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.