As I write this addition to the blog, I sit quietly in the boat on a mooring
in St. Augustine, Florida. I could say, “...in sunny Florida.”
but I'd be not telling the truth. We've been seeing gray days now
for the past several. The temperature at the moment at 3 PM is up to
63 degrees. That may seem good to all you northerners, but this is
not what we came to Florida for. In fact, with the wind gusting up
around 30 mph or better, it's down right uncomfortable here. I
probably sound a bit unhappy about all this. I'll move on.
We left Beaufort, having had a great,
but brief, visit with Janelle and Bob Proctor over lunch. We hope to
spend more time with them and with Beaufort on our return trip. It
was then on to Georgia and the issues of tide and current I mentioned
in the last piece. We managed to pass through the few shallow
stretches with no difficulty and no groundings. Because the weather
was as described above, we didn't bother to stop at Cumberland
Island. The thought of walking around even that beautiful island
with cold temps, wind and likely a shower or two just lacked the
appeal. We'll definitely have that on our itinerary for the return
trip. Instead we went to Fernandina Harbor and picked up a mooring
for the night. One plus for getting the mooring instead of anchoring
was the hot shower at the marina and the thought of a good meal in a
warm restaurant. We found a great restaurant and had a delicious
meal in addition to that long, hot shower.
The next day (yesterday) we were off to
St. Augustine, a sixty mile trip that should have taken us almost
nine hours. We got here in a bit over 7 and a half hours, thanks to
the tidal current. We've been hearing a bit about extra high tides
with all this wind over the past several days. While we've not seen
the evidence of the high tides till today, the associated current has
been quite noticeable. We came in to St. Augustine with the tide
doing more than 11 mph instead of our usual 7.5.
Today we went in to make some stops in
town and noticed the extra high tides for the first time. The street
which follows the water was under water a bit. Farther up the main
street where it crosses a river the police had to close off the
street due to flooding. Some successfully drove through it while
others weren't so lucky. Others turned around and tried other ways
to reach their destination. One motorist who was stopped by the
police from proceeding was shocked to learn that there was street
flooding.
This reminded me of my reaction to the devastation caused
by Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and NYC. Especially in the case of
NYC, we've thought of that place as somewhat impervious to such
damage. It opened my eyes a bit more to how little control we
actually have over our environment in spite of the fact that we often
believe we can remain insulated from its affects. As boaters, we're
more in tune with the weather and potential impact of changes in
weather...probably more so than the majority of you readers who live
on land. Since one has AC in the summer and heat for winter, even
garage door openers to limit the affect of rain or snow on us while
we unload the groceries, it's easier to dismiss some s of weather's
influence on our lives. While cruising we have no heat or AC except
for those rare occasions when we tie up to a dock. Since our dinghy
is our commuter vehicle, we don't even have a roof over our heads,
let alone a garage with an automatic opener.
Today we were reminded that the
majority who don't live close to the water probably don't think much
about coastal flooding or its potential impact until they are stopped
by a flooded street. And to carry the thought a bit further, melting
glaciers, droughts in other parts of the world or even record heat
for a few years in a row may not get our attention. Perhaps it takes
a Hurricane Sandy to get the Mayor of NYC to remind all of us that we
need to be aware of weather, our impact on it as well as the
resulting impacts on all of us.
As I first thought of this topic, I
wasn't sure how it related to cruising down the waterway. But since
the weather influences most everything we do as we cruise, we are
more in tune with little changes and more aware of that influence.
So perhaps it relates quite closely to our own day-to-day thinking,
our decision making and life for us in general. Perhaps in some
small way we can serve as one of the canaries in the mine when it
comes to changes in weather.
Till the next entry...Carpe Diem.
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