Finally Page 6
It's Thursday, 4 November and I'm really in Florida. Jacksonville on the St. Johns River. But before Jacksonville there were numerous other adventures.
This will remind anyone who saw or worked on....Lion King's opening scene.
After awakening from a wonderfully quiet night's sleep at an anchorage, this view greeted me. It was well worth the trouble it takes to anchor a boat singlehandedly.
Brunswick, GA is way up the Brunswick River, under the Lanier Bridge, about a two hour run. Since I was a little ahead of schedule, I stayed for two nights and was able to really enjoy the town.
Brunswick Landing Marina is right in the heart of the Downtown Historic District and within an easy walk of many highlights.
By far, my favorite bar, restaurant, club has to be Ken McCord's Twocan Cafe. He's a jazz buff and has a combo playing most weekends. The day before I arrived was the second of two night's appearances by Maria Howell and her trio. Ken was playing her CD when I came in for lunch, and I stayed till it was finished, wishing I had come a day earlier. Oh yes, the food was superb.
McGarvey's Wee Pub was unusual, to say the least. Who ever would put an Irish Pub on the fourth floor of a commercail building? Well, there you have it. Note the "OPEN" sign and the bottles in the window. Tasty burgers and my very first boiled peanuts.
One last photo of Brunswick... Newcastle, the main historic street. Remove the autos and you have any town USA in the early 1900's.
Unfortunately, I had a very long run from Brunswick, GA to Fernandina Beach, FL on Tuesday 2 November. Just too tired to even think about taking the camera out. I did make it into the first block of another Historic District and had a brew and really good Pizza at the Castle, billed as the oldest continuosly serving saloon in Florida. Apparently this included prohibition somehow.
Wednesday's run was only 25 miles, so I made it to Mayport Marine/Jacksonville Marina on the St. Johns River by around 2:00 pm.
Met an interesting group of people on the Jersey 40 FBSF who were on their way to one of my favorite places - Eleuthera in the Bahamas.
Tim was happy to pose with his sister-in-law Laurie in front of his boat called "My Marie"
They invited me aboard for a visit and I caught this pic of Tim in the Saloon.
There were a couple of Florida Geological Survey geologists working on this boat taking core samples from the ocean. They are looking for places to mine sand to replace all that was lost to this season's hurricanes. Their experience helps them pick likely spots and when one is found, much further research is carried out before any sand is removed.
The trip up the St. Johns to Jacksonville was the longest river run to date. Almost 20 miles and even though I waited for the flood tide, the wind had different ideas. It was so strong that it actually slowed the tidal flow. It took about 5 hours to get to downtown Jacksonville.
This drydock was one of the first sights that caught my eye. The dock is partially flooded, the ship is brought in and divers place blocks to hold it up, then the water is withdrawn.
If you've ever wondered how those containers are loaded or off loaded, here's your answer. These huge cranes are in an upright position as the ship is docked. Then they are lowered to the horizontal. The traveling unit grabs a couple of containers and lifts them off.
In this first picture, you can just see the place where the cranes fold in the one to the far right. If you follow the right side of the loaded cargo you might be able to discern the vertical black line in the girder.
The point where the third cable loop touches the girder is the fold mark.
Here's my first view of jacksonville and I'm still over 5 miles away.
Finally rounded the last bend in the river and Jacksonville is laid out before me.
More on Jacksonville on the next page.
Go to page seven
