In this segment VIVID travels from Marathon Key Florida to St Augustine (thanks in part to Capt. Teri!) and then continues on to Brunswick Georgia. As with every journey there is always a few adventures along the way. Following a haul-out in St Augustine and a bit of maintenance we continued on to Fernandina Beach – the Florida / Georgia State line. We arrived in a nice little harbor along the inlet and anchored for the evening. The next morning we promptly pulled anchor and headed towards the outside (not the inter-coastal waterway) and about 10 minutes later alarms sounded and we discovered we blew a belt on our starboard engine – no belt, no engine. Given we had previously anchored only a mile or so from the Fernandina Marina we called to see if they had parts, however we learned they were not opened – still suffering from last year’s hurricane damage. We found another nearby marina and dingy’ed ashore, but found they too were closed on a Saturday. Well, at least we had one engine and although we had no spare belts decided to carry on to Georgia – one engine and going ‘inside’ on the waterway. The waterway is too narrow to sail and winds were light anyway. The advantage to the waterway we thought too was getting a tow would be easy so onward we go!

The term ‘waterway’ is a bit understated at low tide. More like a muddy creek that was very very shallow as we pasted Jekyll Island, which soon led to Brunswick. We arrived before sunset and discovered one of the most wonderful marinas ever. At the moment, our ‘stop-over’ on the way north has become more of a long-term stay, thanks to a great community of boaters and a place that is within driving-distance (finally). The journey to Brunswick gave us lots of experiences and an education in being prepared – like getting spare parts at the nearby auto parts store for only 10 bucks, can spare you hours of delays! Experience has a fun way of teaching lessons, right? Go VIVID.