Jacksonville Bound !!

Our plans for our last vacation of the year had been in the works for some time and we were getting anxious to depart.  We had decided to head to Jacksonville, Florida.  It was to be both a trip of excitement and a trip of sorrow, as the main reason for the location was for Marie to visit the grave of her son, Matthew, who passed away last January at the age of 34.  Jacksonville was also the place where Marie and I met some 30 years ago and we both lived there for a number of years.  Jacksonville is at best a 2 day trip from Savannah and I only had one week for vacation.  Four days round trip makes for a short vacation so we decided to ferry Elixir down to Brunswick the prior weekend to cut out a day of travel.  As it turned out, Steve and Benita were on vacation on board Solemar that week so we would get to visit with them both the weekend we arrived in Brunswick as well as the following weekend.  When Jim and Ann, who were still in Savannah on Wild Goose, got wind of the plans, they decided to drive down to Brunswick and join in the fun!

The offending pedestal

The trip down to Brunswick was uneventful, but about 1 a.m. on the night of our arrival, the carbon monoxide alarm went off and we had to evacuate the boat while it aired out.  Just as we were getting ready to re-enter, the power failed.  I went around to check the breaker on the pedestal and noticed it was smoking!  I quickly disconnected Elixir from the pedestal and then the debate began.  Did Elixir cause the fire or did the pedestal?  Eventually, we plugged in to a nearby pedestal and the power came up fine.  It wasn't us!  The next day we reported the problem and it was promptly repaired.

Pulling out

 After leaving Elixir in Brunswick for the week, we arrived on Thursday to begin preparations for our trip to Jacksonville.  Steve and Benita took us by car to Sailor's Exchange in both St. Augustine and Jacksonville to see what we could find.  It is a treasure trove of parts and supplies for boats, especially old parts that are no longer made.  We found a new 50 amp to two 30 amps splitter that we have been looking for.  We got it for about $150 less than retail stores!   Jim and Ann stopped by on their way back north and we all visited on

Where am I going?

Saturday.  We departed at sunrise on Sunday and headed south.  Once we turned south off of the Brunswick River, we were travelling where we had only gone once before, during our trip to Captiva Island!

I was ready this time for the turn which can be confusing the first time you make it as it appears that you are headed into a dead-end!  Trust me, there is a way out!

Cumberland Island horse

The trip to Jacksonville ended up being full of firsts for us.  We saw our first horse on Cumberland Island!  There were actually two of them and I turned Elixir to get as close as the depth would allow me.  They did not seem to mind and just kept eating.  It was also the first time we had a dolphin surfing our side wake, our first sighting of a Hammerhead Shark and a Roseate Spoonbill, a beautiful pink bird!  It was our first visit to Jacksonville by boat.  It was also the first time we took waves over our bow!

Attack of the jet skis !

During our time in Jacksonville, we stayed at 3 different docks that the city provides. You can stay for up to 72 hours at each dock at no charge!  We were surprised to find that both times we stayed at the Jacksonville Free City Dock, we were the only boat there, since it is a very nice dock located directly on the ICW.  The other two docks were the Jacksonville Landing and the Municipal Park Marina.  Although we were the only boat that stayed overnight at The Jacksonville Landing, it was full of activity during the day as boats came and went to eat lunch, dinner, or just shop.  It was fun to watch!

Lonely Elixir on the Jacksonville Free City Dock

The Municipal Park Marina was less exciting, but a nice quiet place to stay.  It also had electricity, something the other two did not.  However, staying at docks without electricity gave us a chance to test our generator in a real life setting for the first time since we got her running and she charged up our batteries with no problem.  It also gave us air conditioning and TV!  Now we are really getting spoiled!

Sea Turtle!

Downtown Jacksonville

I have learned to try to time our departures to take advantage of the currents and this trip was no different.  I timed our departure to arrive on the St. Johns with the incoming tide which would carry us quickly to our destination.  Arrival time should be an hour to an hour and a half after turning onto the St. Johns.  I even told Marie to leave the fenders over (but not in the water) as we would soon be arriving.  Then I turned the corner......... smack into the mighty St. Johns' current.  Four knots.  That's all I could get.  Four knots!

Matthews and Hart Bridges

Our short trip turned into a grueling 3 1/2 hours!  It was almost 2 hours before we even caught a glimpse of the Jacksonville skyline in the distance!  The St. Johns apparently does not pay attention to the tidal charts.  It does have incoming and outgoing currents, but they do not coincide with the tide and can be as much as 3 hours off!  When we traveled the St. Johns on our return trip, I just waited until I saw the current going the direction we wanted and then we left.  The difference was astounding as I averaged 8.1 knots!

Our security bird keeps watch from the All American Grill

Elixir at The Jacksonville Landing

Jacksonville National Cemetery

The main purpose of going to Jacksonville was to visit Matthew's grave and so we rented a car and drove out to the National Cemetery where he is buried.  Matthew had served in the U.S. Navy and was buried among others who had served to protect our nation's freedom.  Matthew has a nice view of a lake with a fountain in it.  Marie is very saddened by his death.  It was an emotional trip.

Elixir at the Municipal Park Marina

While at the Municipal Park Marina, our friends, Greg and Candice, from Albany, dropped by for a visit while they were in town.  They are currently bringing their boat, Sea-clusion, from Minnesota to Panama City and had left it in St. Louis for some repairs.  We took them on the short trip up river by boat to The Jacksonville Landing to have dinner and then returned.  It was nice to visit with them and take them for their first trip on our boat!

Ron and Greg on the flybridge

The Mayport Ferry

Elixir at the Sandollar Restaurant

When the time came to start heading back north, we decided to make a side trip to Mayport.  I spent 4 years stationed at ships home-ported at the Mayport Naval Station and thought it would be fun to see it again, by pleasure boat!  On the way we stopped at the Sandollar Restaurant, which is across the water from the town of Mayport.  The food was great and the staff was very friendly, but you have to be adventurous to arrive by boat.  The dock is almost gone and you have to search for cleats.  Parts of the dock are angled steeply from side to side and one section bobbed up and down as you walked across it!  It was like auditioning for American Ninja Warrior!

Atlantis II

We saw the Atlantis II, a very interesting looking ship that is famous for transporting the Alvin to photograph the Titanic.  It will soon be up for sale if anyone is interested!
On the day we traveled from Jacksonville to Brunswick, it rained the whole day.  Most of it was just a drizzle, so it was no big deal.  We just drove from the inside helm.  But as we neared the St. Andrew Sound, we got hit by a real bad storm.  Visibility was less than 500 feet and even though we were in a river, we could not see land!  I had to steer by electronics alone.  Marie helped watch for other boats since I had to keep my eye on the chart plotter.

I can't see!

 I stayed as far to the right as I dared and hoped any southbound boats would do the same.  During the time we were in the storm, I only saw green markers as all the red ones were obscured from our view!  The wind tore our burgee, mast and all, off the boat.  The waves in the Sound were hitting 7 feet and were crashing over the bow and drenching the windshield!  Abby, our beagle, who normally loves to go boating, lost her cookies.  But we made it through safely and eventually arrived in Brunswick.

In a couple of weeks, we will move her back to Savannah where we will spend some time performing some much needed renovations preparing Elixir for next spring's cruising season.








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