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April 8 – Jacksonville, FL

By on April 9, 2014 in The Pearl
Ortega Yacht Club Marina

“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” —Laura Ingalls Wilder

We woke to a cloudy wet morning…thunderstorms pushed through last night ahead of a front moving this way. We are waiting on a new fuel pump for our dinghy’s outboard, hopefully it will be here on Wednesday and we can be on our way up the St. John’s River soon.


Since it was going to be a wet day, we decide to have lunch out and take in a movie. We had lunch at Pele’s Wood Fire at great little spot on Park Street with a wood fired oven. We took in a movie at Sun Ray Cinema in the Five Point neighborhood. Five Point is a historic area of Jacksonville built in the 1920’s as a commercial district catering to the rapidly growing residential areas surrounding it. Today it’s full of funky colorful little restaurants and shops. The Sun Ray Cinema began as The Riverside Theater in 1927 and was the first theater in Florida equipped to show talking pictures. The theater has been used as some form of entertainment since it was opened over 80 years ago. It shows a lot of Indy type movies and is an experience in itself. We saw The Grand Budapest Hotel.  By the time we came out of the movie the sun was out and we enjoyed a beautiful evening on the boat.

Pele’s

The intersection at Five Points…five streets do actually intersect here.

Sun-Ray Cinema 

The entry to the Sun-Ray Cinema

April 6 – Jacksonville, FL

By on April 7, 2014 in The Pearl
Ortega Yacht Club Marina

“I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.”―Paul Simon

I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever begin our adventure this year…we’ve had a few little showers and the wind picked up a little this evening, but nothing like the weather reports had predicted. I guess we should have started up the river yesterday, but Stan wants to get a few parts for the out board on our dinghy…so now we’ll wait until at least Tuesday. I think we’re getting too use to staying in one place. It’s pretty nice living on our boat and having our car in the parking lot.

Jacksonville is a very pretty place…at least the area around Ortega and what is considered the Old City. Old homes built in the early 1900’s in the in the “Prairie Style”of architect popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright. I guess I like this look, because it reminds me of the houses around my grandparent’s homes. There are lots of parks and beautiful old oak and magnolia trees…covered in Spanish moss and wisteria. The area across the Ortega River from the marina is known as the Old Ortega Historic District, which was developed by lumber barons and wealth business of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It is still considered one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Jacksonville, filled with wealthy businessmen and old families. We spent the afternoon wandering around the Avenue Mall and then exploring the old sections of Jacksonville.


One of the smaller homes along the main street. The houses along the river were huge.

One of the many trees covered in moss and wisteria

Stockton Park along the St. John’s River

April 5 – Jacksonville, FL

By on April 6, 2014 in The Pearl

Ortega Yacht Club MarinaAnother pretty day in Florida…although we did end up having a few showers late in the day. We spent the day enjoying the marina, visiting with a few people and riding bikes through a few parks in the area. Nothing exciting goi…

April 4 – Jacksonville, FL

By on April 5, 2014 in The Pearl
Ortega Yacht Club Marina

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll take you there”―George Harrison

It looks like we’ll be spending a few more days in Jacksonville…although today was a beautiful spring day, the next several may be stormy. We really have no place we need to be at a given time, so we will just hang around here to the first of the week.

Today we visited with friends we first met in Waterford, NY in 2012. They have a nice place on the St. John’s River a few miles north of Jacksonville. We had great dinner at the Sandollar Restaurant over looking Mayport and the St. John’s River. We enjoyed catching up with Barbara and David, getting to see their place and getting some local knowledge about the river. It sounds like there are a lot of beautiful out of the way places to explore.


Stan finished waxing the haul today.

St. John’s River Light built in 1858 and located on the grounds of Naval Station Mayport. Our view with dinner.

Dinner with friends. Susie, David, Barbara and Stan

Looking out towards the end of the St. John’s River and the Atlantic Ocean.

The St. Johns River Ferry connects the north and south ends of Florida State Road A1A. It shuttles cars from Fort George Island to Mayport Village.

April 3 – Jacksonville, FL

By on April 4, 2014 in The Pearl

Ortega Yacht Club Marina

“Everybody needs some time to rejuvenate, refresh, recharge and begin again.”―Revathi Sankaran


We enjoyed a slow morning. Taking in the view from the flybridge as we drank our coffee. The marina was quiet, we only saw a few people moving around, but the seagulls were out in mass having their breakfast and squawking to each other. I’m not sure what they have to say to each other, but the chatter never seemed to end. We also watched a bald eagle circle around, dive towards the water and catch something to eat. As he flew away with his fish, several sea gulls followed. Hoping, I guess, that he would drop his catch and they could retrieve it. Very entertaining. 

After a relaxing start to our day we both got busy taking care of cores around the boat. I unpacked, defrosted the freezer and did a little grocery shopping. Stan cleaned and began waxing the starboard side of our haul. The end of our day took place were it began…relaxing on the flybridge enjoying the view. 

The view from the flybridge
Our dinner tonight…Fish Taco Bowl (plate)

April 2 – Jacksonville, FL

By on April 3, 2014 in The Pearl

Ortega Yacht Club Marina


“April … hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”—William Shakespeare


We had a wonderful week at home with beautiful spring weather. A week wasn’t very long, but we had time to catch up with a big part of our family, eat lunches with friends, dinners with family, do a little spring cleaning in the yard and spent two amazing days with our grand daughter and her parents. 

We were back on the road today for your 16th time in three years…definitely not the best part of cruising. Fifteen hours in the car from Texas to Jacksonville, FL gave me a lot of time (when I wasn’t driving) to read, play puzzles, text friends, play with the pictures I took of Mayven, write emails and google trivia. Little things cross your mind as your riding down the road, things you see on signs, weird thoughts that just pop into your head or a town you’ve never heard of…there are so many things. As we were getting close to Jacksonville I made the comment that it really didn’t seem like a very big city, so I googled it…well I was wrong. Did you know that Jacksonville is the largest city in Florida by population (double the size of Miami) and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States at 840 square miles. Houston is 627 sq. miles, Los Angles is 503 sq. miles, but the largest city in area in the US is Sitka, Alaska at 2,870 sq. miles. That’s more than half the size of Connecticut at 5543 sq. miles and twice as big as Rhode Island at 1212 sq. miles. That’s unbelievable…how can a city be that big? You have to love the Internet…it can educate and entertain for hours.  

April 2 – Jacksonville, FL

By on April 3, 2014 in The Pearl

Ortega Yacht Club Marina


“April … hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”—William Shakespeare


We had a wonderful week at home with beautiful spring weather. A week wasn’t very long, but we had time to catch up with a big part of our family, eat lunches with friends, dinners with family, do a little spring cleaning in the yard and spent two amazing days with our grand daughter and her parents. 

We were back on the road today for your 16th time in three years…definitely not the best part of cruising. Fifteen hours in the car from Texas to Jacksonville, FL gave me a lot of time (when I wasn’t driving) to read, play puzzles, text friends, play with the pictures I took of Mayven, write emails and google trivia. Little things cross your mind as your riding down the road, things you see on signs, weird thoughts that just pop into your head or a town you’ve never heard of…there are so many things. As we were getting close to Jacksonville I made the comment that it really didn’t seem like a very big city, so I googled it…well I was wrong. Did you know that Jacksonville is the largest city in Florida by population (double the size of Miami) and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States at 840 square miles. Houston is 627 sq. miles, Los Angles is 503 sq. miles, but the largest city in area in the US is Sitka, Alaska at 2,870 sq. miles. That’s more than half the size of Connecticut at 5543 sq. miles and twice as big as Rhode Island at 1212 sq. miles. That’s unbelievable…how can a city be that big? You have to love the Internet…it can educate and entertain for hours.  

Mar. 27 – Home in Texas

By on March 27, 2014 in The Pearl

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”—Rachel Carson


Good morning from the Great State of Texas! Summers can be hellishly hot, but spring is heavenly. 

Mar. 25 – Jacksonville, FL

By on March 26, 2014 in The Pearl

Ortega Yacht Club Marina

We had a beautiful day to explore our new surroundings. Stan spent a little time this morning talking to a few boat yards in the area, getting information on a haul out and work we’d like to have done on the boat later this year. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, talking to other boaters we’ve met last year and packing for our trip home.


Our home at Ortega Yacht Club

Our views from the flybridge

Mar. 24 – Jacksonville, FL

By on March 25, 2014 in The Pearl

Ortega Yacht Club Marina

“Friendship is the shadow of the evening, which increases with the setting sun of life.” —Jean de La Fontaine

After we arrived yesterday and plugged into shore power we turned on our air conditioner, the first time since last July when we were in Plymouth. In fact we’ve hardly used our AC in the last two years. That’s definitely going to change this summer. Anyway…where was I going with this thought…oh yeah, winter came back this morning! Now we have the heater running AGAIN.

Even though we had a cold grey windy day we didn’t let it slow us down. We’ve been trying to figure out where and when we could catch up with our friends on Amici. It was beginning to look like we wouldn’t cross paths with them this year. Then we had a great thought…we’d drive over to Maineland and see them. When you travel on a slow boat, 60 miles is a long day on the water, but in a car on a freeway, it’s only an hour away. We spent the whole day visiting…catching up on each other’s lives and making plans for next winter in the Keys and Abaco. It’s always a good day when it’s spent with friends and it’s especially nice catching up with friends we haven’t seen in awhile.


Susie, Stan, Sally and Ted