AMELIA ISLAND FLORIDA to JEKYLL ISLAND GEORGIA / Thursday, March 10 (Day 48)

Admiral's Log:      8:05am, Thrs., 3/10/16

                          Temp:  68

                          Winds:  5 mph

                          Speed:  11 knots

We pretty much saw all there was to see on Amelia, so decided to make a quick one night stop on Jekyll Island. Another day of currents, but this time they were helping push us; we had a 4 knot push. We saw Salty again heading south, but don't think they saw us. 

OSV Ships

Demagnetizer

We passed by King's Bay Naval Station where nuclear subs are stored and worked on. Pretty cool if I do say so myself. The two OSV boats (offshore supply vehicle) flank the subs and are filled with 200 degree water so if a heat seeking missile is launched, it will hit the OSV instead of the sub. The skeletal looking structure is a demagnetizer. Subs create static electricity when they move through the water, so they must be demagnetized once they return. All those tall towers around the repair 
buildings are lightning rods.

We docked right behind Zephyr and had lunch at "Rah" with Paul and Denise. Then we walked around the old town, touring the hotel and "cottages" of some notable dignitaries; like J.P. Morgan, Pulitzer, Vanderbilt, and Marshall Field.

Jekyll Island Hotel

Crane House

Cherokee House

Goodyear House

We got a call from Mel and Ann (Morningstar II) that they were heading our way from St. Augustine. A long day for them, but they were anxious to catch up to us so we can all go to Savannah together on the 14th. About an hour out, Mel called to say he had run aground. Not a good thing in the boating world. The channels along this area are well known to be hairy. One of the markers was almost washed ashore and Mel got too close, and bam. Poor guy, he had to call Sea Tow to drag him off. He thought while he was waiting for the tow, maybe he could free himself. So he lowered his dinghy and then got his line hung in his prop! So Tow Boat had to tow them all the way into the marina. Needless to say, he was ready for a drink when they finally made it to the marina.

After all the commotion, we had "docktails" on Morningstar, and called it a night.

JACKSONVILLE (Ortega River) to Fernandina Beach on AMELIA ISLAND, FL / Monday to Wednesday, March 7-9 (Days 46-48)

Admiral's Log:     7:30am, Mon. 3/7/16
                           Temp:   50
                           Winds:   3 mph
                           Speed:   6.2



We had a sunny start, but pretty windy. The current is huge in the Jacksonville area. Normally we would be going 8-9 knots, but we had a 2 knot head current which really slowed us down. You also have to watch the markers very closely. It can get really shallow in these swampy areas around these barrier islands.

Example of a marker you can't get too close to!

You can see the current under this bridge

We got to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island at 12:45 and docked behind another Looper couple from Petoskey Michigan 
(Zephyr), Denise and Paul Drake. Another case of small world; they anchored up with Mel and Ann from Birmingham in Mobile Bay and saw them in Marathon around the same time we were there.

The red line is the FL/GA line, the blue dot is our boat

Fernandina Beach is a cute little town. It is the only city in the US that has flown under 8 different national flags. "Amelia" was in honor of Princess Amelia of England and Fernandina was named after King Ferdinand the 7th. 

Palace Saloon

Pretty ornate bar

We had to check out the Palace Saloon; the oldest saloon in Florida. Just had a drink to see it, too smokey since it is a bar. We walked around town a bit and found a cute Mexican place and sat outside for lunch. Went back to the boat and read a while, watched the Lightning and had chicken salad for dinner.

Sea Otter on the dock

Mike had noticed a small fuel leak, so Tuesday we had a mechanic come stop by and had a new fuel hose made; one of the easier fixes we could have. 

Fort Clinch

FL on the right, GA on the left

We went on a tour boat cruise with Paul and Denise around Amelia and Cumberland Islands. You can only get to Cumberland Island, which is in Georgia, by boat. It was the winter home for the Carnegie Family, until it burned down in 1959. The Carnegie's built several houses for their children. One of them is now the Greyfield Inn. It was the venue for John John Kennedy's Wedding. We saw a few wild horses, but they were too far away for any photos.

One of the "cottages" on Cumberland

Vacation home of one of the Carnegie's

New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking was filmed here on Amelia Island (1988)

Our guide told us Fernandina Beach was the birthplace of modern shrimping and largest shrimping city in the world until the farm raised process came about in the mid 80's. They had over 150 shrimp boats at their peak, and now there are only 5, kind of sad. But the restaurants all buy their shrimp locally and it is really good. So light and not chewy, we really could tell the difference. 

I am trying to either take photos or buy artwork of all the Lighthouses we see on this journey. We went on a quest to find the Amelia Island Lighthouse. We must have walked 2 miles, and finally saw it way off in the distance, but could not get a very good picture, so I bought a print. Unfortunately there were no tours while we were there.

Amelia Island Lighthouse

We met up with Paul and Denise again and took them for margaritas at the Mexican place we went for lunch the day before. Mike and I had dinner at the Marina Restaurant. Of course we had to get the fried shrimp and it really was delicious.

Wednesday, Mike was dying for a haircut and found a very colorful barber shop in town. We told Denise and Paul goodbye but new we would meet up with them again the next day on Jekyll Island. We had a good lunch at the restaurant at the marina. Went back to the boat, read a little which usually leads to a nap. Fixed scallops in a pasta sauce for dinner.

PALATKA to JACKSONVILLE (Ortega Landings Marina) / Saturday and Sunday, March 5-6 (Days 44-45)

Admiral's Log:   8:20 am, Sat., 3/5/16

                         Temp:   47

                         Winds:   calm

                         Speed:   8.3 knots

We cruised north, back up the St. John's River to Ortega Landings at 1:45. We loved this marina so much, we thought we'd stay two nights. We did a little laundry, which was free! Made a Publix run, well walk actually. So nice it is close enough to walk to, and took luxurious showers. 

We saw "Salty" again at the marina. I figured it was meant to be that we meet him. I introduced myself and found out the couple in the boat are from Oregon and not the same guy we saw the first time. The owner of the boat is a guy named John and lives in Melbourne. He and the Oregonian couple, Mike and Karen, swap boats (C-Dory's) once a year. This is their second time to Florida and John has gone to Oregon and used their boat on a river were they keep it docked. Another case of small world. They came over for cocktails and a tour of our boat. 

We fixed grouper fingers (we brought from home) and watched the Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes. Nine wins in a row, GO BOLTS!

Sunday was more of the same. Mike rode a marina bike to Tiffany's, imagine that. I did more laundry and walked to Publix again. 

We cleaned the boat inside real good. Then we were pretty sorry after that. Mike watched golf, I read and worked on bog. We fixed chicken salad for dinner and watched a movie on Netflix.

PALATKA to DRAYTON ISLAND (Anchorage) to HONTOON ISLAND, Back to PALATKA / Wednesday to Friday, March 2-4 (Day 41-43)

Admiral's Log:    9 am, Wed., 3/2/16

                          Temp:   65

                          Wind:  12 mph

                          Speed:   7.5 knots

I drove most the way today. Mike wanted me to learn, to give him a break once in a while. I steered and used the auto pilot. I have to keep reminding myself...RRR, red, right, returning from sea, or going inland. We were going south on the St. John's River, which runs south to north, very rare!  I had to constantly watch for crab pots. They can do a number on props! Also made it thorough my first bridge opening with no issue. 

We anchored at 1:30 in a nice little cove off Drayton Island. We dropped the dinghy, drove around and threw out a couple of fishing lines for something to do. 

While we were enjoying the peace and quiet we saw four Air Force A-10's or Wart Hogs; going through maneuvers, pretty impressive. Then a little later, two helicopters flew over our boat while we were fishing.

We had scallops and a salad for dinner. Pretty slow day, but a nice change.

Admiral's Log:    9:10 am, Thrs. 3/3/16

                          Temp:  66
                          Winds:   calm
                          Speed:   7 knots

                        

                       Sunrise from our anchorage

                    

Thursday we were planning to anchor out another night but the river got so narrow that we we afraid we could not turn around and the current was pretty swift. We arrived at 2:45 at Hontoon Landings Resort near Deland (not much of a resort, mainly rent pontoon boats and house boats). But they had room so we were happy. The current was so strong, it took Mike three tries to get into our slip, and he's pretty proficient at docking, so it must have been pretty rough.

House Boats quite popular on St. John's River

Notice the collapsing balcony!

The St. John's is well known for it's bass fishing. There were fishing camps all along the way. Some pretty nice, others no so much.

We towed the dinghy from the day before, knowing we were going to try to fish a little and we had heard this was a pretty area and we wanted to see it up close. It was quite and peaceful with Spanish moss hanging from limbs, turtles and alligators basking on downed trees, herons, osprey and an eagle here and there. I had another driving lesson; the dinghy. It was really pretty easy and kinda fun.

Mini Croppie

Gators everywhere!

Osprey nest

At the Hontoon National Park Docks across the water from us, there was a C-Dory gathering.  Dory's are cute little boats. Remember "Salty" with the dog? That's a dory. We even saw his boat, but did not see the captain or his dog.

We had soup and a sandwich, and watched the Lightning beat Ottawa. 

Admiral's Log:   7:10 am, Fri. 3/4/16
                         Temp:   59
                         Winds:   8 mph
                         Speed:   9 knots

We had a pretty strong current so we could go a little faster today and still save fuel. Today was pretty uneventful. We had already been this way down river. It was actually very cloudy so it was pretty cool on the flybridge. We moved inside since we had seen most of this area a couple of days ago. 

Bald Eagle

Lots of Osprey

We did have one issue. There is a train bridge that's suppose to stay open but it was closed. So we honked our horn and tried to raise the tender on the radio, to no avail. For 20 minutes we sat there. We were about to call the Sheriff's office, when this older, stove up man starts sauntering across the bridge. No hurry at all. We were quite perturbed needless to say.
 He never did acknowledge us, and neither did we. But it takes all kinds, just part of the experience, although one we could do with out. 

We made it back to the Boat House Marina in Palatka at 3:30. Mike had a craving for pizza, so we found a local Italian restaurant called Pizzaboyz, which had good reviews. I'm not a big fan of pizza, but Mike liked it.   

                          

                          

ORTEGA RIVER (Jacksonville) to PALATKA / Monday to Tuesday, February 29-March 1 (Days 39 - 40)

Admiral's Log:     9:00 am, Mon. 2/29/16
                           Temp:   52
                           Winds:   calm    
                           Speed:   5.8 knots    

We picked up speed once we got back into the St. John's River. Another breezy, cool day. The guys moved to the flybridge around noon, but it was still too cold for me and Bon, so another day of reading for us. We decide we wanted to anchor out. The tides, currents and winds had not been very conducive for anchoring up to that point. But weather predictions looked pretty good so we dropped anchor at Carmen's Cove just north of the Palatka Bridge at 2:45. 

The sun felt so good!

We had drinks and hors d'oeuvres on the bow. It was a beautiful day! Bonnee and Casey decided they were our fair weather friends; the weather did seem to improve once they came aboard. We watched two osprey work on their nest and dive for fish. Then enjoyed a peaceful, quiet sunset.

                              

                     Proudly flying our Looper flag (AGLCA)

The Captain & the Admiral

Tuesday morning we moved over to Boat House Marina in Palatka at 8:30. Bonnee and Casey rented a car to drive home today. But first the guys washed the outside of the boat and Bonnee and I went to a laundry mat to wash their sheets and towels and my clothes. The marina only had one washer and dryer, so since they had a rental car we found a good old fashioned laundry mat. 

No waiting in line here!

Corky & Bell's

We had a farewell lunch at Corky and Bell's on the St. John's River. Mike had a bacon and fried shrimp sandwich, he said was great. I had fried catfish which was very good. Bonnee and Casey split some ribs and fried shrimp. We all agreed we ate too much and wallered back to the marina. We bid them farewell. I'm going to miss Casey's seamanship and Bonnee's humor. If laughs could make you lose weight, we should weigh 100 pounds by now. 

Good friends!

I worked on my blog and Mike plotted our next several days cruising. We just had a salad for dinner. We are going to have to buckle down and stop eating out so much, we are going to be big as houses if this keeps up! 

ST. AUGUSTINE to ST. JOHN'S RIVER / Sunday February 28 (Day 38)

Admiral's Log:     7:20 am Sun. 2/28/16
                           Temp:   50
                           Winds:   calm 
                           Speed:   9.4 knots  

Another windy and cool day. But one good thing, the tides and winds are giving us a little help on speed. Mike and Casey started out in the pilot house because it was pretty cold on the flybridge. Bonnee and I stayed in the salon most of the day reading. Leaving St. Augustine we got a good view of the Fort and the Old City.

Fort Matanzas

Flagler College and Old City

I 95 Bridge

We went through Ponte Vedre Beach on the ICW. Well kept homes with good sized yards and not over the top. We passed TPC Sawgrass Golf Course, Jacksonville Jaguars Stadium and went under  the Interstate 95 bridge; wow is it long.

Jaguars Stadium

Jacksonville Skyline

Stealth Ship

We passed Mayport Naval Air Station. The guys were impressed with the ships. They think one of them was a Stealth Ship.

We stopped at Ortega River Marina at 3:00, but our power would not work, so we moved next door the Ortega Landings Marina. Boy are we glad we did. What a nice marina! Nicest one yet. Floating concrete docks. Free laundry, your own individual bathroom and shower in one room. A clubhouse with a kitchen, swimming pool and hot tub.

The guys walked to Tiffany's, looking for another power plug splitter (which they did not have) and a couple of things at Publix. Bonnee and I took a five mile walk across two bridges, through a lovely neighborhood and back to the marina.

We indulged and took nice long hot showers! We grilled pork chops, roasted beets and potatoes and called it a night.