North to the Golden Isles of Georgia…

26 February 2022

Blythe Island Regional Park Campground, Blythe Island, Georgia

Marc- Today we left Florida as Sue drove our rig off the barrier islands to Route 95 to Georgia.  We saw two wild boars (pigs) feeding on grass alongside Route 95.  We met wild rabbits (very friendly) on arrival to the campground at Blythe Island.  This park is open year round and the campers must be feeding them.  The campsites are nestled in tall pine trees near two man made ponds and along the shore of the South Cumberland River. Facilities include a marina, swimming beach as well as hiking and biking trails.  

We had a little time to explore, and began by driving over to St. Simons Island.  We passed a huge Georgia Pacific Pulp and Paper operation in nearby Brunswick and a large marina near the downtown.  The highlight was St. Simons Village with its imposing lighthouse.   Sue and I walked around the town pier, shops, restaurants and parks and were impressed by how alive and well everything was.  Large live oaks were everywhere.  There is a lot of public space here and even the library is situated on the waterfront.   

A final drive out of North Beach Campground.

Tall trees at Blythe Island Regional Park Campground

Welcoming bunny at our campsite.

St. Simons Island Light

Giant cedar on St. Simons Island

Blythe Island sunset over the South Brunswick River

Last days in St. Augustine...

   21 - 22  February 2022 

North Beach Campground Resort, St. Augustine, FL 

Marc-  We have continued to explore the St Augustine area.  A favorite stop was the Washington Oaks State Park just South of St. Augustine in Palm Coast.  This park sits on the barrier island next to Marineland.  It includes the tallest live oaks, hickory and magnolias we have seen in the South.  In addition is the undergrowth of tropical plants including various palms.  We traversed several walking trails and several bike paths.  The park crosses the island from the Atlantic beach to the Intracoastal Waterway.  The crown jewel is the formal gardens created by the Young family who donated this land to the State of Florida.  The flowers include camellias, roses, azaleas and even several monkey trees.

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Back at North Beach Campground

A very dog friendly ICW beach.

Strong current at the fish docks.

Our friend Wayne Lambert joined us for dinner.

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We also attended America's Boating Club annual meeting at the nearby PGA Sawgrass Resort.  There was much discussion at the meetings about staying up with the new technologies and resources for navigation.  I met with the US Army Corps of Engineers representative and discussed their work making available surveys for electronic navigational charts.  I also met with the Cooperative Charting Committee on this development.  Below is an example of electronic charts and the value of superimposed surveys on navigation.  

 

Notice the shallow sandbar area shown in light green, yellow and orange, and how the navigation channel takes you into it.  The survey also shows a natural deep water channel around this area.

Here we have the St. Augustine Inlet (note the lack of aides to navigation)

This is a passage through Sisters Creek in the ICW showing a narrow passage with precision.

We used electronic software by Aqua Map that had integrated the USACE surveys seen above during our 9 month journey form Vermont to the Florida Keys and back and never ran aground.   

 

 

Wandering about St Augustine...

  21 - 22  February 2022 

North Beach Campground Resort, St. Augustine, FL 

Marc-  We have been enjoying our walks on the beautiful beaches here both on the Atlantic side as well as the Intracoastal side of the Campground.  Cool how you can see both sunrises and sunsets over water here.

Sunrise

Sunsets

We traveled 15 miles down Route A1A to the Southern end of the Matanzas River at the Matanzas Inlet.  On a small island in the river is Ft. Matanzas National Monument. The Spanish guarded this Southern access to the city of St. Augustine since its founding in 1565.  They built the fort in 1742 out of coquina (stone made up of shell fragments cemented together by the sea).  It is similar in design and construction to Castillo de San Marcos and remarkably impenetrable to cannon fire.  The Fort held off British attacks in the 1740's and is intact after 280 years.  The ferry to the Fort was not operating when we visited so we explored the hiking trails on the barrier island side of the Park.

On one trail through the coastal tropical forest we found a small monument among the palm trees, cedar trees and live oaks.  It was here in 1565 that the Spanish killed over 250 French Huguenots.  The French soldiers had come from Ft. Caroline (a French settlement in Jacksonville) to attack St. Augustine.  The French ships were wrecked during a storm and the survivors were stranded on the barrier island.  Surrender was not accepted by the Spanish. 

I spotted a small Downy woodpecker in the trees above us.  Remarkably he was chirping rather than pecking.  Another trail brought us to the river front by the Fort.  We had passed through this area on the Intracoastal last year aboard Lucy III and thought of using it for an overnight anchorage.

Ft. Matanzas

Yaupon holly

Downy woodpecker.

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Bridge to Vilano Beach

Bridge view

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Back at the campground.

Aunt Kate's Restaurant (notice the dogs)

This was the only cat at the beach.

St Augustine revisited...

 19 - 20 February 2022 

North Beach Campground Resort, St. Augustine, FL 

Marc-  We are enjoying our new travel trailer.  This camper is the big sister to our old E-Pro with similar systems and much more room = comfort.  It also has electric stabilizers to keep the unit level.  The lush vegetation here reminds us of the Florida State Park campgrounds.  They did not bulldoze and pave the sites.  No asphalt to be found here in this large campground.  The campground covers all the land between the Intracoastal Waterway (Tolomato River) and the Atlantic Ocean Beach.  It has great restaurants situated on both shores.  Interestingly both shores are fine white sand.  We are also only 4 miles from downtown St. Augustine.  There is a Publix supermarket 2 miles away.

Sue and I have been walking the trails and beaches since we arrived.  We have also been adding some small items to the new travel trailer that the dealer omitted to install (most of the items were still packed away in storage compartments).  The gas grill needed some assembly and various towel and paper holders were not installed.  We enjoyed driving downtown and viewing the beautiful Spanish architecture.  We remember the beauty of this place from last year's trips here (this was a stop for the boat to and from the Keys) and prior years when America's Boating Club held their meetings in Jacksonville and we would drive over here because we didn't find too much we were interested in there.  

Atlantic side of North Beach Campground

Surfers

fine sand

The Intracoastal / Tolomato River side of North Beach Campground

Ferns taking root on an old live oak.

North Beach Campground is just North of Vilano Beach