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During Thanksgiving dinner the crews of Eleanor Q and Magnolia came to the conclusion that it was time to get out of the cold and head south. Hence Operation South Bound was put into action! We were hopefully waving goodbye to the cold as we passed the iconic Hilton Head Lighthouse.
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SV Eleanor Q as we depart Hilton Head
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Magnolia passing under one of the many restricted bridges along the ICW. (Eleanor Q)
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We have lost count the number of house we have passed and said, what a cute place! The huge ones are everywhere, the small and quaint ones are much harder to come by!
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Magnolia at anchor (Eleanor Q)
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Sadly final Thanksgiving Left-Overs
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Travel Days start very early and end very late!
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We have been trying to catch a weather window to make a passage and finally one presented itself! We departed St Simon Island heading down to St Mary’s, GA, a trip of about 40 miles.
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Eleanor Q passes port to port with an arriving freighter.
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This is what it looks like out our Port side enclosure.
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Hearing the words of my friend Greg in my head, “make hay when the sun shines” we made the decision to continue on to Jacksonville, FL while the weather was fair. Jacksonville added another 20 miles to the trip but saved us a days travel on the ICW. Remember, we are executing Operation South Bound!
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The next morning I awoke caught a spectacular sunrise though I could not remember seeing the Skyline of Mayport the night before. I suddenly realized what I was seeing was a huge container ship making its way up the St Johns River!
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There is an amazing free dock on Sisters Creek just off the ICW that provided a wonderful stop for the night.
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This is the first picture Magnolia with a palm tree that I am aware of in many years! It was also funny because I was taking the trash out and as I was walking out to the dumpster I noted a car with FL plates. It was kind of funny because I then realized, holy you know what, we made it all the way to FL! It was a kind of a weird moment and guess you had to been there….
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We arrived in St Augustine worn out after pushing hard for the last week. Some point I will need to figure how many miles we covered but we accomplished out goal. A combination of better weather and more south has made for wonderful conditions.
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It was not long that after a lifetime of training I able to find the local “Friends” style pub where enjoyed a beer or two to celebrate the weeks success.
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Frank & MaryMarie (crew of Eleanor Q) will be heading to visit family for a few days and Annette and I will continue south to meet up with our friends Ty & Suzanne (referred to in the blog as the “Dealers”). We are very certain we will meet up with Eleanor Q in the near future and the memories we have made together, will most certainly last a lifetime!