We got up at 6:30 a.m. and pulled away from the free dock at Sisters Creek Park at a prompt 7 a.m.

Sam was timing the tides so we could get to Fernandina Beach without running aground on any spot along the way.

As we pulled out from the canal where we were docked, we could see the Sisters Creek bridge to starboard and then we made a turn to port.

It was a dreary day.

And it kept on being a dreary day.

All day.

Is that a boat up there?

Yes, definitely a boat.

And it looks like someone has a sense of humor.

Homes

We saw some beautiful homes along this part of the ICW.

Sam still had to be very conscious of moving our boat around this area.

He followed the Bob423 instructions and had uploaded his tracks and routes into the Garmin.

We continued to see new boathouses and beautiful homes.

All the new roofs look like the effects of a past hurricane.

As we traveled along following the recommendations of Bob423, we got close to some of the red markers and then close to some of the green markers.

It definitely wasn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of day.

We watched intently constantly.

This resort/club house building was a surprise.

It was right next door to Crane Island.

Eventually, we came to two bridges right together.

We knew we could fit under the first one but the second swing bridge, we weren’t sure that it would be open.

Fortunately, it was and we breezed on through.

It was soggy but we were still on the move.

Then we came to a paper mill bellowing out smoke.

We knew we would be coming to the marina soon since we heard there were a couple of paper mills close by.

And then we got there.

Ah.

Brand new docks.

It’s really nice.

Can you find the Here’s To Us on this dock?

Look at this monster!

The size of it is just unbelievable.

Get Comfortable

We had only planned on staying in Fernandina Harbor Marina for one night and then be on our way north.

But the next morning, when Sam started the starboard engine, nothing.

The port engine turned over but that wasn’t going to be good enough.

So, Sam went down to the engine room and discovered that two caps on our new batteries had blown off.

Oh great.

A mechanic from Lambs Yacht Center came over with a new battery but soon discovered that both, yes, that’s right, both of our alternators were bad.

Apparently, we had been running on one alternator for some time and because we were running on BOTH on our switch, the failed alternator was masked until the other one failed.

We’re going to be in Fernandina Beach a lot longer than we planned.

Fernandina Beach

Fernandina Beach is a lovely, little town with cute shops and restaurants and a great place to be stranded.

We ate at the Salty Pelican and enjoyed it a lot.

We also went to The Palace, Florida’s oldest bar.

That’s right.

He has a mask on.

We enjoyed strolling down the main street seeing the sights.

Capel and Karen contacted us after seeing our YouTube videos so they could take us out to dinner and visit about the Great Loop.

They happened to be vacationing in the area and we happened to be stranded in the area so it worked out great!

They are planning to do the Loop after they retire in a couple of years.

It was fun answering their questions since they are the questions that we had when we started this thing.

We never got tired of seeing the sights in this new town.

How pretty is this?

Art on a building is always a good thing.

And after seeing this, I have decided to start referring to the heads on our boat as a comfort station.

I think it just sounds better.

I really enjoyed walking around the town of Fernandina Beach and looking at all of the historic homes.

There is a brochure and you can take yourself on your own walking tour.

This one in particular caught my eye.

Have you ever seen anything like this?

So cool.

As we wait for boat repairs, we extended our stay from one night to two nights to seven nights.

Fortunately, we got a price break with a weekly rate.

We have watched boats come and go but are thankful that we made it to such a great place.

We could have been stranded at the dock without power at Sisters Creek!

I don’t even want to imagine what that would have been like.

We noticed a familiar boat, Saltie, who we had encountered before on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and then were docked with them in Paducah, Kentucky – way back on trips #61 and #62. We were reconnected with Dennis and his wife Sharon.

Fernandina Harbor Marina has several park benches with tributes to those who have passed on.

It is a touching and beautiful reminder that life is short.

You better get out there and live the life you want.

This made me laugh and although, I’m not much of a fisher-person, this could be fun.

Our boat was repaired this morning so now all we have to do is plan a route to make up some time and get north of Savannah, Georgia by July 1st for our insurance.

Won’t be too much longer before we will be pulling out of Fernandina Beach.

Georgia here we come!

Our Thoughts