The inlet for Saint Augustine, Florida has a well deserved negative reputation. Shallow, shifting sandbars, lots of current, and occasional strong onshore winds can make for a wicked brew. The detail on the entrance above, or rather lack thereof, is an obvious caution indicator.

We are now in the habit of checking new destinations with Google Earth, and making a series of screen shots for future reference. Often these are valuable, but in this case not enugh detail is shown. A search of the Internet brought little of current relevance. That left us with traditional eyeball navigation. radar, and depthsounder We were assuming the sonar would not be effective in the dirty turbulent flow.

For best visibility we want the sun behind us, which meant an uneventful overnight trip north from Cocoa, Florida.

The south side of the channel shoals and in the ebbing tide sets up a disturbed wave pattern. The green buoy marks the edge of  the channel.

As long as there is not a dangerous sea running, and you have sufficient power to make progress, entering on the ebb offers several advantages. First, you are not being sucked into the channel. Next, there is better steering control at slower speed over ground. Third, the strong flow will show where the channel lies and where it is shallow with various wave patterns.

On the other hand, if there was much of a sea running, slack high water would reduce the tendency for the waves to break (there is a long and detailed chapter on running breaking bars in our book, Practical Seamanship).

For example, the photo above where the shallows show clearly.

The current here is running at two knots.

St. Augustine makes much of its longevity and claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited site on the continent. However, the Basque whaling ports of Red Bay in Labrador, Canada is still going and predates the Spanish arrival here by a century, and the Hopi settlements in Arizona are even older.

That said, we are still looking forward to exploring.