It was a very pleasant morning. We weren’t in a big hurry since it was only about 30 miles to our next stop so we watched the world go by for a few hours and didn’t pull up anchor until shortly before 11 am.
At low tide, around 2 pm, we were in Cumberland Sound just before King’s Bay and came through some spots in the channel with less than two feet of water under the keel. We were okay with our shallow draft, but most cruising boats would have run aground.
We heard some traffic about a naval escort in King’s Bay where there is a submarine base and wondered if we might get a glimpse of a nuclear submarine. Somehow, maybe it was the grey skies or that the military detail was focused towards the ocean, our arrival in the vicinity of the base was unnoticed until we were right in the middle of things. The Coast Guard finally hailed us and told us to get out of the channel and head toward the shore. We were to move as close to the long pier as we could safely manage and hold our position. There was a helicopter flying very close overhead, large escort ships on either side of the submarine, smaller vessels flanking the larger ones and even smaller patrol boats with lots of flashing lights and large machine guns, to the front, back and sides of the detail. What a thrill! Once the submarine and the escort ships went by our location, we were free to move on our way.
We arrived at Fernandina Beach around 4 pm and took a slip at Fernandina Harbor Marina. Most transient cruisers tie up to the face dock where there is plenty of water at low tide, but we were able to get a good deal on an inside, more protected slip, because of our shallow draft.
As we were fueling up, Bob and Stephanie of September Song walked up to say ‘Hi.’ They were traveling with Sea Pearl and planned to meet Joe and Julie downtown for drinks and dinner and we were invited to meet them. We walked downtown after settling in and found a very quaint, nicely renovated downtown area. We checked out the Palace Saloon, the oldest saloon in Florida which was once the haunt of America’s most famous, including the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, DuPonts and Carnegie. While we were enjoying a drink, our friends happened into the saloon and found us there. Joe tried the Pirate’s Punch and found it to be similar to a Long Island Iced Tea.
We ended up having a marvelous dinner at Espana, featuring traditional flavors from Spain and Portugal, where we all shared servings of fresh fish, paella, tapas and flan.
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