This ain’t “pleasure” boating!

We waited around a couple days for that darn tropical storm to pass by Brunswick, and enjoyed beautiful weather while waiting to depart for points south.  So we were more than ready to leave Tuesday Oct 8, looking at weather reports ranging from 20% rain up to 70% thunderstorms.  In hindsight (which is always 20/20), we should have believed the 70%.  All our boat neighbors were watching/helping us leave; maybe they just wanted to see for themselves that this lady captain could actually handle this big boat!

We took 200 gallons of fuel at a dock just south of the marina which services the commercial shrimp boats, and spent 60 cents per gallon less than at the marina.  We departed under overcast skies and 20-25 mph winds.  An hour later the rain started and the winds went to 30 gusting to 35.  The only reason we continued travelling was that the seas and wind were all from astern, so the ride wasn't too bad since we were mostly in the protected ICW.  But when we crossed one of the open-water Sounds following the ICW to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, we got caught by 4-5’ sea swells.  For 45 minutes, we pitched and rolled about 30 degrees, which mixed up some stuff in the cabin which wasn’t tightly secured.  Sue turned to me & asked “Are we having fun yet?” She added that she doesn’t have to go to Texas to ride the mechanical bull now, since she has already experienced a ride at least as exciting.

The rain and winds continued as the temperatures fell.  When we arrived at our anchorage, we had minimal protection from the winds, as we were still in the grass marshes of Georgia.  We had planned to raft up for drinks & dinner with another boat, which had left the same marina in Brunswick with us, but the wind was too high to try.  We spent a very restless night, getting up every two hours to see if our 65# anchor was dragging.  Luckily, it held, despite our rotating every 6 hours when the tide shifted.

By morning, the wind had died down to only 20-25 mph, but we still had a light rain & cool temps.  Another day not to go boating, but we certainly didn’t want to spend the day anchored in the marshes.  To add to our fun, we found that our windlass would not work electrically to raise the anchor.  I had put out 100’ of all chain rode (because of the high winds during the night), which we then had to ratchet up manually on the windlass, 3” at a time.  Found out the next day that the windlass battery had shorted out & died.  So much for “pleasure boating”.

Our escort on the river, USCG Cutter "Dauntless",
travelled next to us for about 5 miles.

Within an hour, we had entered the St Johns River, which we will take upriver past Jacksonville all the way south to Sanford FL, just north of Orlando.  The river was big, deep, and full of commercial traffic.  We planned our trip to catch the incoming tide, which gave us a 2 mph boost.  And finally, the rain quit and the clouds started clearing!  At noontime, we were finally into the city (I found out that Jacksonville is actually about 25 miles west of the ocean, not right next to the Atlantic).  We docked for lunch at the River City Marina, which is adjacent to the River City Brewing Company, so Sue could sample their craft beers.  We’ve been finding local craft breweries from St Augustine to Savannah, so Sue can compare notes with our two sons.  After a good lunch, we left the dock just prior to the scheduled opening of the nearby railroad bridge.  The bridge has had mechanical problems, and opens to marine traffic only 9-10 AM and 2-3 PM, so if we had missed that opening, we’d be spending the night somewhere else.

Oh, all right......I guess we'll let him have the right of way!

As we continued past the city, the St Johns River transitioned from a fast-flowing business-like river, to a wide calm lake.  An hour later, we finally arrived at our temporary home of Ortega Landing Marina, just south of Jacksonville, and Sue made yet another perfect approach and landing to the dock.  She’s getting so good a docking the boat, I’ll be forced to keep her a while longer!  We’ll stay for several days at this marina, especially since they are having their Oktoberfest party this Saturday, serving beer from…………..wait for it…………..a local craft brewery!  Sue has her list of a couple other beer pubs to check out in town before we resume our cruise. 

Once under way, we’ll be on our final leg of cruising for this year.  We’ll keep the boat in Sanford for the winter, while we spend about half our time back in TN and OH caring for relatives.  Our goal for next summer is to travel up the East Coast to New York City, go up the Hudson to the Erie Canal, and eventually get to Lake Erie.