November 12-15 2015 Jacksonville, and Jacksonville Landing

We were on the move by 8 AM.  We left the Fernandina dock easily enough and made our way out to the ICW channel.  There is a big bend on the ICW just outside the city and its not an infrequent occurrence for someone to go aground there.  It can be a little tricky and most of us wise old guys go through on a rising tide just to eliminate the risk.  And so that's what we did although we did have to get up early.

We made it through just fine, and cruised leisurely along at 7.5 MPH.  We were passed by a number of other boats.  I waved.  Mary would too, muttering something about speed and 95 year old men.

Every time we get to Nassau Sound I get a bit disorientated for a few moments.  There is low bridge that spans the whole Sound and it appear as though you have to go under the bridge.  In reality, there is a sharp turn to starboard which takes you into a long cut (waterway) the skirts the bridge.  For some reason I never seem to remember it.

After a few miles we end up in Sisters Creek where they have a 24 foot bridge.  We're able to clear 24 feet easily if I take the big antenna down.   Otherwise we'd have to request an opening.  But in Florida and elsewhere, openings for raised antennas are frowned upon and may result in a citation if your able to clear a bridge by simply lowering your antennas.

So I lowered the big antenna and we drove through without a problem.  Made a turn to starboard and ran up a few miles to the old channel between Blount Island and Little Marsh Island.  This is in the commercial shipping area, but the channel is used primarily by fisherman and recreational craft.  And its a great little anchorage.   Every time we've been here I can sit out on the deck and watch a big freighter or two go by.

So we anchored, and had cocktails on the sundeck and watched all the shipping activity.  After some more West Wing episodes we went to bed anticipating an adventure with high currents while snagging a cleat by ourselves.  

We woke up late and had a leisurely little cruise up the St. Johns River to Jacksonville Landing.

Buoy Tender at work

Along the way we passed this Coast Guard buoy tender working in the middle of the river.  Neat to see them pluck a large buoy out of the water.

There was a stiff incoming tidal current which was moving us along at over 9 MPH.   I was trying to time our arrival for near slack waters so we would have some current to drive into to give us more steering control, but not so much current to make it difficult to nestle up to the dock.

Well, we were close to slack water but the current was still running swiftly so I  had to head past the spot where we were intending on tying up and then turn back into the current.  We pulled in to the south end of the long dock at Jacksonville Landing and as I got the bow in close Mary did a great job of snagging a cleat.  Remember, out boat is pretty high up off the water but she was able to lean way over the railing and get a line on one of the small cleats.

Approaching Jacksonville Landing just beyond the blue bridge

Once we had that spring line secured it was a simple matter of powering ahead and turning the wheel to move either the bow or stern in towards the dock where we could attach the other lines.  As gently as we came in to the dock the current still smacked us against the dock fenders.  But no damage.

We put out fenders and lines and were secured in a few minutes.    It was early afternoon so we took a stroll along the dock.  There were only two other boats tied up.  They were tied at the other end of the long dock.

It's a long waterfront.  We're way in the distance by the bridge

This is a free dock, 1200 feet long with a couple of other smaller docks at either end.  It's free to use for a maximum of 72 hours.  There is water available, but no power.  The dock runs generally east west and is near parallel to the generous currents that flow here.  The currents are tidal changing direction every 6 hours.  And the river is quite deep, up to 60 feet in some places.

Jacksonville Landing itself is sort of an entertainment complex with several bars/restaurants and a few shops all surrounding a open air atrium of sorts where live music scheduled several days a week.  There is also a museum, USS Adams Museum and a music venue of sorts, Mavericks.  No one will remember Shank Hall in Milwaukee, but I'd stop in there every so often to see bands.  Mavericks is almost like Shank.

The dock is lined with restaurants.  We tied up in front of  Fionn MacCool, an Irish pub.  But there is the ever present Hooters too.  And Chicago Pizza among others.  Oddly enough, there is also a huge food court on the second floor.  One cant starve here.

We needed to eat and despite our efforts aimed at eating on board  more often Mary, had spotted a 99 cent taco special at a Mexican place along the dock.  And so guess what we did?

After that we had to have a beer at the Irish place, Fionn MacCool's.  I, being "dull and unimaginative", consumed a Michelob Ultra while Mary had one of their many varieties of imported brews.  But in an unexplained,  sudden gush of imagination, I ordered an Irish Pretzel which was rather good.

An old tugboat had was pulling into the dock and I went to help with its lines.  It's a boat that is part of a program designed to help young men get away from a criminal lifestyle by learning to be maritime workers.  And they had a few tough characters on board who didn't have a clue about handling lines.  The tug itself was a single screw,old, old boat in pretty rough shape.  But the program is impressive.

There was a TV crew on the dock doing a bit on the tug and a plea for funds to keep it running.  As I found out the next morning, the thing began sinking before dawn and they had to scramble to find extra pumps to keep it from sinking at the dock.  Wish I had  a picture, sorry!

Looking down at our boat from the Main Street Bridge

After consuming food it was getting late so we walked across Main Street bridge to the other side and strolled the Jacksonville Riverwalk.  They really have done a great job downtown with this river walk and the buildings.  Really impressive.  Its clean, and heavily used with joggers, walkers, families and strollers all enjoying the vista.

Looking at the Landing from across the river

We returned to MacCools to eat.  Again.  This is all we do I fear.   Eat and drink.  We split a salad and had some lamb sliders which were really good.

We headed back to the boat and tried to decide whether or not to stay Friday night or leave and go up river.  Up river on the St. Johns River.  The St. Johns flows South to North, which is unusual as most rivers flow North to South.

Staying Friday night isn't conducive to a peaceful night since there is live music at MacCools until 1AM.  And a rap music concert at Mavericks that runs until 2AM.  The Landings is definitely a party place.

Leaving that decision until tomorrow Mary settled in with TV and I took another stroll along the river walk.  It;s really startling how stunning all the city light are along the river.  I ran into any number of people out strolling even at 9:30 PM.  

Bikers get to park right on the grounds

At Jacksonville Landing they had a rousing Allman Brothers type band playing to a host of bikers who were able to park their (mostly) Harley's around the inside of the large open atrium.  It was pretty fun.  Good people.

When I got back to the boat I noted MacCools had left there Irish jig music playing.  It went until  midnight.  But aside from some people loudly talking along the dock a few times, it was ok.

Next morning we decided to leave even though the winds were supposed to pickup overnight, blowing 20-30 MPH for a few hours.  But there was a nice big anchorage at Mandarin about 15 miles up stream from Jacksonville that looks to offer decent wind protection from the northeast.  So we'll go there.  We plan on leaving at slack water, about 1:30 PM and should arrive at Mandarin around 4.

Meanwhile, I made the coffee and then took a long River Walk, walk again.  On both sides of the river.  The weather was near perfect.  When I got back I helped a sailboat come in and tie up near us.  They are Australian and are over here cruising half the year before having to return to Australia for a short time before being allowed back in the States.   They're on their way to Cuba! We traded stories for half an hour before I headed back to the boat where Mary was up and drinking coffee.

While I was gone two smaller runabouts had docked.  One right in front of us and the other right behind us.  The guy behind us told me he commutes to work on his boat every few days to save the headache of driving on I-95 and fighting traffic.  His office is only a few blocks from the marina.

We were just tied up between the two boats on the dock.

We waited until slack water when the current wasn't running so fast, about 1:30PM.  With the two  boats next to us, stern and bow,  I  had to jostle our un-petite little monster up close to the boat in front of us before spinning it around by kicking our bow into the dock and backing out.

The infamous railroad bridge beyond the roadway bridge.  Its open at the moment.

Unfortunately, the Railroad bridge went into the closed position as we were pulling out from the dock so we had to circle around for 15 minutes waiting until the train passed.  The bridge is normally open unless a train is about to use the bridge.  Then it closes automatically and opens again once the train has passed.

We  took a slow comfortable cruise up the St. Johns (remember, the St. Johns river flows from South to North) to this big open anchorage on the east side of the river at Mandarin.  It was a beautiful day, with clam winds which picked up in the evening.

We drank a bottle of wine out on the bow and watched the helicopter pilots practice hovering over the water a mile or so away from where we were anchored.

We stayed here the next day.  Well anchored so just decided to ride out the 25-35 mph winds here rather than search for a different anchorage.  Mandarin offers pretty decent protection from the east and north east so we aren't rocking too badly.  Its just a relaxing day writing blog eateries and updating logs etc.

And this morning Mary wasn't feeling up to moving so we stayed put.  We did however, get a dock reservation at Ortega Landing Marina on the 24th for a week so we'll be able to have a Thanksgiving dinner there, like we did last year.

I fixed the dinghy vhf radio antenna and had to redo the battery brackets too.  I didn't notice but the repair guy didn't put on the cross brace to keep the battery secure.

Our calm, peaceful anchorage sporting an occasional dolphin or two, was just now assaulted by loud, unsavory comments directed at some football team I'm vaguely aware of.  I cant imagine why this just occurred?   Perhaps there is a disgruntled stock holder aboard?

Mandarin Anchorage

We anchored right in front of this large home

But tomorrow, we plan to be moving further south on the River, past Green Cove Springs (hey, we sort of live there!) to at least Palatka.  There are some anchorages close by which are creeks lined with sun bathing gators and all manner of critters, some slithering, some not.   In any case it should make for some good pictures.

Now we just need the weather to cooperate.