Savannah to Jacksonville
It is approximately 138 miles door to door from Thunderbolt Marine to Ortega River Marina. Even at a conservative speed of five knots that should take us about 28 hours. It actually took us about three days.
On a Monday morning, we made a pirouette exit from our personal hurricane hole deep in the Thunderbolt Marina, and headed down the Wilmington River riding the tide out the twelve miles to the ocean. With the tide behind us and new fresh bottom paint, we were making about eight knots running just above idle speed. Once at the Sea Buoy, we set our course for Jacksonville. There wasn’t a breath of wind, just flat calm and a few ocean swells, one of those days when you can’t tell the sea from the sky.
We were still making about seven knots and the GPS kept calculating earlier and earlier arrival times. Low tide at the Jacksonville inlet was about four a.m. so even if we were willing to run this well-marked inlet in the dark we couldn’t start in before the tide turned as the current runs out at about three to four knots. We kept slowing down to try to match our arrival time to low tide or later.
About four p.m. we began to see the 5-10 knots of NE wind that was supposed to be there all day, still pretty light but wind nonetheless. We remembered that we have those big white things on the mast so we decided to use them for a while, motor-sailing merrily along. The engine check at about seven p.m. showed diesel fuel spewing out of one of the injectors from the broken fuel line right where it attaches to the injector.
Our ever ingenious Captain tried all of his tricks to re-attach the fuel line but to no avail. The good news was we still had some wind so we continued on, no longer concerned about arriving too early as we were barely making three knots now. Even though we were passing two other big ship inlets before Jacksonville, there just wasn’t enough steady wind and crew nerve to sail into one of these with no option for power. It seemed apparent that we were finally going to get to use our Sea Tow card after paying for it all these years.
At about 10pm we were about half way to Jacksonville, just off the coast of St. Simons Island. We tried sailing a bit farther in toward the Brunswick inlet and hailing Sea Tow on the VHF. Apparently they only answer the radio during working hours and we weren’t willing to get close enough to this lee shore to get a cell phone signal and try their 800 number.
After much discussion, we decided our best option was to keep on ghosting along as we were actually making progress toward our intended destination and besides it was a great night for a sail, not too cold, soft breeze, not much ocean swell, and with clear skies and no moon, the number of stars was uncountable. We also remembered that it was Halloween and the chances of any trick-or-treaters in the open ocean was pretty small. We ate the chocolate treats ourselves.
At about six a.m. we were able to get a strong enough cell signal to contact Sea Tow and schedule someone to meet us at the Jacksonville inlet at about 10 a.m. When they got to work at 8 and were answering the VHF, things got a lot easier. They picked us up just outside the Ship Channel and dropped us off at the first marina inside the inlet.
This must be the busiest place on the entire St. Johns River. There’s a ferry that runs across the river about every fifteen minutes, fishing charter boats, commercial fishermen, a steady stream of freighters, big sport fish boats, pleasure boats, all running at full speed. No manatee slow speed zone here. The boat wakes are pretty impressive.
By the afternoon of the second day we finally found a place that had an end fitting for the fuel line that could be soldered on and, with crossed fingers, we might make it the last twenty-five miles up the St. Johns River to Ortega Marina, our intended destination. Patched back together, we were ready to ride the incoming tide the next morning.
Only a couple more hurdles to overcome. There was the Main Street Lift Bridge and the CSX Railroad Bridge in downtown Jacksonville, both of which are notoriously out of order or being repaired. We had checked all the sources of information about both and could find only a restricted schedule for the Main Street Bridge which had ended about ten days before. When we arrived at the bridge and called for an opening, the bridge tender explained that the bridge was currently being repaired and he had no idea when it might open again. He wouldn’t even commit to whether it might be today or not.
Now what? The river is pretty wide here, so we could anchor. As luck would have it, there is a city marina just a short distance from the bridge. It’s in a park near the stadium and offers free dockage for 72 hours, including electricity! Unheard of these days. It turned out we could only stay a day as there was a big football game the next day at the stadium and the slips were all reserved for that event.
We turned around and headed for the marina dock. The current was moving pretty fast and some boaters on the dock were kind enough to take our lines. Tied up at the dock, we considered our options. Meanwhile, another sailboat approached the bridge and called for an opening with the same result as ours. They made the same decision as we did and tied up at the dock in front of us.
While we were all on the dock exchanging pleasantries and thinking about a “Waiting for the Bridge to Open” Party, the bridge actually opened and a boat came through from the other side. What? We called the bridge tender and he said he had tried to call to tell us there was a “test opening” coming but didn’t get a response. We were skeptical as we were standing by the radio but he said he would call us back in about twenty minutes with an updated status report.
He called us back in five minutes and said they were trying another test opening in ten minutes. If we could get there by then, we could come through. A mad dash to the bridge ensued. After a few starts and stops, the bridge opened to the full height and we scrambled through.
The next hurdle was the railroad bridge. It was open with no trains in sight. Next was the shallow water near the entrance of the Ortega River. And guess what, it was just after high tide and we had a good GPS track that had kept us off the bottom the last time we were here. The shallowest water we saw was 7.1 feet, and all we needed was 6.0. The tiny bridge at the entrance to the Ortega River opened on command and the dock master was at the dock to take our lines. Life is good.
Just one last item to make us believe we have used up all of our good luck. Just about the time we reached the entrance to the Ortega River, we heard a Coast Guard announcement that said the Jacksonville Main Street Lift Bridge will be closed to navigation until further notice. No lottery tickets for us for a while.
The broken fuel line
This is what is should look like
This is what it did look like
Ride from Sea Tow
Traffic at the inlet
