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…
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April 4 – Jacksonville, FL
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
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
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
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
“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
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
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
Mar. 23 – Jacksonville, FL
Ortega Yacht Club Marina
“The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.” —Dale Carnegie
Our cruise today took us down the eastern coast of Florida and up the St. John’s River past Jacksonville and then into the Ortega River. This area of the Ortega River is very pretty with beautiful homes along the shore, each with lovely yards with azaleas blooming.
Ortega Yacht Club will be our home for the next couple of weeks. We plan to go home for a quick visit later this week…we need a family and Mayven fix and thought this would be the perfect time. When we return we will head further up the St. John’s River.
There are quite a few boats in the area that we know…hopefully we’ll be able to catch up with a few. We spent the evening visiting with Greg and Leslie from Amalia, they were one of the first cruising couples we met in 2011. It’s always fun to spend time with them. Tomorrow we’ll drive down the coast to visit with our friends on Amici.
A beautiful sunrise over Fernandina Beach
Cruising into Jacksonville
A few of the homes along the Ortega River
Leslie and Greg aboard The Pearl
Mar. 22 – Fernandina Beach, FL
Fernandina Harbor Marina Mooring Field
“The most dangerous risk of all – The risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.”
We’re back in Florida! It seems a little strange…as we walked around Fernandina Beach this evening it felt like we were just here…and it’s been three years.
We woke to grey skies and expected to get rain part of the day, but what we got was a mix of sun and clouds. One minute we’d be cold and the next we would be warm…by the time we arrived in Florida we had a beautiful sunny day. We picked up a mooring ball, relaxed a little and then took the dinghy to town. Fernandina Beach is a cute little town. It has a quaint downtown area with lots shops and restaurants. We could tell it was spring break (and Saturday)…there were people everywhere. It was a lot less crowded the first time we were here. We wandered through a few shops and then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Peppers.
We passed more friends going north today…we were hoping we’d get to visit with Jim and Betsy on Smiles before they returned to Isle of Hope in South Carolina…we missed them in Florida by one day. We are going to miss seeing a lot of people this summer, since we seem to be doing things a little backwards this year. Oh well, there’s always next year. We had another relaxing night on the boat watching another beautiful sunset.
Still very flat and open…we can see forever!
White pelicans having breakfast at low tide.
A Black Skimmer…can you tell the top from the bottom?
Jekyll Island Club…one of our stops in 2011. Hopefully we’ll take time to explore here again on our way north. Click here for details.
Cumberland Island State Park…we spend a few days here in 2011 exploring this wonderful spot. Click here for details.
Our view of Fernandina Beach from the mooring ball.
One of the beauty buildings in Fernandina Beach
The welcoming committee at the marina
