!!FLORIDA!! ICW MM 777.8

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Well, it's been a little hectic but we're in Florida finally =]
Not the Keys yet, but we are currently anchored in St Augustine.
On the gps chartplotter today I saw a nearby road. Some of you may have heard of it,
some of you know it well... "A1A" YAYYYYYYY!!!!
But the story for this post started a few days ago.
Let me backtrack a bit. Several days ago as we neared Jekyll Island, GA, the engine quit. We were in a sound where huge cargo ships were going back and forth.
The seas were rough, the tiny ship was tossed (Gilligan's Island reference-LOL).
What happened was with the rough waves & as we started getting low on fuel the filters got clogged from the junk on the bottom of the tanks. We went from 40 feet of depth to 14' very fast as the current and wind were driving us quickly towards shore... and a man-made concrete reef! yikes
So I immediately gave the order to drop anchor. Then commenced to diagnose what caused this. I cleaned fuel lines, checked fuel pumps (2) & changed filters (for 2 hours) to no avail. So as darkness was encroaching we made the call to BOATUS. We had them tow us to the marina we were heading for which was only 4 miles away.
The bill was $510 bucks! Thankfully Scotty (new crew member & new friend) and I both have unlimited towing insurance so it was free ;D
That night we stayed in the Jekyll Harbor Marina (niiice!) It had a luke-warm hot tub, a restaurant & most importantly.... SHOWERS! At this point in the game I hadn't taken one in over 2 weeks [ARRRG]
ANYway, the next day we met up with parrothead friends of mine & went to their house to visit. We anchored the boat in a little cove with other sailboats, kayaked to shore, loaded them onto their SUV & headed to their place. We had fun catching up, playing with their fun dogs & just relaxing.
I kinda had major reservations about leaving the boat anchored, locked & alone overnight. Well, the next morning (as a nor'easter type weather pattern built) we kayaked out to where we left the boat~ but it wasn't there 8^O
"DUDE, WHERE'S MY BOAT" Yes, I went there ;) another movie reference.

So as my life turned upside down my mouth went dry.
I scanned the horizon, nothing.
I kayaked back to the marina hoping it had maybe dragged anchor & someone towed her there. I scanned the marina back & forth for a pirate flag. No pirate flags were seen (I fly one off the stern).
So, as clamly as I could muster I asked the nice older lady at the desk (near the VHF radio in the marina office) "had anything exciting occurred overnight.... like, I don't know, maybe a boat which had dragged anchor- or anything like that?"
She said one had dragged off anchor in Florida. I retorted with "no, I mean like locally?". She then said oh yeah, one dragged out South into the sound about a mile away!
So she had a dock hand (who had seen it earlier) shuttle me out to it & there was SunRunner anchored way out there by herself a mile further South than I was!
I was happy as a pig in mud at that point, the world was right again & all's good.
From there "it was a dark and stormy night, a shot rang out, a ship appeared on the horizon" Actually (sorry for the Snoopy reference)from there it has been really smooth sailing. Today we did 61 miles saw more great scenery and dolphins & motored along with the Jib (front sale) up for most of the morning. I even sailed under a fixed bridge ( vs motoring under) for the 1st time ever. This afternoon contained a stretch about 10 miles long which was straight as an arrow, nicely narrow and very scenic. I had had my eyes on that stretch for several days. Each night we plan and map out the next days leg where we factor in weather, stops and unplanned issues. It's fun to look beyond & in one nights planning I had found that stretch. Finally today we got to it at Mile Marker 750.
I was ready to hoist the sails & enjoy the ride... Would you believe it, no wind!
ARRRRG! So I grabbed a Diet Mt Dew, a book and went up to the bow to read and sunbathe. It was so cool! I really enjoy seeing the houses along the ICW & their elaborate docks!
No Manatee or Alligator sightings yet but today, as I rode on the bow doing a Titanic moment on the very front, I saw a dolphin 2 feet below me swimming along. It was long enough for him/her to take 3 breaths then it dove & was gone.
Finally as we entered into this anchorage "Starey Larry" came peeping his head out of his sailboat like a groundhog as I was about to anchor near him. Then he yelled over, "DON'T anchor there, you'll run aground in the morning at high tide" ...WHAT?!! That's just crazy talk, LOL!!
Dinner tonight was ribs (thanks again Sam!) mac-n-chees and green beans :)
'nite y'all