Ortega Landing, Jax, FL–Visiting with Friends

Thurs – Sunday, Mar 7-10, 2019:  St Augustine, FL to The Marina at Ortega Landing, Jax, FL

61 miles   …   5 hours

A pretty nice day for a long run to Jacksonville, where we will stop to prep to cruise the St John’s River. We ran about 15 mph to shorten the time. Only during one 6 mile long area through homes lining the river did we have to go slow/minimum wake

The rest of the time was more scenic

until we reached Jacksonville …

On the way to our marina we go thru a rail road bridge that is in the up position. Work is planned on the rail road bridge that is going to keep it in the closed/down position for a while. We will be thru it, cruise the St John’s and then after stopping back in Jax for 3 days be able to go thru it again. It’s a very low bridge we won’t fit under.

WOW – What a nice marina. 1st they emailed (days ago when we made the reservation) info on the marina, our slip assignment, approach info and a layout of the docks so we could see what slip we would be in. Wish more marinas would do this!!

The nicest bathrooms this section of the Loop! Free Ice! FREE LAUNDRY!!  So, Friday was laundry day, boat cleaning day, etc.

However, the best part of being in Jax is, for me Beth, I get to visit with college buddies including my UNC roommate.

Sherry and I hung for the day on Saturday and went shopping, picked up David and then headed back to the boat.

Dinner out was a really fun Mexican Place.

Good food, great service and funky atmosphere – what more do you need … oh, wild drinks like this Margarita with a Mexican Beer on top???

After provisioning and doing more Laundry on Sun morning, we headed out to lunch with Sherry & David.

It was so much fun to see David & Sherry again. Hopefully, I will get another chance when we stop back at Ortega Landing as we leave the St John’s River.

While we were out to lunch, Fred & Robin (who bought our Monk 36) texted they were in their dinghy out messing and saw our boat. They popped back over once we were back on the boat. FUN to chat with them. Such nice folks.

Sunday night was Looper Docktails at the marina over by the grill area looking out on the river.

Docktails with Sarah Louise (our old Monk), Pharm Life, Destination??, About Time.

What a packed day.

BRIDGE CLOSURE??????

Tues, March 5, 2016: Daytona Beach, FL to St Augustine, FL

53.675 miles. ... 6 hours

The marina has a weird policy on returning the gate/shower keys. Either hand it to a security guard before 7:30 (not this boat) or take it by boat to the fuel dock and hand it off on your way out. We opted for Cally and I to walk over to the marina office, not close, hand it off in person. Nice walk for Cally before we leave. Rip would let me back in the gate and we would leave.

EXCEPT, Rip heard the tail end of a Coast Guard Security Call about a bridge closed to navigation this am. Crap, we need to go through that bridge as soon as we leave the marina. It isn't supposed to open until noon to allow boats through for one hour.

We called the bridge project manager and confirmed with our 16' height, 8.5' beam and 3' depth we could in fact go through the other spans. Only the main, center span was being blocked by 2 work barges. We were told the marina staff could tell where the "old channel" was BUT, "Warning, Warning, Danger, Mr Smith"... warned strongly, going outside the channel was at our own risk.

Rip picked our course away from construction (yellow /red line to right side) and slowly moved us through and then back into the channel (blue line to left) on the other side. Crisis avoided. Starting at noon with a six hour day cruise wasn't how we wanted the day to go.

Temporary buoy marking a sunken sailboat to avoid.

Pretty mosaic tile artwork on bridge of dolphins, manatees and various fish.

Cool, dreary, drizzly day...might as well be cruising up the ICW. Wouldn't be a fun day to do anything else.

St Augustine Municipal Marina is right downtown. Easy walking to shops, including a Ice Cream Sandwich shop. OK, at $6 a piece, we might not go back, but they were good.

Sights of St Augustine...

The Bridge of Lions

Cannons aimed at the ICW from the Headquarters of the National Guard Campus.

“The Oldest House”

Picture below, the original sea wall to the right of side walk. the new taller sea wall to the left of the side walk. I love that a section of the original sea wall was preserved.

What Colonial town doesn’t have their own Pirate Ship??

Lots of restaurants and outdoor seating

Lots & lots of shopping, including 5 ice cream shops, 4 coffee shops.

No visit is complete without seeing the Ponce De Leon statue

Daytona Beach & Dinner Out with Past Neighbors

Mon March 4, 2019

Titusville FL to Daytona Beach FL 

52.95 miles. ...   5.5 hours

After a nice restful stay in Titusville, it was time to move north again. An uneventful trip is always a good thing.

Interesting house we passed. Not your typical FL water front home.

Shallow water was never far

After a stop at the fuel dock, we slipped into our shot for the night. And right across the fairway from past neighbors and friends Dave and Jane Gammons.

Our slip was nice and close to the shower facilities and by a long wandering path for walking Cally.

Jane and Dave stopped by to say hi. Then invited us to have a drink in their boat. We had read about all the work Dave had done and enjoyed the tour.

Then off to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. We enjoyed their company,conversation and the food. A short stop of only one night but a fun stop.