Daytona Beach to St. Augustine
Spring Tide, a Bayfield 36 cutter, was
approaching from the south as we entered the ICW channel for our 45 mile run to
St. Augustine. She was one of the boats
which took shelter in Titusville. Aboard
were Eric and Donna who had also wintered in the Bahamas. We learned they were not familiar with this
stretch of the ICW and offered to share what we knew since there were a few
trouble spots along the way. Thus, we
ended up “buddy boating” to St. Augustine.
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| Tutahaco |
The first bit of information we passed on to them was from a Notice to Mariners advising boaters on the ICW that the Tutahaco sank and that a salvage barge was anchored next to her just off the ICW channel. This was declared a “no-wake” zone and the ICW would be closed during salvage operations. No ICW closures were scheduled for the day. Within a week or so, this interesting landmark will disappear from the ICW.
Of greatest
concern, was the shoaling which has challenged boaters on the ICW for many
years. We have always needed tidal help
to get through this problem spot. The
charts are useless as the drop buoys are frequently moved as the channel
changes direction. On our run south, we
had to stay so close to the shoreline that our chart plotter showed us a couple
of hundred of yards out of channel and crossing over land. We kept that track on our chart plotter as a
source of reference for our return trip north.
Reports on
Active Captain indicated dredging was underway in the channel and creating
confusion as to which side to go around the dredge resulting in boats running
aground as they tried to pass on the wrong side. Dwayne called BoatUS for “local knowledge”
assistance to get advice for making it through the shallow spots near Fort
Matanzas. The advice was the same as
always: “The charts are wrong. Stay 15 feet off the buoys and don’t miss any
as you negotiate this area.” We passed
what we knew from previous runs through this area to Eric on Spring Tide. We would lead the way and keep him posted on
water depths if we found any problems.
We were
dumbfounded when we approached the first turn around the north end of
Rattlesnake Island. The shoreline was a
mountain of white sand. There was no dredging equipment in the channel
and the buoys were sitting in places where there was less than a foot or two of
water in the past. The channel which was
like a meandering cow path last fall had been turned into a four-lane super
highway. We never had less than 12 feet
under our keel and often saw as much as 20 as we cruised through this once
challenging stretch of the ICW. Millions
of cubic yards of sand must have been moved in the process of “fixing” this
problem.
We called
ahead to reserve a mooring in the St. Augustine South Field. When we arrived we landed at the fuel dock to
take on diesel, water and pump out our holding tank. While there, we were surprised to be met by
Cecil and later, Elena of Sophia. We were in adjacent slips in Nassau the last
time we saw them several weeks ago. They
were re-provisioning and planned to head off-shore in the morning bound for St.
Marys, Georgia. We were not too enthused
on trying to negotiate the shifting sand shoals which line the St. Augustine
Inlet. However, Cecil had a track from
when he came in the inlet and the weather forecast was for mild
conditions. As a result, we decided to
“buddy boat” off-shore with Sophia
leading the way through the shoals. Our
morning departure was set so as to make the 0730 Bridge of Lions opening.
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