Day 92, Year 11: Passage to FL, Day 3—Safe Arrival in Fernandina
Date: Friday, January 22, 2016
Weather: Partly Cloudy, High 71, Low 41 F; Wind WSW 20-25, Gusts to 35-40
Latitude: 30 40.339 N
Longitude: 081 28.138 W
Location: Fernandina Harbor Marina Mooring Field, Fernandina Beach, FL
Miles Traveled: 257 nautical miles
We timed our arrival perfectly, entering the St. Mary’s (Fernandina) Inlet at daybreak and just before the current turned against us. We had south winds against us much of the night, but for the most part they were light and not directly on the nose. At 5 am they piped up to 20 knots but by this time they had turned to actually speed us along. Of course, we didn’t want to speed up so we just adjusted the RPM’s. By 7:30 am we picked up a mooring across from the Fernandina Harbor Marina, ate breakfast, and went back to bed. This afternoon we have been sitting in the cockpit and bouncing a bit in the heavy winds. Ever since our “weather event” this past summer when we were hit by a micro-burst and 100 mile an hour winds blew us and our mooring into rocky, shallow waters, heavy winds give us a bit of a fright. We aren’t expecting any mini-tornadoes, but we both have to admit that we are more on edge than we used to be when the wind pipes up.
There’s not much to look at here as this side of Fernandina Beach is industrial. Fernandina is the home of the modern shrimp industry and it is the home of a pulp and paper mill. So today we enjoyed the sunshine and got in a good deal of reading. Since early afternoon the wind has been SE 20 to 25 knots and gusting to 40. It is supposed to calm a bit overnight and then pipe up again in the morning and stay this way through tomorrow afternoon. A cold front is coming in tonight and will keep the daytime temperature in the 40’s tomorrow and tomorrow night it will be a chilly 30 degrees here. We won’t complain, however, as many of you are experiencing much colder temps and bracing for the big snow. By Sunday the wind here will subside and the temperature will return to something a little more normal for this time of year in northern Florida. We will sit still until at least Sunday morning and decide then whether to go back outside and down the coast or start the long, slow slog down the Intracoastal. One possibility is to go inside to St. Augustine or Titusville and go outside there. In the meantime, we’ll try to stay warm and get in lots of reading.
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| 160122 Day 92 Passage to Florida–Day 3, Arrival in Fernandina Beach |
