Boating with Sunset Delight: Jacksonville, Florida

Friday 11/17/2017 Sunny Skies

Depart: Morningstar Marina – Golden Isle, St. Simon’s Island, GA 8:40

Arrive: Jacksonville, FL Free Dock 3:15

Distance: 59 NM

Clark set our departure time to coincide with the tides, so we hung around the marina until after 8:00 and took a few pictures.

Sunrise - St. Simon's Island

View of Marina from the "Shops" Area

Bridge touched by morning sun

We had waited for the outgoing tide before pulling in our lines from the docks. Given the 8 NM to the end of the St. Simon’s channel, even with the outgoing tide, it took an hour heading mostly east out into the Atlantic before we could turn Sunset Delight to a southerly heading. No sea gulls chased us today, but we did see some pelicans.

Pelican coming in for a landing

Hmmm! No wonder the greens turn white over time!

When we made our turn, the chart plotter predicted our arrival at the St. John’s Inlet channel to be 4.5 hours away. Ho hum! Again, not much to look at besides water. The water today was, however, a bit choppier than yesterday making maneuvering around the boat a little more challenging for me with my still aching right arm.

Given the nice weather and relatively calm waters, we decided to go all the way to Jacksonville, Florida and forgo Cumberland Island where we have stopped in the past. We traveled for miles and saw not another living thing until suddenly we noticed a few bugs that had joined our cruise including a black and yellow butterfly. Really?! Nine miles offshore and we have bugs appear?! What are they thinking?

As we passed through the posted area for the North Atlantic Right Whales, Clark told me to keep a sharp lookout. We saw none! Truly, I did not expect to be that lucky as they are an endangered species. I looked on the internet to see why they are called Right Whales and found that whalers called them that as they were the perfect species to get the most whale oil with the least amount of effort.

The channel into the St. John’s River is not as long as the St. Simon’s Channel. However, with the outgoing tide, we fought the 2 – 3 knot current the whole way in. We had arrived at the channel just after 2:00. The tide would not turn until 4:00 giving us no choice other than battling our way into the inlet.

As with the St. Simon’s Inlet, we had a strong current pushing us across the channel from the red markers towards the greens, so once again, we “crabbed” our way along the channel. Just before reaching the river, we came upon a freighter exiting the inlet. Hestia Leader of the NYK Line looked almost like a sister ship to the one we saw yesterday at St. Simon’s from the NDK Line. Interestingly, this one had no pilot boat tagging along. Fortunately, the channel width did not present any problems and we passed with no concerns.

Hestia Leader - NYK Line Ship

At 3:00 we finally entered the river and found some photo opportunities.

BAE Systems at work

Mega-Yacht -- Le Grand Bleu

Boat on a Boat - Le Grand Bleu

“Jim King Park and Boat Ramp” offers two free docks for boaters. Clark thought the second of the two options would provide more protection from wind, so we passed the first dock and headed for the second only to find a number of boats there ahead of us.

As we surveyed the dock trying to decide if we could squeeze in between two boats in the available space, the owner of the sailboat told us he would “move up”, so we would fit. Nice! I tried to get my lines and fenders in place as quickly as possible, but with the wind and current pushing Sunset Delight onto the dock, we landed fast and hard. I had two fenders, but I needed that third as I heard a crack when we hit. No damage fortunately, but it did make an impressive sound when we landed.

The dock we chose at “Jim King Park and Boat Ramp” is located on Clapboard Creek off Sisters Creek off the St. John’s River. Sitting beside Sisters Island, we are actually on the ICW and conveniently ready to continue on our way in the morning!

Since we had time before dark to look around, we walked the park grounds where we saw picnic areas and kayak and canoe launch spots, watched numerous trailer-able boats being pulled in via the boat ramp, and even walked over to check out the neighboring RV park.

It's a good thing we pulled up to the dock we did. As we walked the park, we saw that the other dock we thought about using did not give access to the park. The ramp had become disconnected from shore and was roped off, so there was no way off the floating dock. We could have stayed there but not been able to walk anywhere! I expect this damage came from Irma as she passed through recently and gave Jacksonville a pretty hard time.