Jacksonville, Fl

Thursday December 13, 2012
30 16.528 N
81 42.901 W

Once again we were up at dawn to catch the tide. It was a dark and foggy morning - not stormy but breezy. The forecast was for north winds 10-15kts. This would put the wind on our stern so we would not feel much. We planned to go 20 miles south down the ICW and then 20 odd miles west up the St Johns river to Jacksonville. Over the last 30 years we must have driven thru Jacksonville a thousand times to and from Florida, but had never left the highway. This time we were planning to stop and explore the city. 

Our tide planning was very successful and we rode the tide current maybe 80% of the day, averaging 8.1 kts over the 41 NM. For the first 1/2 of the day we were virtually alone on the water. But once we hit the St Johns things changed in a hurry. It is a major shipping channel and that was evident from the moment we hit the river. We saw "many" ships including a big cruise ship.

Downtown & Railway Bridge

There was really no good spot to anchor and we wanted access to the city, so we chose a marina a little out of town. We had to go under some highway bridges and an opening railway bridge. When we got to the railway bridge it was down but as we approached, it opened. It was a massive cantilever bridge and was very impressive as it moved its mass.

To get to the marina we needed to continue a few miles past downtown and enter the Ortega River through a small lifting bridge. After the railway bridge it looked quite "cute"

Ortega River Bridge

The marina was great for only $0.95 a foot. Plus it was located near a real shopping center including a Belk and a big supermarket and  West Marine and plenty of restaurants, all in walking distance. Deidre ended up buying cushions for the pilot house and I bought myself a real foul weather coat - bright yellow. We had dinner out at a steak house.

Next day we planned a trip to downtown. But first I walked ashore and got the morning paper while Deidre cooked eggs and bacon and coffee. Then we met a few of the locals on the dock and enjoyed a good chin wag. By the time we set off it was lunch time, but before we got too far we stumbled on a big old ship chandlery and spent an hour or so in there. We had invited people over for drinks and now it was too late to leave!

Jacksonville Landing - looked fun

We thought of staying another day but the tides were really unfriendly and we decided we had to leave Saturday. So we may never see downtown Jacksonville, which is a shame as it looked fun.