April 26-April 29 2014 St. Augustine to Ortega River Huckins Boat yard

We decided to stay here in St. Augustine for a few more days before heading to Huckins Boat Yard in Jacksonville.  And since it was the weekend they weren't open anyway.  So we did laundry, cleaned the boat and I took the dinghy out  to buzz around the town.  Basically we rested and putzed.   

Making water at 70 gph!

I was able to make water a few times when the tide was rushing in giving us full tanks when we left.  We were also able to pump out our holding tank right at the dock.

I decided to take the dinghy for one last buzz up the river before hauling it back on deck.  The slip next to us was vacant and it was near slack tide so one last run and then haul it out.  I took it up past the inlet and and as I was turning around a big boat blew by me.  As I turned into the wake the steering suddenly became unresponsive.  Drats.  I checked and the steering cable running from the wheel to the piston had snapped.  NO steering and about 4 miles from the marina. So for the next hour I ran the engine at a slow enough speed so I could steer the boat by pushing on the outboard engine cowling.  Lots-o-fun bouncing around in the ocean swells and boat wakes.    I finally got it to the boat and we hauled it up on deck and had it secured.  Funny how it would take us an hour to do this a year ago, while now its a 10 minute exercise. 

  

Curt and Marilyn.

The next day we were surprised by Curt and Marilyn showing up in the marina!  They're sailors doing the loop on a 26' foot Hunter whom we first met in Alton Illinois.  Great folks!  And a really nice boat.  For a sailboat that is. :-)

We went out to dinner with them at that Brazillian/Italian place, Solo Saint Augustifl.   We ate lunch at a few days ago with the Hagens.  Had a nice long chat with the owner, a very fun person.  And we ate outside which made Mary happy at least.

I should mention that Curt and Marilyn are the only people I've ever met who have been stopped by a border patrol boat, one of those 1200 hp speed boats with 4 guys and guns.  Must have been their sinister appearance and scowling demeanor.

We ended up heading over to OC Whites for desert before heading back to the boats.

The next day Curt and Marilyn did the tourist thing while we readied the boat for the journey up to Jacksonville. 

The currents here can really rip through the marina so most prudent cruisers wait until near slack tide to minimize the current effects.  And that's what we did.  We didn't leave until around 9 which was making a pretty tight traveling window to Huckins boat yard about 60 miles away.   We backed out and turned around and headed under the Bridge of Lions without a problem.  But I kept remembering this catamaran that had come in yesterday that was pushed around by the currents ultimately causing it to smash into one of the cement finger pier supports.  Horrible crunching sound.  I didn't hear how bad the damage was, but it sure sounded pretty awful.

Hard to see through the glare but that 12.2 is our speed!

The tide was just starting to go out in so we didn't derive any benefit from the tidal flow until we reached a point where the tide was flowing out of the Jacksonville inlet thus carrying us along with it.  12.1 mph.  That's a new high for us!

Fighting tidal currents 

Then after getting into the St. Johns river we hit the out going tide and our speed dropped to about 4.5 mph.

Near Ponte Vedra Beach

It was an uneventful trip for the mostly part except maybe when a Border Patrol  boat with four 300hp outboards was riding parallel to us through a no wake zone in Ponte Vedra Beach.  As soon as we passed through the no-wake sign they blasted off leaving us wallowing in the huge wake.

Torrential rain in those clouds over downtown

We wound our way around the St. Johns and as we passed through the harbor facilities I spotted the rain clouds up ahead of us so we buttoned everything up.   And sure enough as we entered the downtown portion of the river, we were caught in a torrential downpour for about 45 minutes.  I could barley make out the railroad bridge which is usually open except, obviously, when trains are passing through.  And it was closed because I heard, more than saw the train.  But even in the downpour we were able to see enough so we could time our arrival at the bridge as it was opening.  So no delays!

Ortega River Bridge

The instructions we received from Deb at Huckins was to tie up in their small lift slipway which was just inside the marina basin.  The trial though was getting into the Ortega River.  The Ortega and St. Johns merge just outside of Jacksonville and the there are no navigational markers laying out a path to follow in the Ortega from the St. Johns.  Armed with local knowledge we followed the dictated path.  This is the third time we've been in here and we've always hit a shallow area where the depth sounder goes wild.  And sure enough, it repeated itself again. Guess we need better local knowledge.  But we made it through without any groundings.

Tied to the slip way pier waiting to be hauled out

We came up to the Ortega River Bridge and requested an opening.  They promptly complied and we found ourselves at Huckins Boat yard in a few minutes.  We turned in and tied right along the slipway pier all by ourselves.  Didn't even have the marriage savers (two-way radio headsets).  After plugging in and securing all the lines, we walked the half mile to Panera and had dinner before returning for a good nights sleep.  The plan was to get estimates tomorrow and then begin work.  We're having some hull repairs made, bottom paint along with the dinghy steering cable replacement and some minor adjustments to the generator and main engines.

Most of the mechanical things I could do myself but having never tinkered with diesels much I'm first watching someone who knows what they're doing before tackling the jobs.

We'll see how it goes over the next few days.  At least we are in the water and are able to run our A/C.  Its in the mid 80's here and really  humid.  Once we're out of the water we wont be able cool the boat at all. But we've just learned Huckins prefers we dont live aboard while the boats out of the water, so we'll be off to a luxury hotel when we do get hauled.