23. St Augustine, Florida

We left Hogan’s Marina early in the morning and were on our way meandering through Georgia. The ICW snakes its way around back and forth and it seems that you turn back as much as you move forward. Not far out of Savannah, we passed Moon River named in honour of Johnny Mercer’s famous song Moon River. He was a Savannah native. We also passed through Hell’s Gate and Jeckyl Creek. Both aptly named because of the difficulty navigating through these passages. We made sure that we went through on a rising tide as we did not want to use Tow Boat Us again even if we do have unlimited towing.

Finally we were in Florida! Travelling along the ICW we passed beautiful homes. Everyone was getting all decked out for Christmas decorating even their boathouses as indicated above. Imagine what this would look like in the dark!

We travelled south to St. Augustine, a city that we really liked. We anchored just north of the Lion Bridge which is a temporary bascule bridge built while the original Lion Bridge is slowly being restored to its former glory. The turrets in front of the bascule bridge are part of the old bridge. They are being reinforced and recast where necessary. It is going to take at least three years before it is finished. It should look wonderful.





We arrived in St. Augustine just in time for their annual Christmas parade of boats. Sailboats, tugboats, cruisers, boats of all sizes were very festively decorated with beautiful lights. They sailed right in front of where we were anchored. We had front row seats. I experimented with taking pictures in the dark as well as of quickly moving objects.

Every night the city along the river would light up with thousands of lights just as you can see in the above picture.

St. Augustine has a very interesting history. It was founded in 1565 as a Spanish military outpost. It is the oldest continually occupied European settlement in the Unites States. Traces of the city’s Spanish heritage are reflected everywhere. After the Seven Years War (1756-63) Britain gained Florida in exchange for Cuba which the British had captured. The second Spanish period was brief and in 1821 Florida was relinquished to the United States.

Needless to say, there is a strong Spanish presence in St. Augustine. We walked around the Castillo de San Marcos, a large Spanish stone fort dating from the 17th century.


We visited the old Spanish Quarter which recreates a living history village similar to Black Creek Village in Toronto.

We were the only people in the village when we were there and we spent a lot of time talking with the various artisans represented.

The scribe really enjoys his work and he is one of the few people who can still write in the old Spanish script. He told us which bird quills were good to use and

showed Roman how to cut a quill properly. It is really an art.

A little squirrel watched while we were given some Seville oranges, limes and lemons which grow wild just as they did centuries ago. Surprisingly they did not last long. I guess that the sprays that are sprayed on the fruits today really do preserve the fruit.


The oldest wooden schoolhouse in the United States is located in the old Spanish Quarter. I bought some ink, from the Schoolhouse Store, for Katya to use with a real quill. She is very creative and might enjoy experimenting with a quill.

Next to the Spanish Quarter is the St. Photios National Greek Orthodox Shrine which is a beautiful chapel with exquisite icons. The iconographer was a very talented artist. One of the most important purchases we made is a couple of Canadian flags in the World of Flags store. We are on our second flag as the weather wrecks havoc with our flag. Our current flag is very large and has got caught in the wind generator and on the solar panels. I have spent countless hours repairing holes and stitching up the sides of the flag by hand.

St. Augustine Municipal Marina was only a short dinghy ride from where we were anchored. The Marina allows dinghy dockage, use of showers and laundry facilities for a daily fee of $10.00 plus tax. We took advantage of this and one day lead into another and we ended up spending a full week there. Above I am sitting on the wall just in front of the north side of the Lion's Bridge where we anchored.



We wandered around the city admiring the old buildings and enjoying the

walkway through the oldest part of the city. The bus system is very efficient. A series of small buses carry passengers for a $1.00 over a wide variety of routes. By bus, we went to Wal-Mart, West Marine, Publix, Dollar Tree and other stores, all on the outskirts of the city. We also went to a unique Trade Exchange where you can sell, buy, and trade or exchange boating items. We spent an afternoon going through charts, books and many aisles of boating parts. This would have been a great store to go to when Roman was building the boat. We bought a couple of waterproof charts of the Bahamas, some books for reading, and Roman found a hydraulic steering pump to have as a replacement part.

Life is full of interesting coincidences. We were sitting at an internet café in Casa Monica which is an old hotel built in the late 19th century and recently totally renovated. We had just finished sending an e-mail to our friends Ray and Irene from C-Drifters when we looked up and saw Ray and Peter from Superior Grace passing right in front of us. They had dropped anchor in the same anchorage as our boat. Needless to say, we were glad to see each other. We had a similar experience, last year, when we were sitting at a restaurant in Kingston, Ontario and looked up to see our friend Warren Goodyear walking in front of the restaurant window.

We went out to dinner and spent the evening laughing and getting caught up.

Then we went bar hopping. Laughing and dancing to a great oldies band, we had a grand time.


Come on, all together now.


Left foot, then right foot!

No, no the other left foot!

We'd like just a little bit more to drink, just a wee bit more!

We spent several days with our friends. We wandered round the old quarter and went to a concert of Christmas carols in the park by a navy band. Another day we went to the Prince of Wales Restaurant famous for its chip and fish. Ray and Irene agreed that the fish was done in the famous British fashion but the chips were lacking. However, they tasted great to me.

Then we were off again!

22. To Savannah, Georgia

We left Beaufort mid morning and followed the river to Port Royal Sound. We were very careful to leave so that we would be going through the low shoaling areas on a rising tide as we were warned that there was little money for dredging the ICW in South Carolina and Georgia. It was a beautiful sunny day with a fair wind and we even had our main sail out. We passed shrimp boats out in the sound and even wondered if maybe we could have shrimp for dinner when we stopped for the night.

Suddenly Roman yelled “We have no rudder. The steering’s gone!” I took over the wheel while Roman climbed down under the cockpit to check the rudder quadrant. I put out an alert over the VHF that we had lost the steering of the boat and could not control where we were going. I also called Tow Boat US for assistance.

Meanwhile Roman found out that bracket that holds the hydraulic cylinder was broken from the strut to which it was connected. The bolts were sheered off completely. Roman went up and took down the sails while I diligently watched the shrimp boats. Roman, being the creative genius that he is, went below and managed to secure the bracket temporarily with a C-clamp and vice grips. We regained enough steering to slowly veer away from the shrimp boats that had pulled in their nets when hearing that we had no steering control. We had to be very gentle with the rudder steering so that clamps would not come off.

The shrimpers had let their nets go into the shipping channel and Roman figures that we passed over a shrimp net even though we were far away from the shrimp boats. He thinks that the shrimp net caught the rudder and pulled it. Since we were sailing he originally thought that it was just a gust of wind and countered the steering. At that time the steering went and thus broke the bracket. We later found out that the nets can be half a mile or longer.

We were very lucky that the dispatcher, Dana, who responded to our call for assistance from Tow Boat US, was very knowledgeable about the area and what marinas were equipped to handle the fact that we would need a portable welder to repair our problem. The only place that could service us would be Savannah Georgia.
He called a towboat out of Beaufort that took us midway and then we were transferred to a towboat out of Savannah and taken to Hogan’s Marina on Turner Creek, Wilmington Island which is a suburb of Savannah Georgia.


Here we are being towed to Savannah. We were towed for over 6 hours! Shoaling continues to be a challenge even with experienced operators like Towboat US. While being towed, we hit a shoal at about 7 knots and I was thrown right across the boat. It took a couple of weeks for those bruises to heal. At Thunderbolt, Georgia we passed the annual town parade of boats all decked out in Christmas lights. It was quite the sight!

It was about 8:30 Saturday evening when we finally arrived at Hogan’s Marina and it was a challenge docking the boat in the dark. I shone a flashlight on the decks while the towboat operator, Frank, tried to guide us in. A fter three tries, we did it! We made to the fuel dock where we stayed for the remainder of our visit. Our keel was too deep for the water around the docks.

Two other boaters came to help us dock. They were fixing up their boats to travel south as we were. We spent many interesting hours chatting and laughing with our new friends Steve and Steven. Here we are enjoying a glass of wine after dinner. Steve is from Alaska and bought his boat sight unseen from the internet. He flew down, picked it up and sailed it to Hogan’s Marina to check it out before he sails to the Bahamas and beyond. Steve is a Czech from Montreal who has spent years sailing to Honduras, San Salvador, Panama, all parts of Mexico and even lived for five years in Costa Rica. He has been preparing his boat at Hogan’s Marina last January through April and this year for the past two months and is planning to sail south in January.

Hogan’s Marina is a no frills place with washrooms and the one shower only open 8 to 5 and has no internet. It is primarily a fishing marina with motorboats stored on a three tier rack building. Boat owners phone one hour before they want their boat and a crane gets their boat and puts it in the water. When they finish using the boat, it is again stored out of the way on one of the tiers. It is a very efficient system as the laws prohibit the building of more docks on Turner Creek. The marina is always full and there is a waiting list even with the price of gas that it is. The people at the marina were wonderful. Bubba, the manager, arranged for a second welder when the first one, who came to look at the problem, could not help us.

Roman made a pattern for the new brackets; the second welder had a portable welder and between them, they fixed the problem. Jody, who worked in the office, drove me to the library so that I could access the computer. The marina provides areas for the fisherman to clean their fish and on the weekend there were many fishermen cleaning their fish. One of the fishermen gave me some red bass fillets and they tasted absolutely scrumptious. The fish literally melted in our mouths.

Steven let me tag along with him to Wal-Mart, Target, West Marina, Outdoor World (what a place) and Publix. We did all that in one afternoon. Coming out of Walmart on the outskirts of Savannah, Steven and I witnessed a spectacular sky. Luckily I had my camera.

The next day Roman and I went into Savannah where we took a bus tour around the city.


Savannah is the most charming city that we have visited so far and one of the largest. It took us over an hour to go into downtown by bus from Wilmington Island. Savannah has never had a hurricane and all the buildings are beautifully preserved. Generally homes were built in the colonial style of architecture and most are painted white with soft pastels intermingled.

Balconies and verandas wrap right around the buildings. As in Charleston and Beaufort, homes have the first floor up a flight of stairs. At the time, people thought that the higher up you were, the cooler it would be. So slaves and servants lived in the coolest part of the home on the lower level. Properties were taxed on the number of doors and the number of closets that a building had. Thus to keep taxes down, homes had large narrow windows through which a person could step outside onto the balcony instead of doors. Few rooms had closets and large wooden wardrobes were the fashion.

Moss-laden old oak trees line most of Savannah's streets..

Savannah was the last city established by Britain in America. The city’s two mile square historic district is the largest urban National Historic Landmark with more that 1000 architecturally or historically significant structures restored and in use. Its city plan is distinguished by the fact that was a planned community and is built around a repeated pattern of multiple squares and streets that line these squares. Each of the 21 Historic Squares is named for a historical figure or event.

One, for example, is dedicated to the Haitians who came to fight in the War of Independence from Britain. All statues face the direction from which the enemy came. For example, the ones honouring the Spanish-American War heroes face the south. Each square is picturesque and beautifully maintained. These squares are often rented out to individuals for such private functions as family gatherings or weddings. The price is only $50.00 which includes a policeman for 4 hours to control crowds. Quite a bargain!

One of the interesting sights was the police barracks with the old police cars in front. We managed to get a picture from the tour bus.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is very reminiscent of churches we have seen in Europe was awesome. It was built about the same time as oldest black church in the United States which is also located in Savannah. What a contrast!

Cotton was king here for a long time and the waterfront,which reminded us of old Quebec City, is lined with a cobblestone street and picturesque buildings. The backs of these buildings were built with overhead factor walks named for the cotton "factor" who would walk along the second story platforms and inspect the bales of cotton stored below.

Several blocks of the older part of the city are closed to vehicular traffic and one afternoon we wandered in and out of the quaint shops.

Roman found time to make new friends. This one reminded me of someone. UMMMM, let me think, Oh yes, I do believe that is Marilyn all dressed up for Christmas.

Here I am coming out of Thomas Kincaid store. I have always loved his paintings. The lighting is awesome and it seems that the paintings are alive!

Goodby Savannah!