Where the Tony Sopranos Hang Out

Rockledge Creek, New Symrna Beach, FL


If you have ever watched the Sopranos TV series, you may remember the scene where Tony and his son take Tony's boat out.  They behave like louts, and their wake swamped nearby boaters.  

Most boaters are friendly, courteous and informed about the rules of the road and etiquette afloat.  But there are always a few Tonys.  Below, I'll make a minor expose and tell where in our experience the preponderance of Tonys hang out along the east coast.

• The Hudson River between Poughkeepsie and the Tappan Zee Bridge
• Cape May, New Jersey
• The Potomac River, near Quantico and Potomac Creek
• The ICW just north of the Ben Sawyer Bridge in Charleston, SC
• Daytona Beach, Florida
• The Saint Lucie River, Florida
• North Miami, Florida
• Cape Coral, Florida

Easy Living

En Route ICW
29 29.487 N 081 08.464 W

A week ago we were agonizing about being stuck on the ICW and longed for the open sea.  Today and yesterday the weather and winds were ideal for sailing offshore, but we're content here on the ICW.  What's up?   First, the Florida ICW is much nicer and free of hazards, shoals, strong currents, and large tides than the ICW in the Carolinas or Georgia.   Second, life is easy and fun on the ICW around here.

Two days ago we did provisioning in Saint Augustine. I also picked up some key parts and materials at the Sailors Exchange there (an institution not quite unique but rare and precious).

Yesterday we stopped at the Marineland Marina for the first time ever.  We've heard good reports about that, and we can echo them.   We went across the street to Marineland (See the picture of Libby engaged in intense conversation with her dolphin.).  I went there once before 60+ years ago, but I looked a lot different then.  Marineland however is 75 years old.  Not quite as glorious as it once was, but still fun.

Today Daytona, tomorrow we'll try to have lunch with our friend Kerry in New Smyrna Beach and then on to The Indian River.  The weather remains delightful.  Easy living.

Night Apparitions

Saint Augustine, Florida
29 53.353 N 081 19.317 W

We both continue to rejoice at the nice weather here.  60 at night, 80 in the afternoon.  What could be better?

I'm writing today about how difficult to be to recognize things on the water at night based on their lights.  I'm sure you know that the basic lighting scheme for boats is the same world wide and has been uncanged for centuries.  One red light visible to port.  One green light visible to starboard.  One white light visible from behind.   Therefore, you should always be able to see either red/green, red/white, green/white, or just white and from that you can tell which way the other boat is pointing.  Things like buoys and lighthouses mostly have blinking lights.  But real life is a lot more complicated.

The other night at sea, Libby saw what appeared to be a fishing vessel.  They usually use lots of white lights to illuminate the work.  According to Libby this one showed an arrow, then it swung around with the arrow pointing the other way, so she was despeately turning Tarwathie this way and that to avoid collision..   It was time to switch watch, so when I came up, I found and AIS signal for the vessel.  It was anchored.  As I sailed past it, I could see no red or green lights, just lots of white lights.  There was no arrow.  It just seemed that way to Libby.

When it came time to anchor, I was the one fooled.  There were a whole bunch of multicolored lights near our planned anchorage.  It looked to me like one of those giant dredges, with cranes and steam shovels on deck and with a three story hotel for the workers.   I anchored far away, not wanting to be too close to such a floating city.  The next morning, when I looked it was just a cluster of anchored sailboats.  I think some of them had blue LED lights on that added to my confusion.

Numerous times at sea we have been fooled by the orange color of a rising moon.  It looks like a giant ship heading for us.

Coming into Fernandina, Libby said "Is that a cruise ship coming out?"   I looked at where she pointed.  "No," I said, "It is a paper factory on land."

Once down in the keys I interpreted headlights of cars coming up and over the hump of a bridge as landing lights of a series of planes landing.

Strangest of all was one night when Libby was alone on deck and she saw a single orange light right in front of us and very close.  It turned out to be a surfaced submarine.

The point is simply that it can be devilishly difficult to correctly identify what you see at night.

Welcome To Florida

En Route, The Tolomato River
30 21.914 N 08 26.694 W

Now for the rewards.  We had an exceptionally hard time getting here, what with groundings, engine trouble and weather.  But now we're here and the rewards are flowing.

First, the weather is delightful.  Mid 70s right not, high today 80 and low tonight about 60.  The sun feels so good.

Second, we are south of the Saint Johns River and all the stressful parts of this migration.  From here on south shoals are infrequent, safe anchorages are abundant, and the weather for the next week seems benign.

Third, we are able to stop and visit with friends.  Yesterday it was Charlie and Mary in Fernandina Beach.  They are a couple we met at the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center years ago and who have become closer over the years.  They treated us to a nice lunch at a swanky golf club.  (Amelia Island has lots of swanky places.)   I was able to watch the golfers out the window as I munched.  Thanks so much Charlie and Mary.

Put all three together, and I guess we have to award Florida near paradise status.  Ignore the fact that law enforcement is nutty, and the politics dicey.  It's still great.  Oh by the way, Florida has its share of kooks and yesterday I read that some Floridians are rushing to buy Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman costumes for Halloween.  Jeez, that 's exactly what the world does not need.   They won't bother us however, never yet has a Halloween trick or treater swum out to our boat while we sit at anchor.

We're Here! Thank goodness.

Florida

30 45.679 N 081 28.419 W

 

Well, it sure has been a problematical migration, but the major milestone is behind us. We are in Florida and it is warm.

Our 35 hour passage was OK. Not the best, nor the worst. We had wind, for the first 15 hours. Indeed, for two or three hours we screamed along at 8-9 knots. In case you don't know, that is much faster than Tarwathie's hull speed and supposedly impossible to achieve.

But then the wind died and we had to motor the last 15 hours. So be it. We were tired of waiting for ideal windows.

Along the way we had dolphins, no whales, and two birdie num nums. Let me explain. Num nums are the name we use for land birds that find Tarwathie as a haven more than twenty miles off shore. We presume that these birds would have died if they didn't find something dry to land on. Typically, they ride along with us until we get close enough to land for them to fly off. Can this be the mechanism for bird life to spread its genes to remote islands? Most num nums are goldfinches, as was one of these. The other was a sparrow.

I had a special treat as the goldfinch managed to catch a moth way out there at sea. He landed near my knee with his catch (by then he had become partially tame.). I watched as he waited until the moth's fluttering slowed and stopped. The the coup de grace. Then munch munch leading to the finale. In one fluid motion he flipped the corpse 90 degrees then swallowed it whole head first. Pretty slick. He did not burp that I heard.

The nighttime cold at sea was not as bad as we feared. I suppose it was the moderating effect of the water surface. Within two meters of the surface, it's hard for the wind to be significantly warmer or colder than the water.