Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Frostbiting

Jim (Hobo II) and I got tired of sitting around Jacksonville Landing waiting (yet again) for my refrigerator thermostat and electronic control. We decided to take off for St. Augustine, a trip of about 46 nautical miles. The St. John's River runs north to the ICW, then we backtracked south. As a result we are actually closer to Green Cove Springs Marina via land then we were in downtown Jacksonville.

We departed before dawn in 24 F temperatures so that we could make it under the Main Street bridge before morning "bridge hours." (Bridge hours are when they will not open, figure that.) It was a sunny day and we had good tides and currents so all in all it would have been a beautiful run except for the cold. By the time we made it to St. Augustine at about 3 PM EST it had warmed up to a balmy 33 F. I was able to layer up so that my body was warm but my feet and hands were freezing the entire trip. XO of course remained burrowed in the sleeping bags the entire trip. But once we were at anchor he ran around on the deck for about 1/2 hour. I guess fur is a lot warmer than skin.

We passed a whole bunch of McMansions on the way down. I can't understand why people build multi-million-dollar homes on such small plots of land that they can hear their neighbors having sex. Some of the houses were quite beautiful and most were well maintained. Just about every one had a dock with some kind of speedboat. I laughed when we passed one dock with a boat with 4 large outboard motors. I guess he won the "mine is biggest" contest on the block.

Jim and I had a great pasta dinner on Reboot last night and I could tell that he was ready to move on. This morning he raised anchor and headed south.

The latest is that my parts have once again been located and they may arrive this Friday or next Monday. Of course the last time I heard this story they shipped the wrong part. I think it is true, Green Cove Springs Marina is like the Hotel California, you can check out but you can never leave.

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