We enjoyed our time in Jacksonville although the weather was poor. It was still nice to take a little break from our travels. I spent the time sewing a new mainsail cover. Unfortunately I didn't pick the best place to tie up at the Metropolitan Marina. There was a lot of current to say the least. At times it was like we were tied up in rapids with so much water rushing between the boat and the dock. A couple of times we got waked pretty hard and I had to stand on the dock and fend off the boat. We had to time our departure for slack tide, so we left around noon. Amazingly things were just calm enough that we got away from the dock without incident.




We traveled approximately 15 miles to anchor behind Blount Island. We were very fortunate as we did not encounter shipping traffic aside from a couple of fast moving tug boats. Just after we anchored we saw a huge freighter go down the river. It's amazing to me just how big those things are, very scary looking to a little boat like mine. As it was about 45 degrees coupled with a cold north wind, I was practically a popsicle by the time we dropped anchor. I was so happy to get inside the nice warm cabin. Blount Island is about 4 miles from the place where the St John's River, the ocean inlet and the ICW (intercoastal waterway) converge. Our plan was to catch it at slack tide the next day.




Our plan didn't work that well, as we bucked a current, making only 2.2 knots. I was more than a bit nervous about this section as it's known to be choppy, busy (meaning freighters) and lots of current. The dog made it more interesting by choosing that exact moment to wreak havoc in the cabin. Thankfully, the only freighter we saw passed behind us a few minutes after we turned south to enter the ICW. We were very happy to be headed south! We had a lovely trip passing by beautifully decorated homes and docks. Shortly before 3 pm we reached our anchorage at Pine Island.

The wind was blowing like crazy and there was also a lot of current, but we managed to drop the anchor and get settled. What a gorgeous place. Tall pines trees coupled with marshes, very remote, although we did share the anchorage with another cruising sailboat. I actually managed to get a good nights sleep for the first time in a few days as it was a very secure anchorage.

We left early on Saturday morning as we had only 15 more miles to make it to Saint Augustine. Again we bucked a lot of current and were only making 4 knots, but it was a beautiful day and lovely scenery. Shortly before noon we picked up a mooring in Saint Augustine near the Bridge of Lions. We missed it on our first two attempts because the helmsman misjudged the direction of the current and was unable to stop the boat. The first mate snagged the line boat hook both times. Finally, a nice gentleman on a nearby boat came over in his dinghy and gave us a hand. 

I couldn't believe my eyes this morning when I awoke at 7 a.m. to no fog! I thought we'd get an early start and prepared to raise anchor.  Then I got sight of the dinghy 3/4 filled with rain water. It was time to wake up the first mate, as bailing the dinghy is her responsibility  I decided to have breakfast while she worked. We finally weighed anchor just before 8 a.m. and headed towards Jacksonville.  It was a beautiful quite morning and we saw few other boats, only a couple of crab fishing boats.  As we neared Jacksonville we had a visit from the US Customs and Border Patrol. I had to show our documentation and ID's and wait while they checked it out.  They were quite friendly and were a little surprised that it was Just Coleen and I on-board.  

Getting through downtown Jacksonville is a bit tricky to say the least. First there is a 70 ft bridge, no worries, but it's followed closely by a railroad bridge. We had to wait for 2 trains before we got our bridge opening and we had a 2 knot current behind us. Still there was plenty of room so it wasn't too bad. Just after that is another 70 ft bridge followed by the Main Street Lift Bridge.  Again there was a lot of current, and we had to dance around in place waiting for an opening. The bridge tender asked me to come up close while he opened the bridge. I would have preferred to stay back due to the current, but made way as requested. In my opinion he just barely got it open enough before we went under, but I suspect it looked differently from above thand below.

We then stared looking for the Metropolitan Town Park dock.  After a couple of false starts, I found it.  I sure wish they had bigger signs on these places!  Anyway just as we were pulling up alongside, a man on a bicycle came down the ramp to help us with our lines. He said "You must be Coleen" as he took the line from her.  Turns out he has been reading our blog since we first started 4 years ago. He happened to be riding when he saw us waiting for the bridge and rode down to give us a hand, which we badly needed given the strong current.

So we're planning to rest here for a day before we continue on.  It may not seem like it but running the boat for 8 days in a row is actually tiring.  The dock is free and adjacent to the big football stadium home to the Floria Jaguars. Not much else around here except a very nice park and an old firehouse museum.  It seems safe enough though as we are dock almost nect to the Fire Boat Patrol office and I suspect they are around 24 x 7.

It was a bit eerie to wake up in the middle of the night and see that we were completely fogged in.  Although we had anchored only a couple of hundred feet from shore, we could no longer see it. I hoped that between our anchor light and Christmas lights we would be visible to others. I tried to console myself that it was doubtful that anyone would be out and about in the fog. I was also thankful to have the anchor alarm on my tablet computer, so I could easily see that we were still anchored in the same spot.

The fog burned off enough for us to get underway about 9 a.m.  We had only to travel about 7 miles to the Shands bridge, the last of the 45 foot bridges.  When we finally got up close enought to read the bridge markings I decided to go anchor and wait for low tide, as last time our antenna scraped at 46 ft and we needed another foot to comfortably clear the bridge.  So we headed over to Florence Cove, dropped the hook and waited until mid afternoon. I spent the time cleaning the fridge and giving the galley a good scrubbing which strangely enough is a good stress reliever for me.

ArouIt wnd 3 p.m we headed back to the bridge and this time had a our 46 foot marking. We slowly went under and then cheers and high fives went all around - as this was our last low bridge!  Now it was time to find  spot to spend the night in Green Cove Springs. Green Cove Springs is home to our mail forwarding service and is actually our legal address so we thought we might check it out.  Unfortunately just as we neared the place it started pouring buckets of rain. I couldn't find the town dock for anything and I even if I had probably wouldn't have wanted to attempt docking there in the downpour.  So instead we found a little spot to anchor and I braved the rain to set the anchor securely. I was totally soaked, depiste my raincoat by the time everything was arranged.  Thankfully Coleen had a dry towel and my fuzzy robe ready, and soon I was sipping a cup of hot cocoa. It was quite the storm, not so much wind, but copious amounts of rain and almost non-stop lightening.  It ended up raining for several hours, so spent the night anchored rather than venturing to town as planned.  Poor Prince was quite disappointed as he is still not comfortable using the poop deck for his business.

I woke up early to get in one more load of laundry before taking my
first mate to breakfast.  We walked a few short blocks to Angel's
Diner billed as the oldest diner in Florida.  It's housed in an old
railroad dining car.  The food was good and the townfolk were
friendly.  It was the sort of place where everyone visits together.

We had just enough time to eat before heading over to the St James
United Methodist Church for worship.  Beautiful church, super nice
people, great message and Coleen enjoyed playing with children.

On our way back to the marina we stopped to shop at the Christmas
House,  a historic house set up by the local arts council.  We spent a
whopping $2.50 on an ornament, non breakable of course.

We finally left the dock around 1:30 and traveled for 22 miles until
we reached Solano Cove were we dropped the hook for the night..