Jacksonville Landing (Free Dock)

Tuesday October 21, 2014


We decided against heading further south on the river - we have cruised on plenty of rivers and there did not seem to be anything of particular interest on the St. Johns. So we waited for the tide and headed north. On the way back we heard friends on the radio ("Rickshaw") and arranged to meet back at Jacksonville Landing.

Green Cove Springs (City Dock)

Monday October 20, 2014
29 59 660 N
81 40 473 W

Another easy day - maybe we are just getting into a cruising mind set after 2 1/2 years on the water. Our target was the City Dock in Green Cove Springs, just 21 NM away. This is where our "mail house" is located and we have decided to give it a visit.

The Straus Railroad bridge crosses the river in Jacksonville and it was scheduled to be open between 9 AM and 10 AM so we were off the dock at 9:20 AM and under the bridge. Heading south the river was wide and calm. There was only one spot at the GCS City Dock that we would fit, and when we arrived the place was deserted so there was no issue.

We lowered one bike and I rode a few miles to the mail-house and picked up the current batch of mail. Back at the boat met a South African couple on a sailing boat and invited them back for a beer.

Green Cove Springs 

Jacksonville Landing (Free Dock)

Saturday October 18, 2014
30 19 467 N
81 39 665 W

Long day with a good fun ending.

Its desirable to catch the tide for the 25 mile run up the St. Johns River to Jacksonville, otherwise you can be pushing a 2 1/2 knot current all the way. So we had consulted the tide tables and timed our departure to arrive 1/2 hour after the flood started. But because of the dinghy motor problem we were delayed a day. So I checked the tide tables and adjusted our Fernandina departure 1/2 hour earlier.

We dropped the mooring right on time at 8:30 AM and headed out into the Atlantic. It was a nice sunny day with a long 1-2 foot swell and virtually no chop. We were making great progress when I realized we would arrive at the entrance an hour early - I had adjusted our departure time the wrong way! So we slowed Tide Hiker back to about 4 kts to delay our arrival. What a drag.

Our target was a free dock at "Jacksonville Landing" - this is in the middle of the Jacksonville entertainment district. Because it was now the weekend - and a football weekend - we were doubtful that there would be space for us but we lucked out and squeezed in at about 5:30PM. The place was really hopping.

Mixed into the restaurants is a stage with live bands till after we wet to bed. The theme was all latino and had the whole place hopping. Most notable was the number of large gyrating asses. Deidre and I had pizza dinner.

Sunday the Cleveland Browns are in town to play the Jaguars. Let's hope no-one throws any batteries at Tide Hiker.

Fernandina Beach (Mooring Ball)

Wednesday October 15, 2014
30 40 238 N
81 28 171 W

We are in Florida! Just a short run over the border to Fernandina. We went straight to the fuel dock, pumpted-out and paid for two days on a ball. Nice day but a bit breezy.

Dropped the dinghy but I just could not get it to run. Most frustrating. I called Gene Taylor to get his advise -  he was on the way to the airport. We recovered the dinghy and over the next 60 minutes I removed and cleaned the carburetor and blew out the fuel lines. My conclusion was that the problem is the fuel pump - I will attack that tomorrow.

I like to take a few photos before I take things apart that I do not understand.

Thursday, October 16
This morning I removed the fuel pump and opened it up. I really have no clue what I am doing ..... but how complicated can it be? Apparently too complicated for me. Put everything back together and launched the dinghy and ......... no noticeable improvement.

So we located a local mechanic and called the marina to ask permission to pull up at the face dock for an hour or so. We used the crane to lower the dinghy on the dock and then loaded the outboard motor in a dock cart. The mechanics place was only a quarter mile away and I walked over dragging the cart. That all worked fine, so now we just have to wait till Friday morning.

We had a problem that a west wind was blowing hard and was pinning Tide Hiker to the dock. We watched several boats have all sorts of issues getting off. But the marina people told us after some discussion that we needed to leave the dock by 6PM, or they will charge us an extra $85! I was dragging my feet hoping the wind will go down with the sun................

At 6 PM the wind was still strong so we used a "bow spring" to spring the stern out into the wind, so we could back off the dock, and that worked well.

Friday, October 17, 2014
It was a beautiful calm morning so when the motor was ready rather than go thru the hassle of taking Tide Hiker to the marina we decided to paddle the dinghy the 200 yards to the dock. We picked up the motor in a marina cart and soon had it hooked up again. We stayed in town and celebrated with a couple of lattes.

The motor started OK but still seems to have idling issues. Oh well..... But we were still able to take the dink back into town for dinner.

St. Mary's (Marina)

October 14, 2014


Not too impressed so far - no one to help us arrive. There is quite a tidal current and lots of wind, so a bit of help on the dock would have been nice. But we did OK although the midships fender got a good squishing! We hauled off the shore power cable and connected it - no electricity. Two strikes!.

St Mary's is literally "off the map (chart)". The little yellow boat shows the place where we are tied up to the dock

After we settled in we wandered into town to have a look around  The other boats at the slips were a pretty rough lot. We walked over to the Harbor Masters office but he was at lunch so we wandered thru town. Nice enough but not much going on. Visited the "Submarine Museum" which was about worth the $4 entrance fee.

At the submarine museum: "Mark!"

Returned the 1/2 mile over to the Dock Master's dirty office but this time he was "doing a delivery". I scribbled a note "call me when you are available". We returned to Tide Hiker and focused on the approaching huge bank of black clouds. That's about when "Nat" called - "You have to come over as I leave at 4 PM". Like an idiot, I made the trip, arriving back on the dock just as hell broke loose.

The wind was very strong and had changed direction 180 degrees together with lots of lightening and heavy rain. Tide Hiker had blown 8' off the dock and there was no way I could get aboard. How the hell did that happen - we had 2 stern lines, 2 bow lines and 2 crossed spring lines in place? Deidre threw me an extra dock line mid ships and then used the bow thruster to close the gap. I jumped the last 3'.

I assume this boat is on a long term rate?

Might need some canvas work?

Varnish needs a bit of work

"Deidre, are you doing the washing???"

Cumberland Island (Anchorage)

October 13, 2014
30 46 031 N
81 28 319 W

Another beautiful morning, but with wind in the forecast. Another short run planned to the anchorage at Cumberland Island, one of our favorites. Cumberland Island is right on the border with Florida. We arrived about 2:30 PM and the island gave us good protection from the wind.

Passing Brunswick

West of the Island is the St. Mary's nuclear sub base. We have passed it 4 times now and never seen any movement. Just the patrol boat with the 50 cal machine gun on its bow watching us as we pass. But 1/2 hour after we had the anchor down we saw a sub go up the channel.

We had towed the dinghy from St. Simons so it was easy to go ashore for a walk over to the ocean beach. The island is a park and the animals are protected. On the way over a young fawn walked onto the trail and just looked at us for a few minutes. Further on we heard rustling in the undergrowth and observed 2 or 3 armadillos rooting around in the dirt. They were also unconcerned by our presence.

There is a row of big storms crossing the country that will arrive hereabouts sometime tomorrow. So in the AM we plan to head to St. Mary's and take a slip for the night. We have never been there before and we hear it is a quaint old place. As I write this I can hear the wind picking up.

St. Simon's Island (Anchorage)

Sunday October 12, 2014
31 10 673 N
81 24 661 W

Tonight we are meeting friends on a DeFever 44' at an anchorage new St. Simon's Island for "Docktails". The anchorage is only 29 NM away so it will be an easy run. It is another perfect day, in the high 80s with a bit of a southerly. The only notable event was crossing paths with a large alligator - maybe 8' long. We stopped and turned to get a better photo but he (or she) was too self conscious and disappeared into the murky water.

We are now anchored, good spot but open to the North.

Our friends ran late so we invited them over to Tide Hiker for dinner. Very pleasant evening.