May-2 2006

May 2006
Florida has a huge coastline and from West Palm Beach it goes west as well as north. The waterway becomes more remote from civilisation and the first of the stretches affected by the tides appears. Mantzanas Inlet was the first one to catch us out at low water. This part of Florida saw the first European settlers and they were from Spain. They established the St Augustine settlement and built forts to protect them . Fort Manzanas remains today and the design would look just as much at home in Spain or Portugal with the little corner turret.
We had woven our way carefully through the shallow patches in the waterway but as we crossed the inlet the boat rose suddenly in the air on a sandbank, fortunately dropping straight back into the water on the other side!
We think we will do this at high water next time... Difficult to plan though within the constraints of a travel agenda.

The main road bridge in St Augustine is a decaying double bascule affair with lion sculptures on it and it is called the Bridge of Lions. It needs major repairs and a whole new lift bridge structure is being built behind it. We do not know whether this is temporary or permanent but it seems unlikely that the historic bridge will disappear.
From here northwards to Georgia the waterway becomes surrounded by swamps or marshes. The birds and porpoises are more numerous.

Anchorages are usually found in in rivers or bends just off the main waterway and in Georgia you could just sit there in the evenings watching the numerous herons fishing the river banks around you. The white herons are like enormous egrets with extra feathers around there necks and waists like sumo wrestlers. The egrets are there too, some hunting insects and some fishing but the herons steal the show with their typical posturing and rapid strikes when a hapless fish strays into view.

The ICW through Georgia has a bad name as shallow, bug-ridden and slow. It is formed by linking lots of river estuaries as they wind through the marshes and travel is slow compared to being off shore. For us the remote winding channels were wonderful. Bald eagles and ospreys hunted everywhere and their high numbers must reflect the available numbers of prey. They can be seen catching and carrying fish and feeding their young in their nests right by the waterway.

We did not run aground in Georgia but it sure was shallow at times! Some hot days we were invaded by hundreds of green horse flies and we established ‘no fly’ zones. Two fly swats worked full time and hundreds of bodies disposed of each evening. It did not put us off but we understood those who hated it.
The subtle move to South Carolina was marked by the appearance of huge dredgers. These are anchored to the centre of the channel by posts.

The dredger then chews from side to side with enormous power and you have to nip past very quickly when it is angled away from you. Marshes and river estuaries dominate and tidal flows build to 2 knots with 2.5 metre tidal ranges. We use our sails all the time to help our progress and although legal, few people do this.