November 9, 2016-Jacksonville to St. Augustine

November 9, 2016

9:00am- Left Jacksonville.  First day of rain in 30 days and it has to be in Florida.

Just when you think you have seen it all. Someone has a green thumb.

 

9:50am- At the interception of Pablo and Cabbage Creek, there was a strong current which took us by surprise at mile 750.

The Palm Valley cut from ICW mile 747 to 759 was an interesting stretch. There were high end homes mixed in with homes that were ready to fall apart.

10:45am- Going under the Palm Valley Bridge at mile 758.8.

The Tolomato River -ICW mile 760 to mile 776 flows south to meet the Matanzas River at the St. Augustine inlet. No homes in this area.  Lots of birds.

11:30am-  We had a good laugh.  We overheard on the radio a US boater as he was passing a Canadian boater state:" Just so you know, I had nothing to do with Donald Trump".

Wonder why they call this Pine Island.  Looks like a lot of Pine needles are missing.

Between 11:30 and 12:30-  We would go  by flocks of white Pelicans.  Steve was saying you only see them in the rivers.  Very big bird. 

12:45pm- About one mile south of the Guana River on the west side, we passed a small airport which led us to the Usina Bridge (Vilano Beach) at mile 775.8.

 

1:15pm- Looks like the Augustine Marina is closed.  All their docks are missing however the St Augustine Municipal marina is opened.  Going by the lighthouse at St Augustine.

We just made the 1:30 Bridge of Lions opening.

 

Covering Matanzas to Ormond Beach - ICW mile 780 to mile 825 section, we went under the State Route 312 Twin Bridge.  

At mile 788, we needed to request the Crescent Beach, Bascule Bridge to open. They always request the name of your boat and your home port.  Guess they want this for their record.

We just can't believe how all the docks have been damaged by the hurricane.  There will be a lot of job available to repair them. 

2:00pm- At mile 792.2, there was a challenging area at red day beacon 80.  We had to careful follow the channel so that we didn't run aground. The markers helped us through it.

4:00pm- Arrived at Marineland marina in St. Augustine for the night.  What an adventure docking.  We had to bring the boat into a fixed slip with a 23 ft. pier with piling to tie to and strong cross currents. The dock master did not know what he was doing and Steve had to take charge and got it under control.  The head dock master said he was new to the job and apologized.

5:00pm- Went for a walk to the beach.  You can tell the hurricane damaged the beach.  We walked by Marineland and  University of Florida. 

 

 



 

 

Funny how back home with have to deal with mounds of snow during a storm while here in Florida they deal with mounds of sand.