November 21-22 Ortega Landing Marina

We heard back from Ortega Landing Marina and have a reservation for at least 3 days and we'll try an extend that to a week while I fight the battery and fuel problems.  The marina is located on the Ortega river in Ortega which is a suburb of Jacksonville.

It's only a 22 mile trip to the marina from here (Hallowes Cove) so it was a leisurely morning.  We didn't start hauling up the anchor until 9 figuring on getting in near slack water on the Ortega River.  The current isn't too swift there normally but less current makes docking easier.

We followed the deep (7 feet) tongue of water out of the anchorage.  The charts were accurate I guess because we never saw less than 7 feet even though the area around was charted at 5 feet which we can handle.  Barley.

Out on the river the swells had died down and it was as pleasant journey.  We were contacted on the radio by a Nordic Tug heading south.  They were asking for information so I passed along what we discovered about anchorages and Palatka.  I even gave them Rodney, the Palatka taxi guy's phone number.

We've been in and out of the Ortega River a dozen times now and have tracks of all those trips but I  still forget the small section of the route that is quite shallow.   Always gives me a jump when I see the depth sounder creeping down to 5 1/2 feet.

We called the Ortega River Bridge for an opening and they complied immediately.  This bridge is supposed to be the busiest opening bridge in Florida.

The marina on the right as seen from the Ortega River Bridge

The marina is right after the bridge and we saw Joe, the dock hand at the end of A dock.  Slip 14 is right off the river and since I didn't want the stern of the boat facing west because the sun heats up the cabin too much, I pulled in bow first.  We were tied up in a few minutes.  Our neighbor is the excursion boat, Foxy Lady.  I assume its just staying here in the off season.

Tied up on A dock in slip 14

The downside to bowing in was eliminating the possibility of getting out dinghy down unless we man -handle the boat around in the slip.  Jacksonville Landing is only 5 miles down river, an easy run in the dinghy.  And there are "doings" there leading up the Holiday.

We went to pay for the slip and do laundry (free!) but Joe told us to wait until Monday for Bruce the dock master, who would decide where we could stay through the holiday.

While Mary did laundry and lounged by the pool, I fiddled with the dock lines and walked the docks in search of people we've met along the way and sure enough, Jim and Rhonda from Brunswick were hear visiting some friends.  Small world.

After laundry we walked to Publix in Roosevelt Square (mall) for a few staples and then decided, after we returned to the boat, to just go back to the Square and eat at Panera.

Back on the boat we fired up our new digital TV antenna and were dismayed to only get 7 channels.  Shopping and church seem to be popular for broadcasters.  So we decided to finish off season 4 of West Wing.

It was misting when we went to bed and when I woke up the next morning there was light rain and it was in the mid 60's.  I turned off  the AC units and readied the heaters.

Walking to breakfast

We walked to the Metro Diner located in the same mall area as Publix and Panera.  It was 10 AM which seems to be the most popular breakfast hour.  The waiting line spilled outside.  We had to wait about 30 minutes so I made a quick visit to West Marine a few stores down to purchase a suitable clamp to replace the spare clamp I put in the port exhaust hose earlier.

Crowded Metro Diner

We ate and then headed back to the boat where I finally solved the TV problem.  The antenna is equipped with a signal amplifier which I assumed was a typical low power type.  Not so.  I had it set pretty high and the TV couldn't deal with the strong signal.  Once I dialed it way down, we had 33 channels of digital TV, most of it in HD.

And only abut a quarter of them were shopping or church channels.  The Packer game, which of course is why Mary insisted I fix the thing immediately, was being carried on a local channel which we were able to receive.

Bob.  The baron of  barricades here in Ortega?

We walked back to Publix for chili fixings and then Mary made chili and watched the game while I went out on my favorite walking route across the river and back.  Its a pleasant, 4 mile walk.  Seems pretty much as it was the last time I strolled through here.

McGrits avenue on the other side of the river.  Nice place to walk

Ortega River Club.  Yes, that is blue Rolls.  No, I was not allowed in.

I did notice the Ortega Yacht Club where we stayed in April of 2013,  has seemingly changed its name.  Its now the Ortega River Marina according to the sign on their parking lot.  This is another option for us if we get booted out of Ortega Landing Marina.

Ortega Yacht Club in front and Ortega Landing Marina further in the distance. 

The Packers won.  And I was able to find a local mechanic here with a good reputation so I gave him a call to see if he can diagnose this fuel problem.

Tomorrow will be busy as we figure out how long we will be here, schedule a car to drive back to Wisconsin, and get this vexing fuel problem hopefully repaired.  I'm going to equalize the batteries tomorrow too and see how much that will help.

Did I mention the high is supposed to be 58 degrees tomorrow?