12/5 and 12/6 North from St. Augustine to St. John's River

12/5 We were up and ready to go real early.  The tide was going to be low slack tide at 6:28 a.m.  One issue at St. Augustine is that the current can be very strong.  The day before we saw many vessels struggle to leave the dock without hitting anything.  Also, if we needed to have the bridge open, it opened only every 1/2 hour and not on demand until 8:30 a.m.  We actually had to wait for first light.  But John had the coffee made.  We easily slipped away from the dock.  The height board on the bridge was 23 feet so we slipped under the bridge too. 

It was still dawn as we passed the St. Augustine Inlet and Light.

Because we got such an early start, we were at the St. John's Inlet in Jacksonville by about 11 a.m.  This home looked out over the inlet.  

We looked at the weather for the night and for 12/6.  We decided to keep going to our second stop in Jacksonville.  The mouth of the St. John's River is a very busy port.  We were followed in by an ocean going container ship.  Here we saw a huge dry dock with a ship being serviced.

Although it is a river,  the St. John's River is about 2 miles wide.  Eventually, Jacksonville came into view.  The arena of the Jacksonville Jaguars is on the water too.  We went directly to the Ortega River Marina.  Our plan is to stay here for a few days for weather; then we will travel further up the St. John's.  When we return this way, we will leave the boat here and fly from the Jacksonville airport for Christmas. 

It was a good plan to take some weather days.  During the night, the rain, thunder, lightning, and wind started.  It was a torrential rain that lasted until about noon.  On the news, they said they got 2 months of rain in 24 hours.  It gave the boat a good cleaning.   We went to Metro Diner for lunch.  They had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  Both John and I had the turkey pot pie with a biscuit crust.   It was really good with plenty to take home for supper.  Eating local is one of the joys of the Great Loop.  I did 4 loads of laundry, including the sheets.

The Publix, CVS and a Stein Mart are just up the street too.  This is a very nice marina.  The people and services are very nice.  I am glad we are here.

Lat 30 degrees 16.54 North
Long 81 degrees 42.96 West

12/3 and 12/4 To St. Augustine

12/3 was a short day on the water but a beautiful one.  We cruised along the Matanza River.  The area has many reserves on either side.

It was another clear day and the scenery was spectacular.  The wind started to pick up as we neared St. Augustine, just to keep docking interesting.  As we tied up to our slip, John noticed this turtle nibbling at our slip. 

We had lunch and then it was time to enjoy St. Augustine.  It is a very walkable city with history at every turn.  The Bridge of Lions is protected by lions on both sides. 

This weekend there were all sorts of Christmas celebrations going on.  Because Flagler had such an influence here, the newer architecture is fairly uniform.  This is now a building at Flagler University.

The Lightner Museum is also home to some of the city offices.  This courtyard at the Lightner is decorated for Christmas.   

Every nook and cranny of St. Augustine has something decorative.  Here a entrance way led to a courtyard with statuary. 

There were military demonstrations of Spanish, British, French, and American forces.  The Fort had been home to all.

Here an officer was taking a break.

I enjoyed talking with the man playing the hammered dulcimer.  He was very talented. 

There is so much history, including this building that is the oldest wooden school house in the USA.

This was the bravest person, I saw.  This police officer was outside a place that had exotic animals.  He is holding a red tipped cobra. 

We went to church at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.  It was a beautiful church.  It was the first parish in the United States.

During the day, they had a fundraiser/educational display where you could have your picture taken with St. Nicholas.  I did.

As evening fell, Christmas lights came on everywhere.  The city was busy.  We had dinner at a restaurant with a piano bar playing Christmas music.  There was a jewelry store that had ballerinas from the local dance school dancing as if they were on the top of a jewelry box.   We saw them as we went up to the parade and back.  What talented young ladies they were.

There was a re-enactment of a Torch Parade from the fort.  They marched from the fort to the City Square.  There were fifes and drums. 

They even fired their guns.

Everyone was in a festive mood. 

Sunday, the sun came out but so did the wind.  When some of the boats were leaving, there were some close calls at the marina. 

I walked over the Bridge of Lions and took a picture of the light house from the top of the bridge. 

12/2 To the Palm Coast time for Christmas lights

We are heading north and there is an armada of boats heading south.  We have been passing about 100 boats a day heading south.  Today, we passed two that were notable.  The first was Great Escape.  Great Escape is a 40 foot Mainship just like ours.  It has the same blue hull too.  We met them in Solomons, MD this past spring.  Our boats were on the same pier.  They headed to New England for the summer and were heading back to Marathon for the winter.  It was fun to hail them on the radio and hear about their adventures.  Almost all of the sailboats we have seen are using their motors only.  Today, the wind was out of the northeast.  This sailboat had its spinnaker flying.

We left the Indian River at Ponce De Leon inlet and headed on the Halifax Creek.  The lighthouse at the Ponce De Leon inlet looks very similar to the Jupiter Lighthouse.

Once again there were dolphins galore playing in water.  The shore is composed of mangroves and stands of palm trees.

Gulls, cranes, herons, osprey, and pelicans are flying by.  Many are diving in the water for a good meal.  The ocean is just to the east of us.  It was still windy today and started out in the 50's.  It was a good day to wear jeans and a fleece hoodie.  However, the sun was bright and with the eisenglass down, the fly bridge was very comfortable.  I love when we run the boat from the fly bridge.  The views of the water and scenery are fantastic.

We did pass Daytona Beach off to the east with lots of hotels and condos.  The Florida waterways go from very rural to very built up and commercial and back to rural again.  The Ormond Beach Bridge was decorated with manatees and dolphins at the base.  Everyone here is very protective of both mammals. 

We did see quite a few homes with blue tarp roofs.  Presumably, the roof damage was from Hurricane Mathew.

After settling in to the marina, I walked up to the European Village.  I shopped the local stores without buying anything but a cappuccino. 

Christmas is in the air.  I brought 2 small strings of Christmas lights with us when we left Wilmington.  I have a string on the bow in the cabin and one on the stern on our boat hook hanger.  Now, I am in the spirit.

Lat 29 degrees 34.64 North
Long 81 degrees 11.59 West

11/29 Hospitality of Vero 11/30 Cocoa Village 12/1 New Smyrna Beach

11/29 We were treated to the hospitality of Vero Beach.  Andi Backmeyer, my son-in-law Stephen's mom, lives there.  She picked me up at the marina under this beautiful live oak with an iced coffee from Starbucks.  What service! 

Stephen's sister, Kathy, lives in Vero too.  Her eldest boy is away at college but we got to see high school age, Michael before he left for work and Andi picked up 10 year old Ryan from school.   Ryan asked for a tour of the boat.  He had seen it last year when we were bringing it back to NC for the first time.   He had lots of questions and asked about the engine.  He climbed down in the engine room and checked things out.  He was adorable.

Andi was so kind and before we picked up Ryan, she took me on a Publix run.   I bought heavy things.  Andi was so patient to wait for me.

For dinner, we went to one of Andi's favorite restaurants right on the beach with Kathy and Ryan and Kathy's friend, Brad.

The food was wonderful!   I had a rare sushi grade tuna that has a thin crispy crust.  YUM.  The conversation was lively too. Ryan enjoyed his dessert.

Andi's hospitality was greatly appreciated. 

11/30 The Indian River makes up the AICW on the way to Cocoa Village. 

We were excited by all the dolphins we saw.  They played in our wake and swam around the boat.   John got some good pictures but as we all know dolphins do not pose for pictures.  We sent some of these pictures to our granddaughters in Houston.  Both of them wanted to know why the dolphins did not have any heads!!  What a good laugh we had when they called to ask us that.

We pulled into Cocoa Village Marina.  It is very nice and the village is just up the street.  I explored the village and found the S.F. Travis Hardware store that was founded in 1885.  It is a fully functioning hardware store today but it is also a museum of  items that have been associated with the store over the years.  I liked this Texaco pump.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Ryan's where my calzone and John's sandwich were both so large that we took doggie bags.   I had scoped out an ice cream store.  I left just enough room for one scoop of White Wonderland, which is white chocolate ice cream with a cherry swirl and white chocolate and cherry pieces.

12/1  The weather has been in the 80's.  That is warm even by Florida standards.  We are enjoying the weather though.  As we headed north to New Smyrna Beach on the AICW.  The AICW is wide with nature preserves on all side. 

As we passed through Titusville, we could see the Vehicle Assembly Building used by NASA and United Launch Alliance. 

As we came through the Haulover Canal, we saw some huge manatees.  One almost breeched and its tail was huge above the water.  There were lots of attempts at dolphin pictures too. 

About 2 o'clock a front came through.  The wind whipped up.  The AICW got choppy.  The temperature dropped from 84 to 68 in minutes.  I was sure we would get wet.  The rain held off thankfully and we are docked at New Smyrna Beach for the night.