Trip Diary for March, 2007

Thursday, Mar. 1: We cast off Acosta Creek Harbor Marina at 9:20 AM with a destination of the Outback Crab Shack's huge dock (no facilities). It offered free overnight dockage if you eat a meal. Our first stop was 18 mi. downstream at Palatka's Gator Landing for it's Mexican buffet lunch. Then on to the Outback Crab Shack dock about 3/4 mi. up Six Mile Creek. The creek discharges along the east bank of the St. Johns just south of Green Cove Springs.  Creek entrance depths were dicey, but the creek itself has good 10-15 ft. depths for several miles.  It was a mostly cloudy day with occasional light rain, but temperatures still reached 76 and we completed the 48 mi. by 4 PM.  About 6 PM we decided to make a quick dinghy excursion up Six Mile Creek.  We only made 2 mi. before darkening conditions caused us to turn back.  The creek banks were native vegetation and beautiful, but dim light made spotting wildlife difficult.  We returned to generous seafood dinners at Outback's Crab Shack. This huge restaurant seats up to 300 and, during peak season, serves 12,000 meals a week.

Mar. 2-4; Orange Park, FL: On a cloudy, rainy Friday morning we cast off at 9:35 AM for the 19 mi. trip to Doctors Lake Marina in Orange Park.  The inverter failed to restart after we had turned it off to use the genny last evening; thus, no 110 v. power was available during the cruise.  10-20 mph NNW winds produced 1-2 ft. waves on much of the widening (1-2 mi.) reaches of the St. Johns River.  With Sandy and Klaus' car available upon docking, after sandwiches aboard, we drove into Jacksonville to allow Sandy to shop for Fresh Produce clothing. Returning, we stopped at Roosevelt Square mall near Ortega Yacht Club for Lola's periodic nail refurbishing and dinner at Panera Bread.  After breakfast and showers Saturday morning, we left in intermittent rain for St. Augustine via Jacksonville's St. Johns Town Center in search of specific Fresh Produce clothing not found yesterday and for lunch at its Cheesecake Factory.  In St. Augustine, Larry and Klaus visited the Castillo de San Marco and watched the cannon firing while Lola and Sandy shopped.  We rejoined to watch reenactment of the1600's pirate sacking of St. Augustine that prompted Spain to build Castillo de San Marco before fortifying ourselves with Kilwin's ice cream for the drive back to Doctors Lake Marina.  A wonderful week with Sandy and Klaus ended Sunday as they departed for IN at 7:50 AM.  On the way, they dropped us by Orange Park UMC for its early service.  We then went next-door to Mister Donut for breakfast before walking 2 mi. back to the marina.  It was then time for Larry to start updating the web diary while Lola brought financial records up-to-date.  Weather was now sunny, but cooler (64 degree high) with 15-25 mph winds that kicked up a 1-2 chop on Doctors Lake and caused uncomfortable rocking until evening.  After lunch aboard, it was laundry and boat projects in preparation for our return to St. Simons Island.  On the way to the laundry, Lola met Bob and Lynn Williamson, fellow loopers from St. Louis aboard Legrace, a beautiful 2004 Aquanaut Drifter 1250, docked about 4 slips from us.  She invited them to come aboard around 6:30 PM to share cruising experiences.

Monday, Mar. 5: With 57 mi. to cover, we left Doctors Lake Marina before 9 AM in clear, cool (44 degree) weather with 10-20 mph NNW winds.  There was a 2 ft. chop on the wide St. Johns, but we were heading directly into them until reaching the protection of Jacksonville's shoreline when we headed east; Jacksonville's skyline was beautiful. We had only a 10 min. wait for the Florida East Coast Railroad bridge in Jacksonville, one of 12 bridges we would pass today.  The St. Johns major tide current began helping by the time we reached the eastern edge of the city.  It was ice to again see dolphins along the boat as we returned to full salt water. We reached Fernandina Harbor Marina by 3:40.  This enabled a leisurely 6 PM dinner at the nearby Marina Restaurant.

Tuesday, Mar. 6: A bit warmer (high 68), but still a bit windy, we left at 9:20 for our 42 mi. return to Golden Isles Marina for a month's dockage.  It was a delightful cruise except for 1/4 mi. of very shallow ICW water north of Jekyll Harbor Marina and about 15 min. of 2 ft. beam seas in St. Simons Sound.  Docking at 2:40, we refueled (218 gal. for the 512 mi. side trip to/from Sanford, FL), washed down the salt and waited for the tide current to change before moving from the face dock to a slip.  To celebrate the great month of cruising with friends and family, we went to Gnat's Landing for dinner before Lola began a backlog of ironing.

Mar. 7-31; Golden Isles Marina, St. Simons, GA: Wednesday was a day to sleep in, work on minor boat maintenance and finish ironing; weather was perfect (high 75).  By Thursday it was necessary to clean the Lola Marie's interior and restock groceries.  Friday and Saturday were devoted to serious boat maintenance including fixing a manufacturer's wiring defect.  Larry had long complained about the ineffective defrosters.  When Klaus heard and saw their non-performance, he suggested they might be wired in a reverse polarity, thus, causing the fans to run backwards.  This turned out to be a correct diagnosis that's now corrected.  A second major task was cleaning three air conditioner drains, one of which was totally plugged, resulting in a wet clothing closet while on the St. Johns.  After Sunday services at St. Simons UMC and our routine of brunch at Cafe Frederica, we returned items that didn't into yesterday's boat projects before returning to watch the Big Ten basketball final and finish loose ends of maintenance.

Water miles traveled to date: 6872; this month: 167.

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