8 November 2021
"Sunset Delight" Depart: Lamb Yacht Center dock 11:30
"Sunset Delight" Arrive: LYC dock 12:35
Dinghy Depart dock: 2:20
Dinghy Arrive dock: 4:45
Sunset Delight tied port side: 5:45
Conditions: Sunny, Cool, 20 Knot winds
As per Clark's plans, we took the dinghy out for a maintenance run today. It had not been run since August when the grandkids visited us in New Jersey. Clark was particularly concerned about the battery. I groaned when Clark reminded me of the plans to take the dinghy out for a ride. I wondered if the amount of work involved in going was worth the effort.
Although in theory it sounds simple, just get in the dinghy and go for a ride. In reality, it required quite a bit of time and effort to make the outing happen. The biggest issue - we can only put the dinghy in the water off the port side of "Sunset Delight". Unfortunately, the port side was tied to the fixed dock. "Sunset Delight" had to be spun around before we could get the dinghy down.
Since we needed to move "Sunset Delight" to get the dinghy down, we took it for a maintenance run. Given we are on a fixed dock and it was a pain to figure out how to position the lines, we decided to leave the lines on the dock to pick up upon return. That meant we needed to use alternate lines when we returned from our run to dock on our starboard side.
Clark took "Sunset Delight" far enough down the river to warm up the engines.
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| Lambs Yacht Center on the Ortega River |
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| Railroad Bridge near LYC |
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| Covered slips at LYC - tight fit at high water levels |
Some sights as we traveled down the Ortega River.
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| Pretty house on the river |
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| Long docks on the Ortega River |
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| Lopsided Gazebo |
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| Low bridge ahead and forced end of the "road" for "Sunset Delight" |
Given we were out and about and the holding tank had reached the "please empty me" level, we stopped at the pump out station before going back to dock. After a successful pump out, we returned to our slip to dock. This was tricky, and I am ever so glad I have a great captain. We had a strong wind and a rapid current with us as we approached the dock. The proper way to dock is against the forces - not with them.
Clark told me to grab the stern line first to "put the brakes on"! There are no cleats where we are docked, so I had to wrap a line around a pole then move up to the midships and do the same again. Given the conditions, it went very well. After getting us held in place, we took twenty minutes playing with the lines to feel comfortable that we could leave the boat to go play in the dinghy.
Since it was now almost 1:00, I told Clark to go unwrap the dinghy while I made lunch. After lunch, I helped him lower and provision the dinghy for our outing. Before we could leave on the dinghy, however, Clark had some work to do to get the dinghy ready to run.
First he checked the oil level, then he added air to the dinghy tubes,
and lastly he added gas to the nearly empty tank.
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| Back breaking work |
Fortunately, after these steps he turned over the engine, and it actually started right away! Yay! Ethanol-free gasoline plus Stable seems to be key to the engine starting nicely after weeks of sitting unused.
Having started this endeavor at 11:30, we were finally in the dinghy and on our way for our "cruise" at 2:20. Unlike our trip on "Sunset Delight", the low bridge did not hinder our travels.
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| Plane under bridge |
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| Navy plane |
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| All planes saw "Navy" on the side |
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| Coming overhead for a landing (Clark waved at this one - I wonder if they noticed.) |
Being so close to the city of Jacksonville, I was in awe of the scenery on the Ortega River after we passed under that low bridge. We saw no houses and no docks - just trees and water.
I felt like I had been transported to another world. It was lovely. When I told Clark I was enjoying the ride, he said, "I thought you said it was a lousy day to go out." What I had said was that it was a lot of work to make happen - and that was undoubtedly true! I may have also mentioned that many people would not go out for a joy ride in a dinghy in 20 knot winds.
We did see signs of civilization. For example, we did pass by
a "road sign" that has been used for target practice many more times then once!
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| Many bullet holes in this sign. Lots of bulls eyes! Someone is a great shot. |
Although we saw a bird or two, we felt alone in the world. Suddenly, I saw a log that looked like it had three army helmets left on it. As my brain tried to sort out what I was seeing, I suddenly realized that what I saw was three large turtles sunbathing on a log. I held up my hand to signal to Clark that I had seen something and pointed to the log.
Since we had passed by, he turned the dinghy around so I could get a picture. What we then saw was the wake of our dinghy washing all three into the river. No picture. As we traveled further along the river, we looked for more turtles. Having seen the turtles, I wondered about alligators, so I had my eyes peeled looking for either!
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| Favorite log for local turtles! |
We looked for the turtles again on our return trip. As we approached, at slow speed this time, we saw two of them back on the log. When I pulled out my camera, both of them dove into the water. Sigh! No picture!
After passing back under the low bridge on the Ortega River, we came to a Y and a decision point. As I sat in the bow of the boat, I wondered, "Will Clark go straight and back to the dock or will he turn left to explore more?" I figured it was a 50-50 chance. When we got to the Y, he slowed the boat and asked me if we should go down Cedar Creek a short ways to look around. I agreed we should take a look.
Strangely, over the past few days, it seems like it is always high tide or higher tide. Cruising down Cedar Creek, we saw evidence of the high water everywhere.
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| Docks almost under water |
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| Unreachable chairs |
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| Unreachable bench seat |
Unlike the far end of the Ortega River, we saw houses the entire length of Cedar Creek. Some homes were nice and others looked ready to be condemned.
Below is a nice house with a definite boat problem.
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| "Why Knot" appears to be listing on the lift. |
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| But that looks a whole lot better than the sunk boat beside it! |
The next house was "buried" in traps. Clearly a busy fisherman lives here.
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| Stacks of traps by the water and in the shed in the back. |
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| "Camp David" - boat goes with the house with the abundance of traps |
Besides private homes, we did see some commercial property.
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| Tidewater Marine (boat ad in the air) and nearby bowling alley |
Along the way we passed by a boat ramp. We watched the man in the picture below punch and pull at his boat that was clearly on his trailer cockeyed.
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| Looking, Pushing and shoving |
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| Did not work. Time to go put it back in the water and try again! |
With the sun shining brightly on the river, we had lots of reflections, and I took lots of pictures of reflections. I got more than a little carried away with the camera. I particularly liked the ones with the docks reflected in the water.
It seemed like everywhere we looked we saw warning signs that this river was a Manatee Zone. Although we watched carefully, we saw none. We did, however, see quite a few birds on this leg of our trip.
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| Huge flock of birds |
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| Canada Geese |
Several dogs barked to say hello as we passed by. One actually came out on a dock to bark his howdy, so I could get his picture.
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| Dog on dock saying hello (even caught his reflection in the water) |
We passed under two low bridges on Cedar Creek and wondered how some boats got here.
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| Why would anyone have a sailboat between two extremely low bridges that do not open?! |
"Low bridge, everybody down ... la la la"
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| Low head room in here but we did not need to duck! |
After touring the area in our dinghy for more than two hours, we returned to "Sunset Delight" at 4:45. It took an hour to get the dinghy onboard "Sunset Delight" and then get "Sunset Delight" flipped around to tie up on the port side - the way we started out this morning before our big adventure.
By the time we got settled, the sun was setting. We do not have a great view from our dock space but the sky did glow a pretty color tonight.
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| View of sunset from our dock at Lambs Yacht Center. The white dot in the sky is the moon! |
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