Friday, April 15, 2011

Fernandina Beach FL

We made it into Fernandina Beach last night just as the tide changed.  Both Door Into Summer and I picked up a mooring ball for the night.  I of course dropped my $110 special mooring ball picker upper hook in the water.  It was the end of that kind of day.
We started out from St. Augustine early in the AM.  I tried to free Reboot from the mooring ball only to find that the lines were wrapped several times around the ball.  It took Ed and I about 20 minutes to get them unwrapped.  Then, over to the fuel dock  By now the current was ripping and after a whole bunch of warping Reboot around I finally got clear of the dock missing the cruise ship American Glory by about 10 feet. I had chosen to make a quick trip to the bathroom since I didn't think that Door into Summer would make the 7:30 Bridge of Lyons opening.  Of course they did.  I didn't.  Then I found out that the next opening was at 8:30 vice 8:00 so I had 55 minutes to putz around waiting for the bridge. At this point Ed called and said that they were having alternator problems and were planning on returning to the dock.  I decided that I would just head on up to Fernandina Beach and meet them there.  However they got things sorted out enough so that we both came up here.  There was absolutely no wind so we motored the entire way - well, almost.  In the last 5 miles the wind came up to about 20 knots to make sure our entrance into the channel was a challenge.
We got both boats tied up on balls and then I took XO over to play with Stormy while we had dinner.  After dinner we decided to bar hop downtown including going to the oldest bar in Florida.  Feel free to skip it.
This morning Door into Summer's charing problem came back.  In addition, the leech of my jib has several small rips.  With the forecast for the next couple of days including thunderstorms I expect we will be staying here for the weekend.
As we passed the St. John's river we did get to see two US Navy ships coming out of the Mayport Navy Station.  I always enjoy "haze grey and underway."  We of course thanked them both for their service on the VHF radio.

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