Our previous posts left off at Ft. Lauderdale as we arrived
on Thursday, August 15. We spent the day in port on Friday and Saturday before
casting off our lines on Sunday morning.
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| View of Lighthouse Point Marina and the Nauti Dawg Cafe from our dock |
Friday, August 16
was spent doing computer work in less than ideal conditions in the open air
marina office on top of a glass display case full of fishing equipment. This
was required because they had such poor internet service, and I was unable to
get a usable signal 150 feet away with direct line of sight to their router. I
get over 500 feet through multiple walls with my Wi Fi signal at home. It was
very hot and uncomfortable at this “temporary desk” but in order to make my
blog posting, it was required. Nan Ellen was very happy when we finally hit the
“post” button and the job was done…. for now. After the ordeal in the marina
office was complete, we went back to the boat and grilled chicken for dinner.
We watched a little TV before going to bed a little earlier than normal for us.
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| Grilling chicken at Lighthouse Point |
Saturday, August 17
was definitely a day for socialization. My good friend Steve Cantley and his
girlfriend Scarlet came down from Palm Beach for breakfast at the Nauti Dawg
Café which is right on the docks in the marina. After a couple of hours of
conversation in the restaurant and on the boat, Steve and Scarlet left.
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| Nan Ellen, Dave, Scarlet and Steve |
As they
were leaving, my cousin Bruce Fuller (my father’s brother’s son) and his wife
Patty and their kids Marcus and Julia arrived. We took advantage of their
transportation and Bruce drove us to the Publix grocery a couple of miles away
to replenish our fresh veggies and additional perishables. While we were gone,
Patty, Marcus, and Julia hung out at the pool. We came back with a few snacks
and spent a leisurely afternoon by the pool before going to dinner. The restaurant was only ½ mile away (as the crow flies), but
was over 10 miles away by car on the other side of the waterway. It was a
pretty good Italian restaurant and Nan Ellen and I brought home about ½ of the
pizza we ordered.
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| Nan Ellen, Bruce, Patty, Julia, Marcus, Dave |
While we were moving some chairs to take a couple of family
photos, Marcus dropped Nan Ellen’s SLR camera. Fortunately, almost everything
survived the impact with the concrete. The UV filter that is screwed onto the
front of the lens to filter UV sunlight and help to protect the lens did its
job and sacrificed itself to save the lens. We then set out on a quest at 8 PM
on a Saturday night to find a replacement filter. We tried Wal Mart, and used a
pair of channel lock pliers on the shelf to unscrew the broken filter from the
lens, but they did not sell a replacement. We then tried the local Best Buy by
phone and found they don’t carry it. We looked up several camera stores and
none of them were open. Bruce recalled a Wolf Camera at the Boca Raton Mall, so
we started in that direction while Bruce tried to call them. He finally got in
touch with the info booth at the mall and they said the store had closed. We
decided to give up and head back to the boat. Bruce exited I-95 and at that
particular exit was a BrandsMart USA. This is a chain I was familiar with and
we decided to give them a try. It turns out that they actually had it in stock.
Not only did they have it in stock at 9 PM on a Saturday night, but the
salesman in the camera department had actually opened up the store we patronize
in Kennesaw, GA when we are at home. Talk about a small world! Bruce dropped us
off at the boat and we went to bed as we had plans to leave early on Sunday.
Sunday, August 18
had us on the move again. It was still dark as we hit the showers since we had
a long day ahead of us to travel the 66 miles to Stuart. The mileage was
somewhat long, and we were in an area that required several bridge openings.
Most all of them were restricted on their opening schedules.
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| Leaving Lighthouse Point Marina in Ft. Lauderdale |
Our first stop was to pump out the holding
tank before we left the marina. I pulled the boat out of the slip in a 20 knot
wind and moved over to the fuel dock for the pumpout. Nan Ellen had to stay on
the dock to help control the boat to get me out of the slip safely, and she
walked over to the fuel dock. They had several dockhands available to help
secure the boat for the pumpout. I was more than a little mildly upset when
they told me that I needed to fork over another $10 for the pumpout. This was
after taking on over 100 gallons of fuel, and three nights’ worth of slip fees
plus electricity. Most marinas that charge a fee waive it when you buy fuel or
dockage, but this is the first one we have encountered that asked for more
after we bought both fuel and dockage at a premium price. It was a nice place,
but they nickel and dime you without making it clear up front. I updated my
Active Captain posting to reflect this “surprise” at the end of our stay.
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| Arriving in downtown West Palm Beach |
As we motored northward, we had a great deal of traffic in
the ICW, and once we reached Peanut Island just at the Lake Worth inlet from
the Atlantic Ocean at Palm Beach, it was a zoo and all the animals were running
loose. What a gigantic party of boats, swimmers, kayaks, paddleboards, PWCs,
and several homemade water craft! This was party central and was close to chaos
with several boats anchored in the middle of navigation in the ICW. We had to
go at idle speed and required me to alter course countless times to avoid
running into something or somebody.
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| On the beach of Peanut Island |
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| ICW next to Peanut Island |
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| ICW next to the Blue Herron Bridge |
This scene was repeated when we arrived in Jupiter, except this
time with the added bonus of a 10 knot current screaming through the inlet
creating some interesting navigation issues when avoiding other boats. Most of
the swimmers were in the ICW north of the inlet where the current was much
less. There were several sandbars and gathering of boats and swimmers for the
next 3 or 4 miles.
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| Jupiter Snack Shack |
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| Jupiter Lighthouse |
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| Enjoying a day on the sandbar at Jupiter |
Eventually, we made our way up to Stuart and turned into the
Okeechobee Waterway for a half mile to get to Manatee Pocket and our marina
stop for the night at Mariner’s Cay Marina. This was a nice marina with a pool
and we promptly jumped in the pool after a hot day on the water.
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| Pool at Mariner's Cay Marina in Stuart |
Once back at
the boat, I grilled Italian Sausages and red bell peppers for dinner. We
watched a little TV before going to bed. I had several e-mails that needed to
be sent for Coast Guard Auxiliary business, so I stayed up a couple of hours to
get caught up on e-mails.
Monday, August 19
was a short day with our planned mileage of 38 miles to Vero Beach and the
Loggerhead marina. We trekked off to the showers and found them to basically be
open air showers without air conditioning or heating other than a heat lamp
over the dressing area. At least the ceiling fan worked in the men’s shower,
but Nan Ellen said the women’s fan was not working. We hurried back to the boat
and retreated into the air conditioning to make breakfast. After a leisurely
breakfast we cast off our lines around 9:30. This was a MUCH calmer day with
very little traffic on the water. We have made an executive decision to NOT
travel the populated areas on weekends when possible in the future.
On the way to Vero Beach, we passed the Ft. Pierce inlet on
the ICW and I noticed a trawler maneuvering slowly in shallow water near the
intersection of the ICW and the inlet waterway. It looked like everyone had on
the distinctive orange/red vest color of the Coast Guard. As I approached, I
noticed the sign on the rails identifying it as a Coast Guard Auxiliary Patrol
Vessel. I tried hailing them on Channel 16 but did not get an answer. Since
that boat had a deeper draft than mine, I felt it was safe to motor over to
them for a greeting by voice.
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| Coast Guard Auxiliary Vessel on Training Patrol |
When I identified myself and Nan Ellen as fellow
Auxiliarists, one of the crewman identified himself as Moe Zaidan, an Assistant
District Staff Officer for Vessel Examinations. Once he saw my face, he recognized
me as well. They were conducting practice to qualify members for the Boat Crew
Program and requalify one member as a Coxswain. We left them to continue their
training, and proceeded north toward Vero Beach.
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| Loggerhead Marina's Mascot |
We arrived early afternoon in Vero Beach at Loggerhead Marina. We had previously been here by car when we visited our good friends
Paul and Kathy Bartoszewicz in February and made the decision that this was a
definite stop for us. Unfortunately, they were not home as they were on a
planned visit in Connecticut. Too bad we missed them, but Vero Beach and
Loggerhead was a great stop anyway.
I had noticed on Sunday that the starboard engine had been
running hotter than normal, so we called a service tech and made an appointment
for Tuesday morning. After we finished the check in process, we hit the pool
for a cool down before heading back to the boat for dinner.
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| Relaxing in the Pool at Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach (photo taken with my I-Phone in waterproof case) |
We then received a
call from our good friend and neighbor Cindy at home that Nan Ellen’s mother
had somehow locked herself out of the house and Cindy was concerned. After a few
minutes and some instructions over the phone, Nan Ellen’s mother Ethel was back
in the house. We called Nan Ellen’s cousin in Rome GA to go to our house on
Tuesday and check on Ethel.
Tuesday, August 20
was a day to relax in port and wait on the engine repair technician to come to
the boat. Danny from Atlantic Mobile Marine Service showed up at 9:00 and
diagnosed our problem after a short description of the symptoms. He thought
that the problem might be clogged heat exchangers and checked the transmission
heat exchanger as it is the first one after the raw water pump. He removed the
hose and had me start the engine to verify that we had good flow coming from
the pump. Then he looked inside the heat exchanger and saw it was almost
completely blocked by scale and packed sand we picked up in Islamorada while
trying to get on the dock. He took a long rod and ran it through the cooling
passages cleaning out the scale and sand; thereby opening the cooling passages
to increased water flow. After a thorough flush with the garden hose and
repeated re-rodding of the cooler, he declared it as clean as he could get it.
When I started the engine, we had really good flow coming out the exhaust.
Since the starboard engine was clogged, I asked him to perform the same operation
on the port engine. It was not nearly as clogged and did not take as much
effort or flushing to clean it out as the starboard engine did. It also now
flows more water out the exhaust than it did before the service. I am
cautiously optimistic that this will solve our overheating problem. If not,
this procedure will need to be repeated on the engine heat exchangers. He would
have cleaned them out, but did not have the proper replacement O-Rings to open
them up. Based on my visual estimation of water flow out the exhaust, I believe
that our problem is solved… at least for now.
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| Loggerhead Marina face dock |
Just as this operation was concluding, Nan Ellen’s Cousin
Rita called and was at our house to pick up Ethel and take her back to Rome, GA
until we return home. After a long conversation with both our neighbor Cindy
and her Cousin Rita, Nan Ellen assessed the situation and we have determined
that Ethel cannot remain at home alone when we are not there to look after her.
We will be evaluating our options after speaking with her doctor when we return
home. We planned to continue our trip north and position the boat in a safe
harbor, probably in Jacksonville before returning home. We have a very full and
busy calendar coming up, and will need to leave the boat for a few months. We
verified with our insurance company that we can drop back our insurance to
“inland waters” as long as we stay past the I-95 Bridge in downtown
Jacksonville. This will substantially reduce our insurance rate.
After lunch and some work on the computer, we decided to take
the marina bikes for the 1 mile trek to the local Publix. We picked up some
bananas, a package of Italian Sausage, and carrots. We had just been to Publix
while we were in Ft. Lauderdale, so we did not need much. We are trying to run
out of food just about the time we have to stop our Loop and head back home
this weekend. This is a skill we have yet to master on the Loop.
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| Back to the waterfall in the pool |
When the groceries were stowed, we hit the pool for a cool
down and some relaxation. Then it was back to the boat to grill the Italian
Sausages. We took a little more computer time to answer a few e-mails, and then
off to bed. We planned to get an early start on Wednesday to get into Cocoa
Beach before the marina closes and the chances of thunderstorms goes up.
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| A unique way of coiling your docklines |
Wednesday, August 21
saw us get an early start for the 53 mile trip from Vero Beach to Cocoa Beach.
It was an easy run with no navigational issues outside of the very skinny water
just outside the channel that is typical of coastal Florida. When we arrived at
Cocoa Village Marina, the wind had picked up making docking a bit of a
challenge, but they had two people on the dock to grab our lines and fend off
the boat from their fixed dock. In short order, we had fenders deployed and all
dock lines adjusted. When we checked in, we found the friendliest folks we have
seen in Florida, and they are among the top 5 we have encountered anywhere! The
entire town is this way as we met several people at restaurants and shops in
Cocoa Village.
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| Approaching Cocoa Village Marina |
The marina Harbormaster told us to see Travis hardware store
in the pink building and said we would be amazed. WOW!!! Even if you are not a
big hardware store fan, you MUST come see this place. It has been around since 1885
and in the same family ownership for almost as long. If this place doesn’t have
it, you don’t need it. Words cannot describe it – it must be experienced. I
even bought a pair of replacement yard gloves for $2 while we were shopping. I
had not seen them anywhere except at the marina in Ft. Lauderdale where they
wanted $4 for a pair.
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| You have to see this place to believe it |
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| If they don't have it, you don't need it |
There are several tourist shops and a few restaurants in
town, so we chose Norman’s Raw Bar for a cold one and a dozen oysters for our
afternoon snack. Then it was back to the boat for a few e-mails with probably
the best Wi-Fi service we have had on the Loop so far. It was probably as good
as my service at home – fast enough and good enough to stream video. They also
had 20 channels of cable TV, but the signal was not as good as the dozen or so
over the air HD channels. You don’t come here to watch TV, so just keeping up
with the local news is all we wanted.
We went to dinner at Ryan’s pizza and brought back half the
leftover pizza. We will have it for lunch the next couple of days. Then it was
early to bed at Loopers Midnight (9 PM) as we needed to be up early at 5 am to
get our showers and have breakfast before sunup.
We wanted to get started by 7 am as it is 67 miles to
Daytona on Thursday, and at 8 MPH, that works out to about 8 hours running
time. I wanted to arrive before the West Marine store at the Halifax Harbor
Marina closes so I can see if they will exchange my defective 12 volt fans I
use at the helm. One of them pops the circuit breaker when plugged in and the
other only works at slow speed.
Thursday, August 22
saw us get the earliest start since the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. We
actually got underway at 7 am after waiting for a storm to pass and the
daylight to improve a bit. We could have left sooner if it had been a clear and
cloudless morning, but there was a 50% chance of thunderstorms all day. The
dock was wet when we went to the showers, but it had stopped raining long
enough for us to stay dry after our showers. Cocoa Village Marina was a first
class marina, and I wrote a glowing review on Active Captain. About 30 minutes
after posting the review, I received an e-mail from the Harbormaster thanking
me for my glowing review. If you are passing through the area, you MUST stop at
this marina.
Over the past couple of days, I have been severely bitten
numerous times by the no-see-ums. I must be allergic to them as my arms and
legs are broken out. Fortunately, I had the foresight to see my Dermatologist
before leaving for this leg of the trip, and he prescribed Clobetasol, a super
strength topical steroid. It works instantly to reduce the inflammation and
temporarily removes the itch. I hope I have enough of it to finish this leg of
the trip when we stop this weekend in Jacksonville. I wish there was a way to
ward off the bites in the first place. For some reason, they attack me and
don’t bother Nan Ellen. There has to be some sort of chemical signature issue
at play here, but I suppose it just varies by individual. I asked my
Dermatologist why they bite me and not Nan Ellen and he just shrugged his
shoulders.
We saw multiple pods of dolphins just outside the channel,
but they weren’t close enough or on the surface long enough to take photos.
When we crossed the Haulover Canal into Mosquito Lagoon, I expected swarms of
mosquitos to attack. Fortunately, there was a gentle breeze and we never saw a
single one. The water on either side of the marked channel is 1 to 2 feet, so
without an airboat, you won’t be going there.
Nan Ellen made a number of phone calls to secure our slip
reservations for the remainder of our trip to Jacksonville, and called Bruce,
the Harbormaster at Ortega Landing Marina to see if they can help us with a
rental car to get back to Atlanta on Sunday. Bruce planned to meet later in the
day with Enterprise Car Rental to see if they can put together a program at
their marina to become a rental location for marina customers. We will probably
be their first customers if this program works out and will allow us to leave
Jacksonville on Sunday instead of waiting until Monday morning when Enterprise
opens. We called Enterprise Car Rental Manager Willie to set everything up so
they can deliver the car on Saturday before we arrive.
On the way to Daytona, we passed Ponce Inlet and the Coast Guard Station. We had been here earlier in the year for a Coast Guard Auxiliary Meeting. This is the first time we have seen it from the water.
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| Coast Guard Station Ponce Inlet |
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| Lighthouse at Ponce Inlet |
After arrival in Daytona, we turned in at Halifax Harbor
Marina and took on fuel before navigating to our slip. It was just starting to
rain as we tied up, but I rinsed the salt off the boat anyway since I did not
know how much rain we would get. After this job was done, we walked across the
marina grounds to the West Marine store and picked up a new 12 volt fan to
replace the one that I have at the helm. The old one only works at low speed
and had a bad switch. We stopped at the Blue Grotto next to West Marine for a
quick drink before returning to the boat and heading up to the showers. After
taking a shower, we dressed for dinner at the Chart House. “Dressing for
Dinner” in this case means a nice clean pair of shorts and a shirt with a
collar.
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| Chart House in Daytona taken from ICW |
The Chart House in Daytona is next to the marina and is one of our
favorite restaurants in Daytona. Our dockmaster had called Chart House and made
dinner reservations for us. When we arrived, we were greeted by name and had
personalized printed menus with our name on them. The table had a “VIP” sign on
it, and they deducted $10 off our bill for our reservation from the marina. We
are also members of the “Landry’s Club”, their frequent diner program, and we redeemed
a $25 award from that program making the evening dinner quite affordable! This
Chart House is always top notch for both food and service, and this visit was
merely a repeat performance. It is our favorite restaurant in Daytona and
certainly reason enough all on its own to stop here. After a long dinner, it was a short walk back
to the boat and off to bed again for the early start on Friday.
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| "Dressed for Dinner" at the Chart House |
Friday, August 23
was another early morning so we could get a jump on the expected afternoon
thunderstorms. This was a shorter day than Thursday, but the weather was
forecast for a good chance of thunderstorms and the percentage went up later in
the day.
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| Sunrise in Daytona |
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| Leaving Halifax Harbor Marina |
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| Daytona Beach Bridge |
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| Buildings in Daytona |
It was a 52 mile trip from Daytona to St. Augustine, again with no
navigational issues due to the protected waters of the ICW.
We noticed a big difference in not only the scenery, but
economic status of the waterfront residents as we passed through several areas.
The Palm Coast area had some very nice waterfront homes, but not on the scale
of Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Some of the trip today was in tidal marsh land,
part natural river, and part man made canal. As we arrived at St. Augustine, we
were greeted by the St. Augustine Bridge of Lions. Our Harbormaster said that it had been
completely rebuilt a couple of years ago and it is now architecturally the same
as when it was built in the 1920s. They completely disassembled it, and had to replace
several corroded parts before reassembly. He said they had to make a few safety
modifications to meet new DOT codes. It is a signature bridge the residents can
be proud of.
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| St. Augustine Bridge of Lions |
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| St. Augustine Municipal Marina |
After docking in the exceptionally strong current, we set
off to be tourists in the oldest city in America. We walked for a bit following
the advice of the Harbormaster and eventually decided to take the tour train
like the one we rode in Key West. I think they are owned by the same company
and they hire the same corny drivers with old tired jokes. It finally began to
rain lightly, and we got wet in the open air seats. After the hour and a half
ride, we walked the historic area and visited a few tourist shops. We bought a
bag of gourmet popcorn and then had dinner at O.C. White’s, a restaurant that
has been there since 1790. It was directly across the street from the marina,
and was convenient. We shared an entrée of citrus cobia and then walked back to
the boat to turn in early again.
The last day of this leg of the trip began early on Saturday, August 24
when we woke up at 5 am. It was off to the showers and then we had a quick bowl
of Cheerio’s before getting underway at first light.
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| Leaving St. Augustine |
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| Fishermen going out the St. Augustine Inlet at dawn |
We wanted to get to
Jacksonville as early as possible, but needed to arrive downtown so we could
make the scheduled 2 PM opening of the railroad bridge. It is undergoing
maintenance and operates on a strict schedule. As the clearance on this bridge
is only 5 feet, almost every boat needs to have it open to pass.
On the way north from St. Augustine, I decided to throttle
up and come up on plane to see if we had solved our overheating problem on the
starboard engine. At first, the temperature started to climb, but finally
leveled off. After a few slow speed zones and having to slow down for other
boats (you are responsible for your wake), we were finally able to run up on
plane for more than 10 minutes. By this time, the temperature had stabilized in
the proper zone for both engines. Operating at speed must have dislodged
whatever was blocking the cooling passages. These engines are not designed to
operate at low RPM for extended periods, so running them up to planning speed
from time to time is a good thing.
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| Stand up Paddleboarders (2 out of 5 wearing life jackets) |
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| They asked to race us! |
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| They are gaining on us - time to throttle up! |
We arrived at our close friend and fellow Auxiliarist David
Cawton’s community – Queens Harbour - before 11 AM. We tied up at the courtesy
dock and did not need to go through the lock into the fresh water lagoon.
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| Dave Fuller with David Cawton |
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| Queens Harbour Lock into the fresh water lagoon |
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| Crabbers working the traps just outside the Queens Harbour lock |
After
a 30 minute visit with David (he is also the Harbormaster), we decided it was
time to shove off so we could make it downtown to wait for the railroad bridge
opening. We tied up at Jacksonville Landing, a small retail and restaurant
complex on the river downtown and is less than ¼ mile from the railroad bridge.
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| Approaching Downtown Jacksonville |
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| Jacksonville Landing |
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| Tied up waiting for the Railroad Bridge opening |
We decided to go to the Mexican restaurant as it has been several weeks since
we had eaten Mexican food. After a couple of Margaritas, chips, and Chorizo
tacos, it was time to cast off our lines and get in line to wait for the
bridge. They opened it exactly on time at 2 PM and we promptly passed through
on our way for the final 3 miles to Ortega Landing Marina.
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| Railroad Bridge in Downtown Jacksonville |
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| Final Bridge this trip - The Ortega River Bridge with Downtown Jacksonville in the background |
We had reserved a
slip and had our assignment so we went directly to the slip and tied up. We
then walked up to the office to sign the papers and also pick up our rental car
that the Marina had arranged for us. After a short tour of the facilities, we
went back to the boat for a final wash down to get the salt off. We did not need to scrub the boat as it was
pretty clean, but we did need to rinse it off. This chore was not as bad this
time as it had been overcast all day and the temperature was cooler. When we
took the bikes off the bow and opened them up, one of them had a little water
in the bag, so we took both bikes out and turned the bags inside out so they
would dry thoroughly. We plan to store the bikes inside the boat for security
while we are gone from the boat. We
swept out the cockpit and took out the carpet to shake it off. We were not
trying to get it spotlessly clean as we need to keep the cockpit as dry as
possible since we have to leave the boat early on Sunday morning, and it would
not have time to thoroughly dry before we left. We moved all the life jackets
and unused dock line downstairs in the cabin so they will not mold or mildew in
this hot and humid climate. We always leave the air conditioner running while
we are away from the boat to keep the humidity under control and eliminate mold
and mildew in the cabin.
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| Pool and Hot Tub at Ortega Landing Marina |
It was time for a little rest and relaxation after another
day on the water, so we decided to check out the pool. When we arrived at the pool, we found it a
little cool, so we opted for the hot tub instead. After about 10 minutes, we
were getting hot and decided it was time to get out and dry off. We then walked
back to the boat for some leftover Italian Sausage and corn / black bean salad
for dinner. I typed up this narrative to the blog before going to bed at
Looper’s Midnight (9 PM). We need to be up early again on Sunday so we can
finish packing up the boat and making it ready to sit here in the marina unused
for a few months.
Sunday, August 25
was our last morning on the boat and we started at 5 am since we had much work
to perform before leaving the boat to go home. We had to remove the sheets and
mattress pad, clean out the air conditioner air filter, finish packing up all
our clothes and other items to take home, plus empty both refrigerators and
defrost the cockpit refrigerator. We will defrost the cabin refrigerator and
the freezer on our next visit to the boat. It took several loads in the dock cart
to pack the car, but we still had more to do on the boat. We cleaned the sea
strainers on the engines and the air conditioner, I checked and filled the
inverter batteries, and checked the engines oil levels. The engine room checks
done, it was finally time to take our showers and get on the road.
We shoved off around
10 am which beat my expectations by a couple of hours. An uneventful 6 hour
trip back home followed, and we arrived around 4 pm to relieve our good friend
Mary Pitts who had been staying with Ethel since earlier in the afternoon. Our other
good friend Dianne Dimmick had stayed with Ethel on Saturday, spent Saturday
night at our house, and finally had to leave early afternoon Sunday. Nan
Ellen’s cousin Rita deserves special recognition for picking up Ethel and
taking her to Rome to look after her until the weekend. Our friends and
neighbors Cindy and Larry Maxson got this whole thing started with a phone call
to us on Monday and took care of the immediate needs and Ethel’s safety. We are
deeply indebted to all who helped us through this family emergency.
Here is a quick summary
of our progress on the Loop so far. Total mileage is 1971. We have traveled
1209 miles in 2013 and we traveled 762 miles in 2012. We have transited 17
locks since starting in Chattanooga. With the planned trip of 7200 miles, we
are now approximately 27% complete for our Loop.
This pause in the Loop was planned, but the location and
timing were both earlier than expected.
We had expected to go to Brunswick or Savannah Georgia or possibly
somewhere in South Carolina and had about another week and a half planned on
our calendar before coming home. At least, the boat is closer to home, in a
safe location, and at a lower cost than if we had to leave it further south.
We hope to return to the boat during the fall or winter
months to explore the St. Johns River, and anticipate leaving the boat in
Jacksonville for a while. It is in as safe an area as possible from storms, and
our insurer agreed by moving our coverage area back to Inland waters. This
saved us approximately 2/3 on our boat insurance from the coverage we
previously had while in coastal waters.
We are currently evaluating our options for Ethel and will
be getting her doctor involved in the decision. Our calendar is full of
personal business and Coast Guard Auxiliary business for the next two months,
so it will be November before we have the next blank place on the calendar.
There are too many unknowns at this time to predict when we will continue our
northward trip, but most likely, it will not be until the annual migration
north by the snowbirds next spring.
I will do an interim
posting to keep everyone up to date with us before we resume the Loop,
especially if we are able to explore the St. John’s River.
