about 100 yards from the bridge Polly says “is that bridge moving?” It sure was, so I stopped the boat and about 5 minutes later we heard a train whistle. Eventually, a slow moving engine with 4 or 5 cars came into view, and proceed across the bridge. About 5 minutes later the old bridge slowly swung open and off we went to dock about 4:00 PM at the Fernandina Beach town marina. We whipped up a batch of super nachos for dinner and opened the nice bottle of Pinot Noir that friends Jean and Carl Moser gave us as we left on this cruise.
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