Hi everyone! Well, today ‘s the day!
When we woke up, it was 57 degrees…warmer than yesterday’s high of 52
degrees!! Chuck undid the bridle lines
to the mooring ball at 8:15 and I called the Bridge of Lions tender to request
an 8:30 opening. By the time we got into
position for the opening, 3 other boats also motored in to wait. We all went
through the bridge out toward the St. Augustine Inlet and around the marker,
then through the Vilano Fixed Bridge.
The navigational aids are very close to the ocean that it would be very
easy to go out to sea! Once through the
Vilano Bridge it feels like we’re in a race with the other sailboats! A few are fighting for the lead.
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| motoring toward the inlet |
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| look at the ocean |
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| marker takes boats close to shore |
We’re not sure where we’re going this afternoon. We would like to make it to Fernandina Beach
but the currents are working against us .
Right now we’re only cruising at 4.2 kts and that’s with our
headsail out! So, I think we’ll probably only make
Jacksonville Beach and stay at Palm Cove
Marina. We stayed here on the way
down. The fuel dock is easy to go in and
out of. Publix is within walking distance and West Marine is just a little
further. Plus, there’s a Wendy’s nearby. We have fond memories of this place because
we ate here a few times with Al and Colette from sv/Euphoria last fall!
Even though today is mostly cloudy, the sun did poke through
a few times and the 62 degrees feels warm after yesterday’s high of 51
degrees! Today’s trip has us
motor/sailing through the Tolomato River and then through the Cabbage Swamp
Canal. I loved this stretch on our way
down and I’m loving it again today. On
the Tolomato River, I feel like our boat is in the low country of South Carolina when we look west. On the eastern shore are beautiful homes. The Cabbage
Swamp is even narrower with the houses close to the ICW on our starboard sided
and vacant land to port(west). The canal goes on for 10 miles….and we didn’t
hit once! In this stretch, we passed a
guy in his canoe-stern sailboat with full sails a flying. He also had his dinghy up against his port
stern. It appears that his sailboat’s
engine isn’t working and he’s using the wind and his dinghy to move him along.
When we got to Palm Cove, I call about a dock for the night
as well as inquiring about the condition of their channel. We’ll be entering one hour before low
tide. This could be a problem! The woman who answered the call said the
channel was 6 feet MLW, but be sure to stay in the center of their day
markers. Okay! Chuck navigated us into the marina basin
without any problem but when he steered over to the fuel dock guess what? We got hung up in the mud...45 minutes
before low tide. Let’s back up and try
this again….yeah…we’re moving! We made
the fuel dock, fueled up, and pumped out.
They then assigned us to the face dock near where we’re getting
diesel. It’s exactly the same dock we
stayed on last fall. The wind was
blowing in our favor so Chuck pulled off the fuel dock and backed down the
fairway using the wind to push us broadside to the dock. It’s not working! What the heck! We're not moving…we’re in the mud again!! LOL Chuck moved the boat back and forth and finally I threw the bow line to the dock hand
and he muscled the bow over. Chuck then threw
him the stern line and he once again muscled the rest of our boat over along
the dock. Wow! This is a first….Once we start to float again,
we’ll adjust our docklines!!
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| they have bird problems too! |
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| at dock looking at marshland |
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| osprey |
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