Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Day18: from St. Augustine to Jacksonville

... as reported by DancesWithSandyBottom

Tuesday, March 21, SandyBottom started out at 4 AM from St. Augustine 60 miles from CP6 at Fort Clinch.

By 2:30 PM she had paddled 30 miles and the tailwind had built up to 20 mph.
She stopped to camp and rest (at 2:30 PM) for a few hours at a point on the ICW that is just west of Jacksonville Beach --30 miles from CP6.


Here is the view from St. Augustine looking north toward CP6 on the horizon. In the lower center part of the image is the fortress, Castillo de San Marcos.



Winds were from the favorable southeast at 5 to 10 mph before sunrise. By 8 AM the winds had increased to 13 mph. A weather front was on the way and expected to move through the St. Augustine area today by mid-day. Winds continued to build to 20 mph by 1pm with gusts up to 35 mph.

The forecast for Tuesday evening predicted subsiding winds changing to flow from the west.

SandyBottom started the day paddling at 4 AM and crossed through the harbor and inlet area --before conditions could get out of hand. She was well out of St. Augustine and into narrow (~ 1/10 mile wide) of the ICW before conditions became unsafe. She continue paddling north on the ICW until it was all froth and whitecaps whipped by swirling gusts.

At 2:30 PM she got off the water (for camping and sleeping) for a few hours and called home at 2:30 PM and 5:00 PM. She tried to sleep from 5:00 PM to midnight.


View from here camp site looking toward CP6 30 miles to the north.

Close-up view of camp site (south=up)






Cell-camera photo of her tent.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Dawn! We were just talking about you this morning in the ol' spinning class. You're doing a fantastic job -- manatee encounters and all! Keep safe and keep on paddling ... until you start pedaling. And then think fondly of us. :)

Anonymous said...

I guess you could say that you're really experiencing life rather than just riding through it. What an inspiration you are. Continued good luck - and keep having fun! From: Amy Vitt at the studio.