I just threw the next 4 pictures in because they make me smile. When we were in Marathon last month this guy was sitting on the dock, then he decided to leap through the air and go for a swim - very fun to watch.
Sat. 3-23-13 Commanche Cove Marina – St. Augustine
To go or not to go, that was the question we pondered this AM from 6:00 AM till 7:30 AM. Storms were predicted and we were trying to decide how lucky we were.
Our destination was Ortega Marina in Jacksonville, about 80 miles away. We knew it would be hit or miss if we could make it and had a back up plan of overnighting in Jacksonville Beach which was only 55 miles away. Normally, we follow the age old boating rule that you can’t have a schedule, however, we need to be in Jacksonville by Tues. AM. If you do not know, Jon will be having five weeks of daily radiation for prostate cancer. We were not able to make our annual pilgrimage by boat to the Keys this year, but we did do a car tip to catch up with friends. We decided to make lemonade out of our lemons, and as luck would have it, there is a marina five miles from the radiation center – so we are planning to stay on the boat at Ortega Landing. Initially the radiation was suppose to start last week, the plan was three weeks in Jacksonville, then take the boat north to Fernandina for a month for the MTOA rendezvous, leaving only two weeks that Jon would have to commute to Jacksonville. Unfortunately – there are lots of men with prostate cancer, and the center was booked full until this week, so off we are. The point of this is to acknowledge that we should not have a schedule, and we should always put safety above all, but oh well, off we went.
Our morning conversation consisted of me saying I was OK with anything but lightning – still scares me since a sail on Cape Cod once –but that is another story…..
The weather predicted was storms today, cold front with rain tomorrow with winds picking up 25 – 30 ( which usually means about ten more that predicted) and blowing steady through Wed., so off we went. I was fairly optimistic as we had dolphins playing in our wake ( all 2 inches of it), and I was sure the weather reports were wrong as usual. This was not the day for them to be correct but alas…..
Just south of St. Augustine, the skies turned jet black, then came the dreaded thunder and lightning. Did I mention the only one who hates thunder and lightning more that me, is Crew ? Enough said – use your imagination of Crew glued to my leg.
We quickly shelved any plans of making it to Jacksonville, and made arrangements to pull into the Commanche Cove Marina in St. Augustine. The only problem was getting there – the rains were so heavy we had no visibility, and the lightning was dancing all around of us. Add to this, the dock master told us he would not send any hands out to help us until the storm passed, so we just slowed her up. Eventually we got some visibility, the cell seemed to pass with only light rain, and we were finally able to dock.
Once docked, at about 11:30 AM we continued to have light rains for about ½ hour, then things really let loose, one look at the news and we discovered there was golf ball sized hail in the area, a tornado watch in effect, winds blowing up to 70 in some areas, there had been 2 inches of rain complete with thunder and 6,ooo lightning strikes – did I mention Crew hates thunder ?
Now Sundance was on the hard all summer – and we have decided it was not the best idea as she did not respond well to the heat reflecting on her bottom side from the asphalt from the Florida summer sun. At one point I thought it would be good idea to check and make sure there were no leaks - Suffice it to say, thank goodness we brought lot of extra towels, and the caulking gun will be out and in full force once everything dries out – that is beds, closet, bathroom, storage area etc…… - big ugghhhh here. There are only two things that are more exciting than the weather report which is for continued storms throughout the night – 1) looking forward to sleeping in a wet bed and 2) Scattered thunderstorms for the next 24 hours – did I mention Crew hates thunder ?
Now, I suppose for full disclosure, I should mention we are only 27 miles from home, and it would be logical to call on a number of friends who would come and get us and take us back to our nice dry warm house, but, we are boaters, this is part of the journey except for maybe the part about Crew and the thunder………..
To go or not to go, that was the question we pondered this AM from 6:00 AM till 7:30 AM. Storms were predicted and we were trying to decide how lucky we were.
Our destination was Ortega Marina in Jacksonville, about 80 miles away. We knew it would be hit or miss if we could make it and had a back up plan of overnighting in Jacksonville Beach which was only 55 miles away. Normally, we follow the age old boating rule that you can’t have a schedule, however, we need to be in Jacksonville by Tues. AM. If you do not know, Jon will be having five weeks of daily radiation for prostate cancer. We were not able to make our annual pilgrimage by boat to the Keys this year, but we did do a car tip to catch up with friends. We decided to make lemonade out of our lemons, and as luck would have it, there is a marina five miles from the radiation center – so we are planning to stay on the boat at Ortega Landing. Initially the radiation was suppose to start last week, the plan was three weeks in Jacksonville, then take the boat north to Fernandina for a month for the MTOA rendezvous, leaving only two weeks that Jon would have to commute to Jacksonville. Unfortunately – there are lots of men with prostate cancer, and the center was booked full until this week, so off we are. The point of this is to acknowledge that we should not have a schedule, and we should always put safety above all, but oh well, off we went.
Our morning conversation consisted of me saying I was OK with anything but lightning – still scares me since a sail on Cape Cod once –but that is another story…..
The weather predicted was storms today, cold front with rain tomorrow with winds picking up 25 – 30 ( which usually means about ten more that predicted) and blowing steady through Wed., so off we went. I was fairly optimistic as we had dolphins playing in our wake ( all 2 inches of it), and I was sure the weather reports were wrong as usual. This was not the day for them to be correct but alas…..
Just south of St. Augustine, the skies turned jet black, then came the dreaded thunder and lightning. Did I mention the only one who hates thunder and lightning more that me, is Crew ? Enough said – use your imagination of Crew glued to my leg.
We quickly shelved any plans of making it to Jacksonville, and made arrangements to pull into the Commanche Cove Marina in St. Augustine. The only problem was getting there – the rains were so heavy we had no visibility, and the lightning was dancing all around of us. Add to this, the dock master told us he would not send any hands out to help us until the storm passed, so we just slowed her up. Eventually we got some visibility, the cell seemed to pass with only light rain, and we were finally able to dock.
Once docked, at about 11:30 AM we continued to have light rains for about ½ hour, then things really let loose, one look at the news and we discovered there was golf ball sized hail in the area, a tornado watch in effect, winds blowing up to 70 in some areas, there had been 2 inches of rain complete with thunder and 6,ooo lightning strikes – did I mention Crew hates thunder ?
Now Sundance was on the hard all summer – and we have decided it was not the best idea as she did not respond well to the heat reflecting on her bottom side from the asphalt from the Florida summer sun. At one point I thought it would be good idea to check and make sure there were no leaks - Suffice it to say, thank goodness we brought lot of extra towels, and the caulking gun will be out and in full force once everything dries out – that is beds, closet, bathroom, storage area etc…… - big ugghhhh here. There are only two things that are more exciting than the weather report which is for continued storms throughout the night – 1) looking forward to sleeping in a wet bed and 2) Scattered thunderstorms for the next 24 hours – did I mention Crew hates thunder ?
Now, I suppose for full disclosure, I should mention we are only 27 miles from home, and it would be logical to call on a number of friends who would come and get us and take us back to our nice dry warm house, but, we are boaters, this is part of the journey except for maybe the part about Crew and the thunder………..
A dark start out
Crew is not sure about this trip - feels bad weather in his bones....
Pretty reflections
Bald eagle on a sand bar
Once we got threw the front, it cleared to this point where we could get in to the marina
Once in, we turned on the TV and were sure glad we made it in= the zig zags on screen are all of the lightning strikes - note the tornado warning to boot...
Monday 3-25-13 Ortega Landing Jacksonville
We hunkered down yesterday, good thing – continued thunder lightening rain – all the things that make boating miserable with the exception of wind, yes wind, and that brings us to today…..
We are the first ones to agree that as boaters schedules are at the mercy of the boating Gods, however , we did not listen and we blew in the marina today on a hope and prayer !! They were predicting high winds for today, 20 to 25 and much to my chagrin they were almost right, but more like 25 to 30 with gusts in the high 30’s. We left the marina at 7:15 AM and it was only 40 out – really – it is almost April in Florida – it must be breaking records !! It was windy when we started out, and as one would expect the winds continued to pick up as the morning progressed. We had current with us up until the St John’s, we were honking at 7.9 knots at 1300 RPM we usually travel around 6 kntos at 1700 to 1800 RPM. We even flew through the hell bridge AKA the Atlantic bridge which about flipped out boat around one time ! We hit the St John river and we dropped to 3.5 knots, we revved up to 1800 RPM and our speed picked up to about 3.9, and that was our speed for about the last 18 miles.
I don’t know what I was thinking – but I thought St John’s was a nice little river that was fun to cruise – WRONG ! We passed cargo ships, a cruise ship, barges, tugs all with winds at about a steady 25 and current against us – uuggghhhh…..
This was topped off by the fact that our horn did not work our radio would not send, we, or I should I ran aground, and it took us 10 hours to go 53 miles. So we did in fact blow into the marina, and the final straw was to discover that the ice maker was not working and every boater knows this is just a cruel twist of fate !!
Once snugged in, our daughter Lindsay called. As I was lamenting the horrors of the day, I told her I was ready to sell the boat and she asked me if a was thinking RV, followed buy a comment that the 6,000 mile great loop in our 25 foot trawler was probably not looking to realistic – so right Lindsay !!
We are here though, safe, a bit banged up, but looking forward to the sunset behind the bridge, falling asleep to the rocking and rolling, and tomorrow being a new day !!
We hunkered down yesterday, good thing – continued thunder lightening rain – all the things that make boating miserable with the exception of wind, yes wind, and that brings us to today…..
We are the first ones to agree that as boaters schedules are at the mercy of the boating Gods, however , we did not listen and we blew in the marina today on a hope and prayer !! They were predicting high winds for today, 20 to 25 and much to my chagrin they were almost right, but more like 25 to 30 with gusts in the high 30’s. We left the marina at 7:15 AM and it was only 40 out – really – it is almost April in Florida – it must be breaking records !! It was windy when we started out, and as one would expect the winds continued to pick up as the morning progressed. We had current with us up until the St John’s, we were honking at 7.9 knots at 1300 RPM we usually travel around 6 kntos at 1700 to 1800 RPM. We even flew through the hell bridge AKA the Atlantic bridge which about flipped out boat around one time ! We hit the St John river and we dropped to 3.5 knots, we revved up to 1800 RPM and our speed picked up to about 3.9, and that was our speed for about the last 18 miles.
I don’t know what I was thinking – but I thought St John’s was a nice little river that was fun to cruise – WRONG ! We passed cargo ships, a cruise ship, barges, tugs all with winds at about a steady 25 and current against us – uuggghhhh…..
This was topped off by the fact that our horn did not work our radio would not send, we, or I should I ran aground, and it took us 10 hours to go 53 miles. So we did in fact blow into the marina, and the final straw was to discover that the ice maker was not working and every boater knows this is just a cruel twist of fate !!
Once snugged in, our daughter Lindsay called. As I was lamenting the horrors of the day, I told her I was ready to sell the boat and she asked me if a was thinking RV, followed buy a comment that the 6,000 mile great loop in our 25 foot trawler was probably not looking to realistic – so right Lindsay !!
We are here though, safe, a bit banged up, but looking forward to the sunset behind the bridge, falling asleep to the rocking and rolling, and tomorrow being a new day !!
Next AM Crew back on watch
Good thing - he barked at this pirate ship to steer clear
Vilano bridge
Sitting inside the bar at the Kingfish, looking out window to Sundance at the dock
Jon - bar side
Tuesday March 26 2013 Ortega Landing Marina - Jacksonville
Me: Jon what are all those black dots on the ceiling ?
Jon: Oh my God – they are mosquitos – 1,000’s of them !! And so our wonderful trip continues. After we smacked all the mosquitos dead over the course of a couple of hours, Jon opened the door and to our horror, out boat was covered with them ! We woke up this AM, and there they were all still glued to our boat – this was our first introduction to Blind Mosquitos - We had heard the tales, but I did not really they could be as bad as people said, In fact, they are worse !!!! So here we are on our boat, and we can’t open the door for more that 20 seconds or we are filled with mosquitos. A guy on the dock told Jon the other day he wrapped his head in a towel while outside because the mosquitos were going in his ears and up his nose ! It is freezing, our bunk was 49 this AM when we woke up, I don’t’ know how these mosquitos are surviving with these cold temperatures. At least we were entertained by the hundreds of birds scooping them all up today.
Jon got all set up today at the center for treatments then we headed out to buy a new microwave as it amongst many other things broke. We got back, and ran Crew in the field here and discovered when he returned to the boat that he was covered in little porcupine burrs. I will not even try to explain to you how much he enjoys me ripping all the hair off of him as I try to detangle all of the burrs.
So here we sit. We can’t take the canvas covers off of the windows because it helps keep some of the draft out, we can’t open the doors because it is freezing out, and if we do, we are invaded by the squitters. The other highlight of my day was stuffing paper towels in all of the large cracks at the doors to try to prevent another invasion tonight.
At least we are experiencing what every one is claiming to be firsts, the first time the mosquitos have this thick this time of year and the first time it has been this cold and windy for so long. We are blessed…………
Me: Jon what are all those black dots on the ceiling ?
Jon: Oh my God – they are mosquitos – 1,000’s of them !! And so our wonderful trip continues. After we smacked all the mosquitos dead over the course of a couple of hours, Jon opened the door and to our horror, out boat was covered with them ! We woke up this AM, and there they were all still glued to our boat – this was our first introduction to Blind Mosquitos - We had heard the tales, but I did not really they could be as bad as people said, In fact, they are worse !!!! So here we are on our boat, and we can’t open the door for more that 20 seconds or we are filled with mosquitos. A guy on the dock told Jon the other day he wrapped his head in a towel while outside because the mosquitos were going in his ears and up his nose ! It is freezing, our bunk was 49 this AM when we woke up, I don’t’ know how these mosquitos are surviving with these cold temperatures. At least we were entertained by the hundreds of birds scooping them all up today.
Jon got all set up today at the center for treatments then we headed out to buy a new microwave as it amongst many other things broke. We got back, and ran Crew in the field here and discovered when he returned to the boat that he was covered in little porcupine burrs. I will not even try to explain to you how much he enjoys me ripping all the hair off of him as I try to detangle all of the burrs.
So here we sit. We can’t take the canvas covers off of the windows because it helps keep some of the draft out, we can’t open the doors because it is freezing out, and if we do, we are invaded by the squitters. The other highlight of my day was stuffing paper towels in all of the large cracks at the doors to try to prevent another invasion tonight.
At least we are experiencing what every one is claiming to be firsts, the first time the mosquitos have this thick this time of year and the first time it has been this cold and windy for so long. We are blessed…………
A pretty start to the day, manageable winds
Our addition to our dock will look like this
Once on the St Johns River which I thought was a little river cruise we saw ships like this passing us
Huge barges and tugs
Cruise ships
Jacksonville stadium
Downtown Jacksonville
Jacksonville Landing
Use to seeing this 95 south sign for the highway, not the river...
The black dots were the blasted blind mosquitos
All the way at the end is the gate we have to walk to to take Crew out to the grassy area
Sundance docked and happy
Tues. 4-9-13
Fernandina Harbor Marina
Well, two weeks gone by – time does fly when you are ………..
We ending up going home for the weekend and helped my mom and celebrated Easter in Palm Coast. I am not saying that my mind is preoccupied, but I always arrange huge Easter baskets for Crew and Jon. This year, I was sitting with my friend Beth at about 8:00 PM on Sat., and I realized I had not done anything for Easter the next morning. Bunny Beth to the rescue - I went to Beth’s house and we rummaged through her house till we found enough stuff to fill a basket. I am not sure what Jon enjoyed most in his basket Easter morning, the paper towels, the used paper doily or the shriveled up baby carrots – but I do know it was the most surprising basket he ever received !! Jon went back to Jacksonville Mon. AM and I stayed for the week to help my mom move in. Jon endured a cold rainy week and did not see any let up in the blind mosquitos, but he was happy he did not have to do the daily 95 trot.
We left Sat. and had a good trip up to Fernandina. Our friends Sally and Pat were kind enough to get our car in Jacksonville and bring it up to us here. We really love Fernandina – everything is within walking distance. The weather has been fabulous and NO blind mosquitos – can I hear an AMEN ? The MTOA rendezvous starts next week and the trawlers are starting to crawl in – so fun to see all the boats in one place. Crew is loving it – we can leave the doors open so he just sits outside and soaks in all of the sun and attention he gets from people waking by.
Jon is commuting to Jax every day, but it is only a 45 drive each way, so not as bad as it could be. For now, all is well, we are content, and the sun is shining !
Fernandina Harbor Marina
Well, two weeks gone by – time does fly when you are ………..
We ending up going home for the weekend and helped my mom and celebrated Easter in Palm Coast. I am not saying that my mind is preoccupied, but I always arrange huge Easter baskets for Crew and Jon. This year, I was sitting with my friend Beth at about 8:00 PM on Sat., and I realized I had not done anything for Easter the next morning. Bunny Beth to the rescue - I went to Beth’s house and we rummaged through her house till we found enough stuff to fill a basket. I am not sure what Jon enjoyed most in his basket Easter morning, the paper towels, the used paper doily or the shriveled up baby carrots – but I do know it was the most surprising basket he ever received !! Jon went back to Jacksonville Mon. AM and I stayed for the week to help my mom move in. Jon endured a cold rainy week and did not see any let up in the blind mosquitos, but he was happy he did not have to do the daily 95 trot.
We left Sat. and had a good trip up to Fernandina. Our friends Sally and Pat were kind enough to get our car in Jacksonville and bring it up to us here. We really love Fernandina – everything is within walking distance. The weather has been fabulous and NO blind mosquitos – can I hear an AMEN ? The MTOA rendezvous starts next week and the trawlers are starting to crawl in – so fun to see all the boats in one place. Crew is loving it – we can leave the doors open so he just sits outside and soaks in all of the sun and attention he gets from people waking by.
Jon is commuting to Jax every day, but it is only a 45 drive each way, so not as bad as it could be. For now, all is well, we are content, and the sun is shining !
I can not deny this eyes....
The good thing about Ortega Landing Marina is the beautiful club house
And then there is the pool at the marina
Off again early heading toward downtown Jacksonville, then onto to Fernanadina
Open Seasme
Where there are crabbers - there are pelicans
Looking at my back door.......
Feranandina marina
Thurs. 4-11-13
People ask me if I am stressed with life’s latest events for us – I tell them no, I eat stress – literally – may account for the 20 pound weight gain the last five months – uugghhhhh
Speaking of eating, we have quite a nice little routine here including restaurant hopping for lunch. Yesterday we went to the “east coast” of the island and had a great lunch at a waterfront restaurant called Sliders. Pat and Dave arrived in the afternoon and Crew is thrilled because his pal Buddy is here and he now has a friend to play with and go for walks with. We are gearing up for the boats that will be arriving en mass starting Sat. – about 15 – 20 boats a day. I t looks like we have some weather getting ready to roll in, just about the same time of the start of the rendezvous, so never a dull (or dry) moment at times of activity !
People ask me if I am stressed with life’s latest events for us – I tell them no, I eat stress – literally – may account for the 20 pound weight gain the last five months – uugghhhhh
Speaking of eating, we have quite a nice little routine here including restaurant hopping for lunch. Yesterday we went to the “east coast” of the island and had a great lunch at a waterfront restaurant called Sliders. Pat and Dave arrived in the afternoon and Crew is thrilled because his pal Buddy is here and he now has a friend to play with and go for walks with. We are gearing up for the boats that will be arriving en mass starting Sat. – about 15 – 20 boats a day. I t looks like we have some weather getting ready to roll in, just about the same time of the start of the rendezvous, so never a dull (or dry) moment at times of activity !
Fernandina Beach - Amelia Island
The stickers here are awful - Crew attracts them like velcro and I can not begin to tell how much he enjoys me ripping these off of him
Lunch at the beach
Crew having a good yuck for himself after he hid his slimy tennis ball on mom's bed pillow
A fairly empty marina before all of the boats have arrived
Sun coming through