Florida/Georgia Cruise

CaspersCruiser

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2016
Messages
866
Fluid Motion Model
R-27 Classic
Hull Identification Number
FMLT2709G112
Vessel Name
Cookie
MMSI Number
368203460
I recently concluded a 540 mile cruise in Florida and southern Georgia. I am cruising the Great Loop in sections and I trailered my 2012 R27 from Kentucky to Vero Beach, Florida to start another section. From Vero Beach, I cruised the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) 267 miles to Jekyll Island, Georgia with stops at Boy Scout Island (near Cocoa), Daytona Beach, St.Augustine (two nights), and Cumberland Island, Georgia.

My wife, our daughter and her family met me at Jekyll Island where we stayed for a week. While at Jekyll, we made an overnight trip to Cumberland Island.

At the end of the week at Jekyll, my daughter and her family returned to Kentucky and my wife joined me on the boat. We headed back south on the AICW and made a stop at Fernandina, Florida and then joined the St. Johns River at Jacksonville where we stayed two nights at Ortega Landing Marina (a FANTASTIC place) and then headed south to Palatka, Silver Glen Springs, Hontoon Island State Park and we ended our cruise at Sanford, Florida where we took out the boat after a four night stay at Monroe Harbor Marina. During our stay at Monroe Harbor, we rented a car and drove to Vero Beach to fetch the tow rig.

Trips like this are EXACTLY why I bought a trailerable Ranger Tug.

These boats attract a lot of attention wherever they go and they also attract other Ranger Tug owners. While I was getting my boat ready to cruise at Vero Beach, I received vital and much appreciated help with various chores from from fellow Tug Nuts Joe Kunstleben and Bob Flaherty.

Joe and his wife were at Vero Beach on their second Great Loop cruise in their R29. I ran into Joe and his wife three more times on this trip. Joe helped me by lifting from the dock up to me on the roof of the boat the two bikes I carried on roof racks.

Bob Flaherty and his wife are from near Boston and wintering in Vero Beach without their R25, but Bob was scoping out the boats at Vero Beach City Marina when he spotted my boat. We had a great time talking tugs and about his family’s Kentucky roots. Bob very kindly followed me to the place I stored my tow rig during the trip. He patiently waited as I sprayed down my trailer with Salt Away and then gave me a ride back to the marina.

Here are some pictures from my trip:

I “boaterhomed” at an RV park near Valdosta, Georgia on the way to Vero Beach.


After anchoring near Boy Scout Island, I took the dinghy to explore the Island.


On Boy Scout Island, I ran into a recently retired USAF pilot who was kayak camping and we talked airplanes and boats when he kayaked out to my boat. Cruising serendipity. While on the island, I saw this palm silhouetted against a dramatic sky.


The next day was a day of lousy weather— cold, windy, and rainy.


The highlight of the day was a good view of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. I was kid during the Space Race and loved everything about it.


One morning, the water was like glass.


Maneuvering to anchor off Cumberland Island.


Cumberland Island sunset.


Sunset at the dock on our last night at Jekyll Island.


Old and new style Ranger Tugs at Silver Glen Springs. The other Tug is an R23 owned by Tug Nutters John and Patty Fischer from St. Louis.
 
Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing!
 
wow...what a wonderful cruise and beautiful photos!

What's your ipad setup at your helm if you don't mind? (if that is an ipad )
 
Someday*":3c4r05y6 said:
What's your ipad setup at your helm if you don't mind? (if that is an ipad )
It is an iPad Pro in a Ram Mount EZ-Roll’r Cradle with a dual suction cup mount. The cradles are form fit and made for specific iPad models. The dual suction cup mount is generic and fits a multitude of Ram cradles.

I keep two iPad Pro 12.9” tablets on my boat, one is a Gen 2 wi-fi only and the other is a cell-enabled Gen 3. Why do I have two iPads? For redundancy. I carry no paper charts at all. I also use several navigation apps and often have two different ones running on separate iPads.

I retired from big airplane flying in July 2020. The last several years of my career we carried no paper charts. Just two off-the-shelf iPads, one for each pilot, that had all charts needed for world-wide operations plus all company manuals. The airplane also had two moving maps, one for each pilot, drawn by a flight management computer. They are very similar to a chartplotter, but with less detail.

The iPads were a Godsend that replaced a 20-pound “brain bag” full of charts and manuals every pilot used to schlep around. Those charts and manuals all had to be updated manually page-by-page every couple weeks. It was a very tiresome part of the job.
 
Great trip! Congrats to another adventure!
 
CaspersCruiser":wjmua59i said:
Someday*":wjmua59i said:
What's your ipad setup at your helm if you don't mind? (if that is an ipad )
It is an iPad Pro in a Ram Mount EZ-Roll’r Cradle with a dual suction cup mount. The cradles are form fit and made for specific iPad models. The dual suction cup mount is generic and fits a multitude of Ram cradles.

I keep two iPad Pro 12.9” tablets on my boat, one is a Gen 2 wi-fi only and the other is a cell-enabled Gen 3. Why do I have two iPads? For redundancy. I carry no paper charts at all. I also use several navigation apps and often have two different ones running on separate iPads.

I retired from big airplane flying in July 2020. The last several years of my career we carried no paper charts. Just two off-the-shelf iPads, one for each pilot, that had all charts needed for world-wide operations plus all company manuals. The airplane also had two moving maps, one for each pilot, drawn by a flight management computer. They are very similar to a chartplotter, but with less detail.

The iPads were a Godsend that replaced a 20-pound “brain bag” full of charts and manuals every pilot used to schlep around. Those charts and manuals all had to be updated manually page-by-page every couple weeks. It was a very tiresome part of the job.
Very nice...I've been wondering how to set up a system like you have.
 
Someday*":23rmmcj4 said:
…..I've been wondering how to set up a system like you have.
As I said in the first post, the Ram EZ-Roll’r cradles are form fitted to specific iPad models, but I failed to say that the form fit is down to the various generations of the same model. For example, the cradle in the photo fits my iPad Pro 12.9” Gen 2, but not my iPad Pro 12.9” Gen 3. When I’m using it, I put the Gen 3 in my lap or on the table in a folding case that props it up.
 
Bill,

It was great to have the opportunity to meet you in Vero. As you know I was walking the docks in the Vero Marina, thinking about my beloved Muirgen sitting in HIngham Ma , on the hard ,wrapped in plastic, in two feet of snow that hit the the day before we left for Florida. When I saw the red tug with Kentucky registration I realized it was probably the guy from Goshen KY that posts on Tugnuts, so I introduced myself. Thanks for the tour of Cookie and sharing the Tug Life. I will admit I was living vicariously through your trip to Jekyll Island and the St. Johns River.

It was great to meet you.


If you get to Boston in the summa ,we will take a tour of Boston Haaba (Harbor)

Regards,

Bob Flaherty
2016 R25 SC
Muirgen
 
Flats":2hvn3utl said:
It was great to have the opportunity to meet you in Vero.

Bob Flaherty
2016 R25 SC
Muirgen
I’m so glad you persisted and stopped a second time when I wasn’t at the boat the first time you came by. And I forgot to mention another of the chores you helped with— wrestling the dinghy down to my swim platform at the fuel dock! Man, what a job that would have been without help!

It was a pleasure meeting you and your wife. Only a couple months until Massachusetts boating season!
 
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