2021: Ortega River Dinghy Exploration

 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. 

Lambs Yacht Center on the Ortega River

Railroad Bridge near LYC

Every morning just before 8:00, a train goes down the above track and blows its whistle multiple times. We have no need for an alarm clock at this marina.

Covered slips at LYC - 
tight fit at high water levels

Some sights as we traveled down the Ortega River.

Pretty house on the river

Long docks on the Ortega River

Lopsided Gazebo

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.

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.

As we approached the bridge, we saw airplanes one after another coming in low up ahead.

Plane under bridge

Navy plane

All planes saw "Navy" on the side

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!

Many bullet holes in this sign. Lots of bulls eyes!
Someone is a great shot.

and  a rope swing left by someone.

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!

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.

Docks almost under water

Unreachable chairs

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.

"Why Knot" appears to be listing on the lift.

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.

Stacks of traps by the water and in the shed
in the back.

"Camp David" - boat goes with the house 
with the abundance of traps

Besides private homes, we did see some commercial property.

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. 

Looking, Pushing and shoving

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. 

Huge flock of birds

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.

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. 

Why would anyone have a sailboat between 
two extremely low bridges that do not open?!

"Low bridge, everybody down ... la la la"

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. 

View of sunset from our dock at Lambs Yacht Center.
The white dot in the sky is the moon!

2021: Ortega FL

 4 to 7 November 2021

No boat travel.

Following day-after-day travel and having washed off the top dirt and salt, it felt strange to have no specific agenda. When Clark asked me on Thursday morning what my plans were for the day, I replied, "Not much. What do you have in mind?" With his input, my plans changed from "no idea" to finishing canvas covers for the wood railing on the fly bridge. After that, Clark requested that I paint the rusty handle of a fire extinguisher and the base of the compass on the fly bridge that regularly gets hit with saltwater spray. Frequently, his agenda becomes a job or two for me.

The weather forecast for the next two days did not sound wonderful. Rain, heavy at times, with coastal flooding did not sound like anything to look forward to. On Friday, Clark decided that we should borrow the marina's courtesy car to drive to Green Cove Springs to collect our snail mail that we have forwarded there when traveling. 

Having looked at the windshield wipers when he asked me to paint the other items on Thursday, he decided they were beyond hope, and we should go to an auto store to seek new ones. The custom wipers for this boat cost over $75 a piece and we need three. Fortunately, a particular RainX model fits and only costs about $15 each. We just had to find a store that sold them. It took three tries but we found one. Unfortunately, it was in the complete opposite direction to Green Cove Springs. We borrowed the courtesy car for three hours for our travel plans. We managed to return the car in 2 hours and 55 minutes from when we took it out.

When we left the boat to go shopping, I complained to Clark that the boat was so far from the dock that I could not get off. He used the line on the cleat to pull the boat over close enough that I managed to climb to the dock. Clark said the boat was so far from the dock due to the extra high tide.

After returning from our car trip, we planted ourselves on the boat and basically did not get off the rest of Friday and all of Saturday. Mostly, we sat on board and watched and listened to the rain come down. Clark did manage to find a respite between rain showers to go take a shower up at the men's room. I showered on the boat! To pass the time, I managed to get a lot of reading done, played quite a few rounds of computer games, colored some pictures with colored pencils, and watched a whole season of "Good Witch" on Netflix. 

 By Sunday morning, we were both glad to see the sun and a bright, pleasant day. Once again, Clark asked me my plans for the day. Once again I said, "Not much. What do you have in mind?" He suggested we go for a walk. Anything involving getting off the boat sounded good to me, so I readily agreed. We decided to have lunch and then go for a walkabout. 

When I went to get off the boat, I told Clark it was impossible as the boat was at least 3 feet from the dock. Once again he explained that it was due to high tide and fixed docks. I wasn't buying it and insisted that he do something. Grumbling, he jumped off the boat and retied the lines. That brought the boat in closer but lined up the boat such that a piling completely blocked the path for me to climb off the boat. Still grumbling, Clark retied one of the lines to pull the boat forward a foot or so to give me room to get off.

That done, I climbed off the boat. We had collected three bags of garbage to get rid of. One of those contained the old windshield wipers that Clark replaced this morning ready for the next time we have to pilot in the rain or a salt spray. Also, I decided that if we were going for a walk, I should take the laundry that needed to get done with me, so it could be washing and drying as we strolled around. 

When we got to the end of the dock at the boatyard, we found a lake over the cement due to the extra high tide. 

Water flowing over the cement from the slip used to 
lift boats out for repair

The fixed dock is underwater

We managed to tiptoe our way around the water to get to dry land without getting our shoes wet.  After disposing of the garbage, we headed over to the laundry room to get the washer going.  We strolled around the marina until the wash finished. After I threw the sheets in the dryer, Clark started to head back to the boat. I balked at the idea of getting back on board and convinced him to walk around some more. 

As we waited for the dryer, we found some other folks that were walking the docks and enjoying the nicer weather. We talked for a very long time. By the time we got back to the boat it was getting chilly as the sun was disappearing from the sky. Given the time change, what yesterday would have been 6:00 was 5:00 today. 

I finished my latest novel while Clark strummed on his guitar until dinner time. After dinner, Clark said he has plans for tomorrow, which means I have plans too. He says he wants to run the dinghy.

2021: Cumberland Island Anchorage GA to Jacksonville FL

 1 November 2021

Depart: Cumberland Island Anchorage, GA 11:30

Arrive: Jacksonville Free Dock 5:30

Distance: 49 nm

Conditions: perfect day for ocean travel

Due to hurricane season, our boating insurance stated that we could not be south of Cumberland Island until noon today. We timed pulling up our anchor and leaving to coincide with passing by the end of the Island at noon. 

As we slowly made our way out of the anchorage, I grabbed some pictures of the area.

"Danger Wreck" in anchorage

Sailboats in the anchorage

Low water 

Fun along the shore of the island

Busy Buoy

Watching the clock, we motored along Cumberland Island at minimum speed. We noticed another boat chugging along beside us. Just before noon, we got a call on the radio. "Sunset Delight, are you insured by Chubb too?" Clark and I both cracked up laughing. We had already decided he must be creeping along like us for the same reason. 

M/V Scoter Duck  - along side us
creeping towards the southern end of Cumberland Island

Clark wanted to go out in the ocean yesterday, but to do so, we would have to have traveled beyond the southern end of Cumberland Island Insurance constraint. Instead we dealt with all the low-tide areas through Georgia. We had no such constraint today, and we made our escape to the Atlantic Ocean. Yay!!! No biting fingernails watching low depths! No slow-speed, no-wake zones! No boaters passing us or for us to pass! Freedom!

We went out into the ocean at St. Mary's Inlet and came back in at St. John's Inlet at Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville is an exciting city for boating. We saw US Coast Guard ships and helicopters, Naval ships, commercial vessels of all types, and even some pleasure boats. 

As we entered the St. John's River, we noticed helicopters circling. Clark thought they might be doing touch-and-go exercises. Seemed to me that they were preparing to dive bomb us as they passed repeatedly over our heads.

USCG Vessel and Helicopter 

Flew right over the top of our boat.

Circling around for another pass

Overhead pass again

 

Traveling along the St. John's River, we saw every imaginable boat it seemed.

USCG ship with machine guns!
One of a pair that came in the inlet shortly 
after we entered.

Tanker

Fishing Trawler

Ferry

Container Ship underway

Stacked high with containers

Naval Vessel being worked on

Another naval vessel in dry dock

Sailboat - we later helped tie up at the
docks where we stayed for the night

Tug Boats

I was interested in the next vessel we saw and looked it up in Google. The "Grande Florida" is a 2020 addition to the Grimaldi Italian line of ships. This one is a vehicle carrier. After offloading vehicles in Jacksonville, the ship is heading to Houston, Texas.

Vehicle Carrier Ship

Vehicles being driven off the ship

Being a week day, we got to see the action as robots unloaded containers from a container ship at dock. The arms came out went down into the ship and came up with a container to put ashore. For all the containers we saw on shore and being offloaded, I only saw one truck coming in to get the next box.

Container Ship "Isla Bella" 

Container being lifted from "Isla Bella"

Second robot arm working simultaneously to 
offload containers

We normally stay at the free dock at Sister's Creek, but Clark decided to try the docks at the Metropolitan Park Marina, which offers free docking unless an event is going on. Luckily, tonight there was no event. The marina provides water and electric.

Being free, no dockhands came out to help with lines. We managed just fine as I got on two temporary lines until Clark could come down from the helm to assist. We used those two lines to walk the boat further back into the slip before tying it off. All told it took about 10 to 15 minutes to adjust lines and fenders to our liking. Once satisfied, we decided to stroll around the area. We have only ever seen these parts from the water as we navigated our way down the St. John's River.

Docks at the Metropolitan Park Marina

Fire boat docked at marina

As we walked the docks, we saw the sailboat that Clark had seen earlier in the day and then later talked to on the radio. He gave Clark some information on grabbing a slip here since it was our first time. Clark knew he would be tying up here, so we went down to grab his lines for him. Afterwards we continued our stroll and met another boater who was single-handling his power boat. He said he got lucky and someone from the marina helped him tie up.

After chatting (for longer than I preferred), we continued our walk around the area. Our first exhibit was The Jacksonville Fire Museum. We only saw the outside given the time of day.

Outside of the Jacksonville Fire Museum

Next we strolled past the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars!

Jacksonville Stadium

Sports and Entertainment Complex

We saw lots and lots of port-o-potties. The person who named the company had a sick sense of humor.

Floaters Portable Sanitation - 
"You Float 'm - We Tote 'm" (Gross!)

Then we found ourselves done with our tour and heading back towards the boat to make dinner.

I am not sure of the significance of this giant Gator in the nearby park. The only sign read "Please do not climb on the gator!"

Florida Gator

Later, as I made dinner, we noticed the sky changing colors.

Sunset at Jacksonville, so red, it looked like
the sky was on fire

2 November 2021

Depart: Jacksonville Metropolitan Park Free dock, 10:40

Arrive: Lamb's Yacht Center, Ortega, FL 11:45

Distance: 7 nm

Conditions: Sunny, 60s

Bad habits crept in and we stayed in bed until after 9:00. I stayed up way too late last night finishing an interesting novel. It did not make any difference on our departure time; however, as we had to wait until later in the morning for a closed RR bridge that was under repair. 11:00 was the earliest time they could guarantee passage, so we hung out at the free dock until then.

We passed by numerous tall city buildings as we continued along the St. John's River.

City buildings - Vystar, Wells Fargo, Hyatt, etc

Pirate Ship Docked beside Hyatt

Neither Clark nor I drink coffee. Even so, usually I enjoy the smell of freshly ground coffee. Passing by the Maxwell House facility, however, it came on a bit too strong for me. After we passed by, I felt like I had inhaled enough caffeine to last the whole day long.

"Good to the Last Drop"!

When we arrived at the railroad bridge, it was open as promised. 

Clark was disappointed he missed a good looking-down-the-tracks photo as we passed by. One has to plan well ahead for those.

Work crew on another section of the RR bridge

The RR bridge was not the only one being worked on apparently. As I looked at the men up in the bucket under the next bridge, I was vey glad that I had never had that job!

Men in bucket, way up high, under bridge

We have reservations for the boat to stay at Lamb's Yacht Center on the Ortega River for the next month. Having stayed here last year, we decided we liked it and wanted to return. The only problem with getting to this marina is passing over the skinny water to reach the Ortega River from the St. John's River. Clark had me keep an eye on the depth finder as we crept across to the river. Luckily, we  found no real problem areas. 

Our original reservation was to start on November 5th, but we arrived early. The marina accommodated us by placing us in a temporary spot for a couple of days until our assigned slip opens up. 

The first order of business after we got our lines secured at the slip was lunch. After that, I grabbed my laundry and walked up to find the washers and dryers. Clark was napping when I left. When I returned a couple of hours later, I found him busy scrubbing saltwater off the boat. Of the two jobs, I prefer the laundry! I decided that we had enough food on board that grocery shopping could wait until the next day.

3 November 2021

No boat travel!

We pulled the bicycles out today. They have not been ridden in quite a while. Usually I do not have a problem, but today I felt a little wobbly and uncomfortable riding my bike on the docks to get up to the street. By the time we got to Publix, a very short bike ride away, I felt comfortable and confident again. 

Unfortunately, while shopping, I forgot we were on bicycles. We had Clark's backpack to carry food back to the boat plus a couple of small bags. I put too much food in the cart. It was the pizza that alerted me to the problem. Before we got to the checkout, I realized it would be difficult to transport a pizza, albeit frozen, on a bicycle. I decided we would figure out something and manage to get it "home". It was not until we started putting food on the conveyor belt that I realized I had overbought on other food as well. 

I shoved all the frozen food into Clark's backpack plus the meat we purchased. It weighed a ton, and I still had more food to stash somewhere. A while back, I made two bike bags, one for each bike, out of

Igloo carrier bags. We had both of those and I stuffed them full. I also had two tote bags in my handbag. We put the pizza in one of those for Clark to carry and the bread in the other for me. 

Thankfully, we had a short ride back to the boat. Hopefully, next time, we go shopping by bike, I remember!

After stowing the groceries and prepping the meat for the freezer, I sat down to work on the blog updates and that took up the rest of the day. 

The buildings here block the sunset, so no pictures today.