The Marina is really large with about 20 piers and their associated slips. We were on the first pier luckily and relatively close to the bathrooms and laundry.
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| Black Tie coming into the Marina next to Field Trip. |
After we were tied up and paid up and received our free back scratchers, we went to visit this pizza place which is recommended by everyone we've talked with whose visited Brunswick.
Foxs Pizza was superb. About the best pizza we've ever eaten!
Nasty weather is on the way for tomorrow and Sunday so we'll be hunkered down for a few days and not contemplating leaving until maybe Monday. We
want to be in
Jacksonville
before Wednesday so
Huckins can hopefully begin work before the Thanksgiving holiday. The boat yard is closed until Monday and we did want to be further south before driving back to Wisconsin the first week of December. But I'm guessing we'll end up keeping the boat in Jacksonville while we head north and they complete repairs.
The repairs consist of fixing this oil leak I mention every once in a while and the high pressure fuel pump leak. We, after many discussions weighing the merits of repairing the existing stove (me) or purchasing a new one (Mary), have decided to just purchase a new stove. You can think we came to a meeting of the minds, or I lost the debate. Either way were going to get a new stove. If you visit, expect mountains of baked bread.
We are also going to ask them to fix up our dented up bow pulpit where the anchor normally rests. Its pretty banged up and we want to either have a steel plate or some other material added to take the gouges the anchor seems to inflict when we bring it aboard.
During the rain we talked with Field Trip about Thanksgiving and possibly stopping at
St. Marys which is hosting
a big cruisers Thanksgiving Party. Sounds like fun but if we're going to be at Huckins before Wednesday, we wont be able to attend. Alternative plans are to find a place in Jacksonville if Bob and Martha decide to head to there with us.
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| Downtown Brunswick (the pink chairs are in front of Pams) |
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| Downtown Brunswick |
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| Downtown Brunswick |
Sunday, Mary and I walked about 1.5 miles to the local CVS so she could get her flue shot and pick up some over the counter drugs. The downtown area is quaint with a few dozen little shops and a park. Once beyond that area though its gets pretty run down. And of course we had to trek a mile there and back through that portion of the town. But we did find a pretty good ice cream store when we came back into the downtown area. Well, its actually a cupcake store,
Pams. Its run by a delightful lady, Pam. The cupcakes were impressive too but we didn't sample any even though there was some Krispy Kreme withdrawal going on.
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| Downtown Brunswick park |
We had cocktails with Bob and Martha and went to bed rather early. We're anticipating on leaving a little later than normal the next morning because the tide was around 10:15 at Jekyll Creek which runs along the shore of
Jekyll Island. And yes, its another one of those problem areas best transited at high tide. The weather looked tolerable too and both Black Tie and Escapade were leaving in the morning so we decided to travel together again.
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| Leaving Brunswick we had to go around this car carrier |
Left on time. Went through Jekyll Creek with no issues. The ICW wanders through these low lying salt marches for what seems like endless miles. Lots of switch backs. We finally went by
Naval Submarine Base of Kings Bay near Cumberland Island which is a few miles north of
Fernandina Beach. And again no submarines. One of these times!
We were aiming to anchor at Fernandina Beach across from the
marina there. But the winds were pretty fierce and the rest of the group opted to stay in the marina so we went along with them.
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| Fernandina Beach Marina outside dock |
The marina wanted to put us inside the long dock where its less expensive. But its also tough to make get in there and tied up without banging up the boat or even others. The winds and current can make it pretty treacherous so I asked to be placed on the outside and they complied. Even so, it was a a little dicey trying to keep the boat steady in the running current but the dock guys kept us from crashing and all we did was bump the dock. Whew! Not fun.
All four of us were on the outside of the dick. We joined Field Trip for a short trek into town, mainly to find this frozen yogurt place we had discovered this past spring when
we were anchored over in Cumberland Island.
We wanted to leave around 9am the next morning to negotiate some of the more shallow areas just south of Fernandina Beach. We had a few cocktails with Field Trip and called it a night.
Next morning all four of us left the dock and headed south. Nothing special about this segment of the ICW. I guess we've become sort of used to the scenery. To us its just a waterway running through marshlands for the most part. But we do see dolphins again, quite frequently. Although they prefer Field Trips more lively bow wave to our puny little ripple. Oh well.
We only had one bridge to deal with,
Sisters Creek Bridge which has a vertical height of 24 feet. The tide was up though and the height boards were showing 21 feet. We can get under that but Field Trip and Escapade cant so I called the bridger and we got an opening.
As we left the bridge, we turned right after a short distance and headed down the St. Johns to the Ortega River while Escapade left us and headed south on the ICW.
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| Entering the St. Johns River near part of the Naval base |
Black Tie stayed with us and Field Trip. Its about 20 miles from where we turned up the St. Johns to Huckins. Lots of big ships to look at but what was more visible were the dark storm clouds on the horizon. It was going to rain. When was the only question. But for us, we never seem to be able to dock and tie up before it rains. And so I'm certain it'll be pouring when we arrive at Huckins.
We did go by one of those boxlike car carrier ships which every few minutes would erupt with 10 or so cars out its back end down the ramp and into an immense parking lot. The drivers, from the speed they were driving these cars, were not overly concerned about engine break ins. Maybe thats a old thing now days?
We made it through the downtown area and out into the broader reaches of the
St.. Johns River. After about a mile or so I made the turn towards
Ortega and into the Ortega River channel following our old tracks on the chart plotter from previous visits. This time we saw a new day mark, Red 2, along the track so maybe they are actually marking the channel into the river.
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| An older Huckins original. Gorgeous! |
Went through the
Ortega River Bridge which is the busiest
Bascule bridge in Florida. Once through, Black Tie and Field Trip turned into
Ortega Landing marina while we went under the Roosevelt Avenue Bridge and into
Huckins Boat yard. And, just as I predicted, it began pouring as we turned into Huckins. So Mary, and a few of the boat yard guys worked in the rain to get us tied up. And as it turned out, it poured all afternoon and into the night.
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| At the Huckins dock right next to the railroad bridge |
Next day, Wednesday, we met with Deb and PJ, the yard manager about the repairs. They were going to try and get some of the technical guys over to our boat to assess what they had to do. But it didn't quite work out that way. So we'll have to wait now until Monday to find out further details other than PJ's assessment that they could handle the job.
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| 3 of 8 that know me on sight |
Meanwhile we discovered the Marina cats! They know a sucker when they see one I guess. We had walked to the Publix earlier and I had bought delicious cat treats. As I found out later I, and several other people feed the darn things. But I give them these really good treats as evidenced by all 8 of them bounding out of their various hiding places when I come walking through.
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| Does everybody shop on the day before a holiday? |
I was sent to the Publix for a few things not realizing it was a popular shopping day for everyone. Duh ... 15 minutes in a checkout line.
Since the yard will be closed Thanksgiving day and through the weekend, Deb gave me the keys to the boat yard's little truck, a Ford Ranger. Neat!
We walked over to Field Trip for cocktails and then walked back to out boat. Its about 3/4 of a mile one way so we got our exercise!
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| Thanksgiving dinner overlooking the warm pool |
Thanksgiving Day we were invited to the party at Ortega Landing Marina thanks to Bob and Martha. It was great. We brought a salad and the maria provided the turkey and ham. It was held up in the club house over looking the warm pool. Wonderful time. We met several other boaters and had delightful conversations until it was time to leave. We had driven the truck over so it wasn't an ordeal getting back to the boat. I did mention the temperatures were plunging down into the thirties didn't I?
We had all four heaters going so the boat wasn't too terribly cold in the morning. We loaded up all the laundry and found a laundromat a few miles away. I left Mary there reading while I drove in search of the Hertz car rental place I'll be walking to on Saturday. Yes we rented a car. I figured that we wont be leaving here within the week and just went and rented a car here in
Ortega for the drive to Wisconsin. Its 3.5 miles from the boat through what I'd describe as an interesting neighborhood. Hertz, as it turns out, is a better deal for us than Enterprise where we had been renting cars over the last few years.
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| Ornate pipes for smoking, ah, non-tobacco products |
I also stopped at a nearby liquor store to replenish my rum supply. Interesting place. I skipped the drive up window and went inside. They have an interesting inventory
We finished up the laundry and stopped at the Publix near us and loaded up with groceries so we should be all set for the next few days. Lucky we had a truck.
We bustled about on the boat the next day and Bob and I went to
Sailors Exchange to peruse their marine stuff. Some of it was pretty cheap. They even had stoves! I'll be going back to get some water line hosing later in the week,
We also stopped in at
Chamblin Book Store which is this huge used and new book store across the street from Sailors Exchange. We only stayed a few minutes but last time we were here I wandered in there for several hours.
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| Dueling picture phones |
In the mall there is a West Marine, Radio Shack and a Subway as well as the renown
Metro Diner. But Bob and I met Mary and Martha for lunch at
Paneras instead. We ended up sending obnoxious pictures to friends, Curt and Marilyn, a sailboat couple we first met in Alton IL. They're in the Dakotas where its frigid and snow bound so we had to make the attempt to cheer them up.
That night Black Tie had a bunch of us over for cocktails. Very nice
time! They have a Nordic 42 and it was so neat and clean in contrast to
our overloaded barge. But then again we've been living on it for
almost 2 years now and stuff just accumulates! But we'd better get to
cleaning our boat up since we are hosting the next party.
Gregg and Dona stopped by to see us the next day on their way back from the birth of Greg's first grandchild! We went to
lunch at Moes Sothwest Grill located in the mall a few blocks from us. Great time!
After they left Mary ensconced herself in front of the TV to watch the Packer game. Gotta love this satellite! I guess they won too.
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| Scruffy. Ironic having a vacuum right there. |
We're looking forward to tomorrow when we get some movement on our repairs. And,
shaking my head in obvious reluctance, we are going to see a dog Jerry, the night watchman, cares for. Jerry already has several dogs and cats and took this one in when Debbie the office manager for Huckins and her husband found it running down San Juan, a major street here. They took it to the vet and posted lost dog signs but no one claimed him. Deb already has 3 dogs so they gave it to Jerry and he's looking to give it to a good home
I stoically remained silent when we were told of this. Not true for certain other parties though. It's an
Australian Terrier. Cant wait ...
Monday we had a visit from PJ and Justin who went over our problems and started to craft some estimates and a plan. Meanwhile we cleaned up the boat and I removed most of the old valence lighting and replaced it with LED strip lighting. Looks and works great.
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| Scoundrel knows who to schmooze |
In the afternoon Jerry brought Scruffy (his other name is
Sharp Shooter) over so we could met him. Small dog and one of those lovey types that snuggle right up to you. Well me in this case. But he wasn't overly thrilled with the stairs on the boat. In fact when we brought into the salon he went down to our stateroom in one bound which I think wasn't quite planned. He didn't seem interested in going up the stairs so I, relying on honed skills hauling our two previous dogs, Willie and/or Cleo up stairs or onto high places, had to go down, pick him up and carry him back up the stairs.
Did I mention the long stringy hair that clings to the carpet resisting the powerful churning brushes of our vacuum stick? He sheds!
He didn't bark and just hung around eating up the affection as we fitted a screen to the salon door. We cant take him with us to Wisconsin so when we return we'll probably take him for a day or so before we leave here and see how it goes.
It's looking like our care free days of dogless cruising might be coming to a close. Of course we still have to test out our small dinghy with the motor Dave lent us. Maybe tomorrow since we've cleaned the boat and its going to be sunny and warm again. If that all works as planed I wont have a leg to stand on. It'll be pinned down by a 15 pound shaggy haired, lap-beast.
Our plans now have evolved into leaving the boat here until we return so they can do their repair work. And we'll leave a few days earlier and swing through Destin on our way up to Wisconsin. Might as well make a little vacation out of it before we really hit the frigid weather.
But we'll see when we talk to Deb in a few minutes.
We did go by one of those boxlike car carrier ships which every few minutes would erupt with 10 or so cars out its back end down the ramp and into an immense parking lot. The drivers, from the speed they were driving these cars, were not overly concerned about engine break ins. Maybe thats a old thing now days?
Gregg and Dona stopped by to see us the next day on their way back from the birth of Greg's first grandchild! We went to lunch at Moes Sothwest Grill located in the mall a few blocks from us. Great time! 
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