Thurs Jan 30 - In which we come to the oldest city in N America

Jacksonville Beach to St Augustine Mooring Field

Hey! Look what I did - I made a little hammock for my undies so I can get to them easily!  It's the little things....

I couldn't sleep because I was so busy thinking of the logistics of moving from a home in Atlanta that we won't sell yet to a Jax Beach condo that we don't even own....  But the hammock cheered me up..

I spent the morning working and Rick spent the morning crawling all over the engine with a mechanic.  They were like pigs in s&@t.  It's so great for him to be able to brainstorm things like this with someone on his level.  I just can't feel the whole engine thing - I'll learn what I have to but I will never love it.  I'm too busy thinking of wall color for a hypothetical condo...

Long story short - tachometer is FIXED.  The world is SAVED.  Can I get a hallelujah and amen...

There was wind and current as we eased out of the slip, so there was less easing then scrambling - but we got there in the end and away we went.  We were cursing the cold, and then it got hot on the bridge with the wind behind us and encased in plastic as it is up there.  Like a green house.  But I'm not going to complain - I'm ready for sunburn.

It was a long, narrow canal past the expensive water-front homes of Ponte Vedra Beach, with not a single other boat in sight the entire day.  We know it will be a jacked-up traffic jam when we come north again with all the other pleasure craft, so we relish this time and the opportunity to learn when no one else is around. (There is a reason no one else is out - cold AF...)

The wind and waves picked up as we arrived at the Bridge of Lions that is the entrance to the St Augustine Harbor and the giant mooring ball field that was our destination.   So that made it super exciting for me to be at the helm while Rick attempted the mooring ball pick-up.  We've got some communication details to work out, and I can't tell you it was elegant -  but we did it on the first attempt - no one was hurt, Rick didn't fall overboard, we didn't hit another boat, there was no yelling, and we didn't lose or break any equipment.  We were a little cranky - but then we watched a sail boat come in after us and try/fail 5 times and finally give up and leave; and we felt a bit better and there was a small high five! It's the little things...

This is the most active, noisy boat - ear plugs mandatory - but she is ours and still afloat and we love her.

Wed Jan 29 - In which retrace our steps at 8 miles per hour

Fernandina Beach to Palm Cove Marina, Jacksonville Beach

 Oh. My. God.  There weren't ghosts in the night... But I woke up to ..... THE WOLFMAN.  Rick has decided that the fact that he has no job and lives on a boat = no shaving...  Lord help me. 

I hate to admit it, because I will be smote (smitted? smitten) from above, but we are much less nervous this time around - we know more, we are careful but we now believe we can do it.  That attitude lasted through pulling up the anchor without breaking a sweat (except for those of us whose job it is to pull up the anchor and wash it down, and then wash down the entire boat) and it was smooth sailing.  For about 20 minutes.  Then Rick discovered that the tachometer was no longer working.  This calculates the RPM and is, apparently, a BIG DEAL.  Those of us who have not really been using the RPM (being otherwise engaged in watching depth, speed, oncoming traffic, boats behind us, no wake zones, slow wake zones, etc) decided NOT to lose our shit. We made soothing noises and Rick found a mechanic at our next stop who will help.

So all was well until we came around a corner to find a railroad bridge in the way.  We anticipate bridges using this mass of equipment (sextant my ass)

but our Active Captain (which is, I remind you, supposed to be 'active' - as in, currant, like Waze) said that the bridge was always up unless a train was coming.  Frantic searching revealed that it was closed for maintenance except for 11-1.  And Jan 29th was the LAST day of this nonsense.  Did I mention that we got going early (of course we did) so we got to the bridge at 9:30am.  Grrrrrr....  We did some circles and then decided to go back a few paces and anchor.  This resulted in accidentally getting in to 1.5 ft water (ha HA - I was NOT driving), lots of dithering and finally putting the anchor (freshly cleaned I might remind you) BACK DOWN.  Whereupon I looked up to find that the maintenance guys had opened the bridge, gotten in their truck and driven off.  #^((%((@*#*#*#*#

Stupid bridge

Anchor back up and away we went.  Arriving, AGAIN, in Jacksonville Beach - this time by boat.  We like the marina very much - not fancy, but great people.  It's a big dry storage facility - holds 500 boats:

Not something you see every day

 The marina also has the escape boat prop used in Captain Phillips:

We were happy to have a place to get fuel and a hot shower becuase IT IS COLD.  Even with the heater on - it's warm for awhile, then blows cold air.  Another thing for Rick to fix.  Usually we are fine, but tonight we were cold.  We were also hoping to see Faithful Reader Kim, for dinner - but she was a no-show.  So we will have to come through again.

We talked the marina in to putting us on an inner slip (usually the face dock is the best a transient boat can hope for) so we were sheltered from the wind that Mr. Weather accurately predicated....  He might be hirsute, but he's well informed...

Tues Jan 28 - In which we get started again...

 Brunswick Landing Marina to Fernandina Beach Bells River anchorage

We finally let go the lines from Brunswick Landing Marina at about 9:30 am on a warm-ish Tuesday morning.  Thanks so much to the wonderful Marina (A-MAZ-ING library to borrow from - I got 4 books and a puzzle)!  We traveled out through Brunswick Harbor with St. Simon Island off to the Northeast and headed south towards Jacksonville. We were so happy to pass under this bridge, which officially indicates that we are once again boating:

We traveled along side of Jekyll and Cumberland Islands, we will visit those on the return trip.

We arrived at Fernandina Beach with massive factories on one side and wonderful, solitary grasslands on the other side   A very strange juxtaposition.  

Doesn't it look like a roller coaster?!

We anchored (that is a really weird word, if you think about it - the more you say it to yourself the less sense it makes...  or am I the only one who does that kind of thing) just beyond two derelict boats, also anchored.  That made me completely nervy...  what if ghosts sailors are up and about at night??? How spooky do these look:

Pretty spooky, amirite???

Even this amazing sight didn't keep me from listening for sounds in the night... Mostly I just heard a VERY DILIGENT TRAIN...

Mon Jan 20 - 23 In which we're BAAAAACCCCKKKKK!

 Brunswick Landing Marina Interval

Easy - don't everyone get all emotional on me.  We haven't been out of touch that long...  Well, it was longer than we intended it to be.  There was just one thing after another.  Thanksgiving, and then kids home from college and then Christmas. And doctor appointments - and at our age one appointment begets more, so there were several crowns had by all, a hernia fix, the ENT (cause why not, while we have insurance), a cardio guy just for fun and the dermatologist.

We FINALLY got back to Brunswick Marina Jan 20 to find that the birds had made liberal use of the upper deck.  So even tho no one could poop IN the boat while we were away, pooping ON the boat was in full swing.  And you know what that means - YES!  CLEANING!! So there were a couple days devoted to that, to eating at a Gullah breakfast place and getting a library card for Glynn County.  We are collecting libraries because we can get audio and e-books that way.. Oh, we also had someone dive under the boat to check the little water wheel that lets the speedometer tell us our speed. Normally Rick and I will do that kind of dive, but it was cold AF and so not going to happen on my watch.  That boy - he just lies awake a night worrying about things.  Kind of like when I was raising teenagers (and he was sleeping blissfully away).  He was right, tho.  The wheel was gunked up (that's the technical term we boaters use) and lo, we can now tell the difference between 7 and 8 miles per hour. 

As an aside, I know all y'all love your dogs, so you would be pleased that while we were in Atlanta they built a HUGE dog park at Bruswick Marina.  Yes - a rather large number of people have dogs along on their boats.  Which I'm sure is lovely and all, but having to get them to shore every 5 hours or so would be a PITA.  We can hardly get ourselves to shore...

I got a ukulele for Christmas as I want to be able to play with Claire, and that is one of my goals during my spare time on the boat (in between cleaning and freaking out).  While I was in Bruckswick I got to go to ukulele practice with my friend Jack, who belongs to an EIGHTY PERSON UKULELE CHOIR.  Who knew there were 80 people in the area who could even play ukulele.  It was so much fun!

Also, strolling around Brunswick, we came across this little fixer-upper so any of you can join us on the high seas...

Jan 1 - Intermission

An update on the "intermission" - from end November 2019 to Jan 2020.

We left the boat at the Brunswick Landing Marina, a very large facility with a large number of live aboard boats.  Lot's of amenities and a very comfortable place to stay.  Brunswick is a great town with lots of history, great restaurants and our good friends Dottie and Jack.  We left them a key to the boat and they took good care of the boat.

Thanksgiving in California with the Rohrbach family, then back to Atlanta for doctor's appointments, arrival of William and then Claire and then a wonderful Christmas.  After Christmas in early January Rick went down to the boat to work on a few projects.   These included fixing deck lights, extending the height of the anchor light, replacing burnt out indicator lights in various places.  Mostly he just wanted to be on the boat!

Fri Jan 24 - 27 In which we travel 70 miles per hour!

A side trip to Jax Beach

I wanted to get to Jax Beach where my boss lives, but the weather was, as we boaters say, YUCKY so Rick had a genius thinking-outside-of-the-box idea!  Our car is RIGHT HERE, let's DRIVE.  I was all like WHHHHUUUTTTTT?????  And Rick was like, let's DRIVE!  And what takes two days by boat is 1.5 hours away by car so...  away we went like the down of a thistle... 

We took the scenic route and stopped for lunch:

 The first night we stayed down time so Rick could go to the 'boat show' the next day.  It was so small he really had to work hard to find something to buy, but he prevailed and came home with two new blue dock lines.  The anal part of my brain wishes all the fenders and lines were clean, new and the small color...but the other part of my brain knows we need to spend $$ on important things.  Downtown Jax was nice, but full of homeless people.  I got plenty of that at home...so I scratched Jax off the retirement list.

 But then we got to my boss' condo on Jax Beach and I did a complete 180!  We came away thinking that might be a place we end up (Jax Beach, not the condo).  We've been looking for a place with a beach, near a big city and good airport, with a university, decent weather most of the year, and with no state income tax.  Voila!  In addition it has sand dunes/dune grass (which I have a thing about, from my childhood), no spring breakers and is slightly southern.  I'll keep you posted...

So, we intend to leave (on the actual boat) tomorrow (but that is what we said last Monday).  God willing, weather permitting - as my friend, Michele, says.