Murphy

Leaving Jacksonville behind, we passed Maxwell House, which we could smell every day

This is Jacksonville Landing, downtown in the background, and the Irish Pub to the far right

Eight forty five Friday morning we untied from Metropolitan Park with the help of "SaSea Sally", whom we met in Marathon.  At ten o'clock we stopped at Lambs Yacht Center for fuel and pump out.  This is our first fill up since Fort Myers Beach back in December.  I thought this was where we had boat work done back in 2009, but once we pulled into the Ortega River neither one of us recognized anything.  I guess that boat work was done in Doctors Lake like Ray thought.  Forty minutes later we were headed back out of Ortega River, but had to wait for a train at the railroad bridge this time.
Four hours later we dropped anchor in Palmo Cove.  We decided not to try the Outback Crab Shack.  Maybe on the way back.  It is hard to believe that its address is St. Augustine.  We can't be going in circles.
Saturday morning we departed just a bit earlier than yesterday.  We had to bypass Palatka this time.  They were having a bass tournament and had the city docks blocked off for them.  They were supposed to be done at 3:00 p.m., but we were too early.  We took a look at Corky Bell's Seafood restaurant at Gator Landing, but it looked a little more upscale than we were expecting.  We continued south.  You could tell it was getting closer to 3:00 p.m. when bass boats were racing towards Palatka coming out of every nook and cranny you could see and couldn't see.
We turned up Dunns Creek, then off into Murphy Creek that wound around Murphy Island.  It did not take long to spot alligators.  The first one was sunning itself on a fallen tree.  We continued about a third of the way up where we found a nice wide spot with shallow water.  Perfect for anchoring, especially compared to some of the very deep spots there were in some of the turns.
We laughed because one of the comments we read about this anchorage said it was boring.  We like boring.  Nothing can happen if it is boring.  We were not bored though.  We spotted our second alligator of the day swimming across the creek mid afternoon.  There were various fishing and ski boats going by periodically, then later in the evening a group of several canoes came by.  Each of the sporadic groups was funny in their own way.  It seemed to be a group of boys with a few adult males.  They mentioned camp, but we never figured out where that was.  Probably on the main river, which we bypassed by going this way.  Anyway, the first group asked if they were half way yet.  The second group hollered "Hello fellow seafarers!" in unison.  We overheard the third group say "I think this is a lot farther than my dad thought it was."  The straggling group was having a tough time staying motivated.  Once they got going again one of the boys was singing a funny repetitive type song.  We hope they made it back to camp safe before dark.  We spotted a couple more alligators just before nightfall.
It was such a still and peaceful anchorage.  Not a sound to be heard besides the wildlife.  I was sleeping perfectly well when Ray asked be at about 5:00 a.m. if I heard that noise.  In my grogginess I asked him if it was the sound like distant thunder.  After coming awake some more I realized there was not a chance of rain any where around.  He informed me that it sounded like something more prehistoric as he got up to investigate.  I asked then if he thought it was a dinosaur, being funny.  He replied more seriously, "No, more like a dragon."  I got so tickled at the idea that he woke me up at 5:00 a.m. to tell me he heard a dragon?!  After settling back in bed, it did happen a few minutes later.  He was right, it did sound like what you would imagine to be a dragon breathing.  I assumed it had to be an alligator, but it did sound like it must have been close enough to hear it breathe.  He got up again and tried shining them, but only spotted one in which he said was far behind the boat.  Getting back to sleep took a little bit, but once we did, we didn't wake up again until late in the morning for us.  We couldn't believe not a single boat had gone by yet.  We made breakfast first, and then just as we turned off the generator we heard that sound again.  Still a mystery, we made jokes all day as to what it might have been.
We finally got underway this morning just before 10:00 a.m. with all of our exciting delays, including two more alligators spotted before we pulled up anchor.  We continued around Murphy Island via Murphy Creek, seeing several more alligators.  They continued to be noticed throughout most of the day.
Once we reached Lake George, I believe the second or third largest lake in Florida, we turned more westerly and headed for Salt Cove.  We anchored near the mouth of Salt Creek just before 3:00 p.m.  We almost immediately got the dinghy down and headed up the creek four miles to the head at Salt Springs.  I thought I had been to every spring in and around central Florida, but could not remember this one until we got there.  It seems I was here as a child possibly with a church group or something.  Anyway, the spring water was so beautifully clear compared to the tannin water we have seen for a while now.  We had mentioned wearing bathing suits before we left, but thought the water would be too cold.  Once we were there we wished we would have done that and brought an anchor.  Some boats were anchored in less than waist deep water.  We got our entertainment instead though by watching people get their boats back on their trailers at the boat ramp.  We purposely sat there for a little while just to laugh.

The spring water, probably at least twenty feet deep here.

Two bald eagles in trees above the fishermen spotted on our way out.

When we returned to "The Second Noelle" at about 6:00 p.m. Lake George was a little rougher than when we anchored with the east winds increasing, so we moved about a mile and a half back to the west side of Drayton Island near Kinsley Point for calmer water, although the winds are predicted to decrease throughout the night.  It has been nice so far in the evenings though having enough breeze to keep bugs away and perfectly cool temperatures for sleeping.

Jacksonville

Sunsets are beautiful even with industry in the foreground~from Sisters Creek looking towards Jacksonville 

We untied from the free dock at Sisters Creek early on Tuesday morning in hopes that we would catch the incoming tide to Jacksonville.  It worked.  We were doing over nine miles an hour at some points.  We had an uneventful 18 mile ride, passing only one outgoing steam ship, then docked in slip C1 at Metropolitan Park.  We chose these free docks because they are out of the current of the St. Johns River much more than the ones at Jacksonville Landing.  We are near the sports complexes, and found it to be an easy bike ride to Jacksonville Landing.
First though we had to contend with the kiosks here. Jacksonville has all of these wonderful free docks. This particular one has the added bonus of giving you access to power.  All you have to do is go to the kiosk, punch in your slip number, decide whether you want power for 24, 48, or 72 hours, and swipe your credit card to pay $8.56 per 24 hours.  Easier said than done. After several attempts and the third kiosk, we finally got it.
With power now, we made a nice brunch for ourselves since we skipped eating so early before departure.  After that it was off to explore.  We had been to Jacksonville Landing five years ago, but wanted to see what was new.  We found a couple museums there where we made some purchases, one being the maritime museum that we did visit when it was across the river on our last trip, got some information from the visitors center, and cooled off with a beverage at Chicago Pizza.
We returned to the boat so we would not have to carry our purchases around and planned our itinerary for the next couple of days.  Once that was decided we headed back to Jacksonville Landing for dinner at the Irish Pub. We got some more insight on the area from the bartender and both enjoyed our delicious meals.
Wednesday morning we had a nice big breakfast on board, then got some chores done including a load of laundry, amongst other things.  By the time all of that was done, we headed over to the baseball grounds to catch a minor league game.  The early afternoon game afforded a businessmans special in which we got a hot dog and drink with our admission ticket.  It was perfect weather and a very enjoyable time even though the local team lost in the ninth inning.  It did make for an exciting game with the lead going back and forth throughout.
A never tried before recipe in the Crock Pot that was prepared before we left, made for a wonderful dinner all ready for us when we returned. We programmed the TV and of course didn't find much worth watching, so we popped in a movie.  Just reaffirms for us that we do not miss watching it.
Today was a rainy day but perfect for getting those chores done that you keep putting off.  With the boat all clean, bookkeeping done, storms moved through and cooler temperatures behind them, we are ready to head south in the morning.  Our delivery job keeps getting pushed back as it is sitting in a repair yard, so we now plan to get to Sanford, Florida, then make decisions from there.  The plans are to return to Murphy and Chattanooga via car, do family visiting in Orlando, and hopefully leave the boat there to make that delivery, we just don't know what order those things will be done yet. Stay tuned.

Mellow

We took our time leaving Palm Harbor Marina Friday morning after doing one last load of laundry and wanting to catch the tidal current. We only had 25 miles to go, and never in any hurry.  We started out in the south mooring field at St. Augustine on number 31 right next to Bill and Patty on "Conched Out Too".  It didn't take long to realize the south mooring field did not offer any south wind protection, which was predicted through the entire weekend.
We headed to shore via dinghy to go check in.  The tide had already turned around and made the south mooring field even choppier.  Kind of felt like we were in Dinner Key again. On our way to shore we realized "Tides In" was there in the south mooring field also.  We said our hello's and agreed to meet up for the great happy hour Steve discovered.
By the time the rest of the gang got to shore we had checked in, but then noticed how calm the north mooring field was in comparison.  It was blocked more from the winds by the Lions Bridge.  We decided to ask to move.  We were able to, but "Conched Out Too" was not because of their deeper draft.  So we told the rest of them we would catch up with them at happy hour after we moved the boat to mooring ball 23 in the north field.
We found our way to Pizza Alley without any problem.  Finding the gang in the restaurant was another story.  Understood why it was called Pizza Alley.  It literally went for an entire city block. The drinks were two for one and you got a free slice of cheese pizza during happy hour.  The two of us had two beers each and a slice of pizza each for $8.00! Cheapest happy hour for us ever!
Pam and Steve from "Tides In" are responsible and headed back to the boat.  The other four of us found the next bar with neat character and a great old blues singer named "Downtown Charlie Brown", but not very many people and kind of expensive beers, especially compared to the last place.  After a couple we moved on, though hated to leave the music.  We figured we better have dinner so we went to A1A Brewing Company, where we have been several times and is associated with one of our favorites in Chattanooga.  Dinner was great and got a free slice of key lime cheesecake thanks to that Gordon Biersch reward card. Had that on there for years. Finally found a dessert I wanted.  I was nice enough to share though.
Saturday morning we got all four of our bicycles to shore.  Patty came with us to pedal to the grocery store.  Bill went to a boating store that closed at noon to get a part he thinks he needs to fix his dinghy, although it has not acted up recently. Once we got back and got the groceries put away, restocking the new refrigerator, we grabbed some lunch on board. The afternoon was spent meandering town, including a stop at a bicycle shop that was a dealer for the electric bikes we want to get like Bill and Patty's.  They didn't have exactly what we wanted, but we need to order them as soon as we are stopped long enough somewhere.  Spokes are continually breaking on our current bikes so much that the wheels are wharping.  We are waiting for them to just collapse one of these times we are riding them.
Bill and Patty left to go to "Tides In" for happy hour.  We opted to bike across the Lions Bridge to a Mellow Mushroom we have never been to.  Out of habit we just sat down and ordered cheese bread without looking at the menu.  Once we did open the menu we found that this location had a unique appetizer that we would have tried instead. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. We did have a unique pizza that included Boar's Head pepperoni, our favorite brand of deli meat. It was good.
Once we returned to the other side of the bridge we could hear some good live folk rock music, so we enjoyed listening to that for a while before returning to the boat.

"The Second Noelle" in the north mooring field taken through a window at the Irish Pub.

Sunday morning we toured the replica Spanish Galleon ships docked at the city marina here, one being the Nao Victoria, which was the first ship to sail around the world, and the El Galeon commemorating St. Augustines 450th anniversary. After that Bill and Patty joined us to wander town again, starting with a good recommended lunch at the Spanish Bakery.  Probably our cheapest lunch out in a long time. Always good to go with recommendations.  By evening we headed over the bridge again to Mellow Mushroom to enjoy those Drunken Funguys.  We ended up making dinner out of two orders of those.
By the time Ray got all bicycles back on their respective boats and the dinghy raised it was after 9:00 a.m. by time we departed this morning.  An uneventful day except for the sad good byes said to Bill and Patty.  They should just be see you laters, though we don't know when or where we will catch them again. Stay tuned.
By the time we finally got the current with us, we thought it would push us more than it did "up" the St. Johns River.  You see, it flows north, so although we would be going south, it would be up river.  Since we weren't getting that push we expected, we opted to cross the St. Johns River and go just slightly out of our way to a free dock at Sisters Creek that someone just told us about at Palm Harbor Marina.  We were the only one's here until "Together" pulled in with Mitch and Mary on board.  We were glad to help grab their lines in this ripping current.  Of course you cannot complain when it is free, but they could use some more cleats.
Tomorrow's plan is to travel up the St. Johns River to downtown Jacksonville and take advantage of more free docks until we find out when and if we might be getting a boat delivery job from Marathon, Florida to Brunswick, Georgia.  Once we know when we will be renting a car back to Marathon we will pull into a marina to leave the boat for about a week.  Again, stay tuned.

Cool!

We decided to leave the New Smyrna Beach anchorage early so we could get to Palm Harbor Marina and start getting prepared for our refrigerator swap.  It was a pleasant day of travel with lots of wildlife including dolphin, some manatee herds as large as seven, and even an alligator.  It didn't help much by leaving early as the tide was ripping against us all morning.  We got to Palm Harbor Maina at about 2:00 p.m.  They put us on the face dock, which was not our preference, but after looking at the narrow piers in the slips, there was no sence in wrestling refrigerators in those conditions, plus down a step.
The refrigerator prepping never did happen on Wednesday, but some much needed laundry got done while we had access to water.  We also determined that it takes about 24 gallons of water to do a large load.
Bill and Patty pulled in behind us about an hour later although they left New Smyrna Beach three hours after we did.  They have good friends from way back that now live in Palm Harbor.  They came over once Sue got off work, her own quilt shop.  We had a little happy hour on "Conched Out Too", then half of us walked and half of them rode over to the European Village.  This was a great concept of a complex.  It was in a triangular shape with access to establishments from inside the triangle at ground level, then two stories of condominiums on top of that with balconies overlooking the atrium.  In the center of the atrium was a stage/pavillion in which there was live music playing.  We had a choice of most restaurant cuisines you could want, but decided on the Irish Pub.  Once we were done eating, Tom and Sue drove home, while the rest of us walked the rest of the village, then back to the marina.
Thursday started with immediate tracking of our new refrigerator.  It was being shipped by Southeastern Freight Lines, whom we were familiar with through ours and family careers in Orlando.  Once we saw that it left Jacksonville, we figured we had plenty of time to get other chores done before its arrival. All four of us rode our bicycles about two and a half miles to find the things we needed; a notary, UPS, groceries and batteries. When we were done with everything except getting some batteries from Walgreens, and had decided not to get any parishable items at the grocery store because we were going to ride some other bike paths, the truck driver called to say he was at the marina and needed a signature.  Thankfully Debbie, the dockmaster, said she would sign for it and the driver said he would bring it right down to the boat.  How awesome!  So a quick battery run to get our Spot tracker to work again and we headed back to the marina.
Sure enough, the refrigerator was sitting right next to the boat. We gobbled down some lunch and got to work on the swap. Once we took the cabin entry door off to make them fit, Bill and one of the dock hands were gracious enough to help once it was time to heave them in and out and back and forth over the rail.  Tom was so hospitable in taking our old refrigerator to dispose of it too. Of course although it was the same model refrigerator, this new version was slightly different, but we made everything work out ok.
Once we got everything buttoned up we had time to go ride those bike trails before our dinner engagement at Tom and Sue's house.  We probably didn't do a quarter of the bike paths that must wander all over this town according to the signs.  If ever you find yourself in Palm Coast, I would recommend them.
Sue picked the four of us up after work and our dinner party of just the six of us was such a hoot.  We do a lot of laughing, but between the people and the dogs I don't remember laughing so hard in quite a while.  Thank you Tom and Sue for the fabulously funny time.  For everyone's safety, we took a cab back to the marina.

Boring!?

We released from mooring ball 51 at Vero Beach on Sunday after spending Saturday afternoon watching it rain from Waldo's Driftwood Inn on the beach.  We got a later start after doing some laundry before departure.  It did not take long to dry once we got in the north wind on the ICW.  Didn't realize it was that windy being so protected in the mooring field.
We traveled 38 miles to Canova Beach near Melbourne.  By time we dropped anchor at 5:30 p.m., we just stayed on board and enjoyed a nice evening as the winds calmed.

Conched Out Too passing us of course

At eight o'clock on Monday morning we lifted anchor to travel another 38 miles to Titusville.  About five miles before our destination we were hailed on the radio by "Orion", a trawler we met in Goodland, Florida several years ago.  They wanted us to stop by them, but we were on a mission and had planned to pick up a mooring ball in Titusville along with "Conched Out Too".

Our mission was to figure out what we were going to do because we discovered that our refrigerator/freezer died.

We checked in at the Municipal Marina office via "Conch Fritter", Bill and Patty's dinghy and got some ice to hold us over on refrigeration.  We decided to order a new refrigerator/freezer and have it delivered to Palm Coast Marina, two days ahead. Once that decision was made, we dinghied back to the marina in seperate dinghies since "Conch Fritter" is being tempermental about starting.  From there we walked to historical downtown. Every restaurant on Washington Avenue was closed on Mondays of course.  So walked back to the marina and dinghied over to Cracker Jacks under the bridge.  We could have walked but it was shorter to just walk to the dinghies instead.  Cheap drinks, but service was minimal so we had a couple then went back to our respective boats to eat.  Besides we've got to use up this food on board now.  After dinner we dinghied over to "Conched Out Too" for more laughs and stayed way later than we realized.  In that time we all agreed Titusville was too boring to stay another night.
We untied from mooring ball one in Titusville after breakfast at 8:45.  There were tremendous amounts of manatee and dolphin observed during our travel today and even after we were anchored.  We were going to anchor near Ponce Inlet between New Smyrna Beach and Daytona Beach but found the anchorage a little crowded and not sure of its' depths.  One of the boats in there though was "Tides In", whom Bill and Patty know very well.  We backtracked toward New Smyrna Beach and found another anchorage.
Once we knew we were secure we decided to dinghy around the immediate area while Bill and Patty took theirs to go visit their friends.  We went up into the mangroves for a good ways then turned around.  Right after that we ran aground and sheered the pin off the prop.  Of course we didn't bring the repair kit this time.  We had phones and oars.  Again in our typical fashion, we had not mounted the oar locks we bought back in Hollywood though.  We were paddling against the wind and current and not making much headway.  Thankfully Bill and Patty finally returned our call and saved us from ourselves.

Spike hanging out waiting for sunset

You can't make this stuff up

Hell Gate was not hell at all like we feared with the name. Hell Gate ended up being an excellent anchorage.  We shall not fear Hell Gate because we will never stand at that gate.  We left there again at our typical time of 8:45 a.m.  We traveled 22 miles north to Jensen Beach to anchor on the north side of the bridge to get wind protection from these persistent south winds.  It took us a little over three hours, but were anchored for lunch.  Just after lunch Cindy from sailing vessel "Gabrielle", whom we met in Marathon, picked Linda up at the boat ramp to take her to the grocery store.  Cindy and her husband Jeff live in Jensen Beach.
While Linda was gone to the grocery store, Uncle Al arrived at the boat ramp, who once again lives in Ft. Pierce.  We all had a good visit once we were all aboard again.
We expected to have some join us for dinner ashore, but we ended up alone to check out Conchy Joes.  It was a great atmosphere with a nice happy hour menu.  After sampling four different things we decided we should have just continued our first choice of the fish dip.
Watch out now, we left Jensen Beach almost an hour earlier than our normal departure time has been.  We wanted to get to Harbortown Marina, where we are paying a premium price for dockage according to our standards, and get our monies worth. We arrived well before lunch to the welcoming faces of Patty and Bill whom we haven't seen for about three weeks since leaving Marathon.  That gave us enough time to wash the boat before we went on a group lunch outing with all of the couples mentioned above.
Dinner was enjoyed at the marina after the added reunion of "Jeremiah" and "Nauti Nell" catching up to us once again.  It was like old home week.
We spent enough for one night's dockage.  We could spend less than that for four nights on a mooring ball at Vero Beach, just 15 miles north.  So that's where we headed after saying goodbye's and see you laters to those left behind, excluding Bill & Patty. They untied shortly after we did, and arrived soon after to grab a mooring ball two away.
The afternoon was spent dinghying around, watching the rain, not wandering too far.  We found a bar with happy hour just back south under the bridge.  I know that is hard to believe, but we pulled in.  After the first round, Linda dinghied back to "The Second Noelle" to close the windows.  Happy hour went way beyond, but we were impressed with the good food.
On our way back, almost to our boats, we thought we could hear someone hollering for help amongst our laughter.  Another sailboat then hollered to us that someone was hollering for help. We could see a dinghy, but did not realize it was not attached to a boat in the darkness and our drunkeness.  We soon realized there was a person attached to that dinghy hollering for help. Once we reached her dinghy after reassuring her that we were coming, we realized she jumped in after it when it broke away from their boat, but the current was so strong, she could not get in it or swim it back to their boat which was on the mooring ball between us and Bill and Patty.
Now call this divine intervention or what you will, but lets put all these scenarios into play.  We did not plan on being out so late. We were going to eat in, but the rain dictated otherwise.  The boat they are on is from Erie, Pennsylvania, where Ray was born.  In talking to her as we towed her back to her boat-mind you, she is still in the water because all of us were not sure we could haul her aboard a dinghy, keeping her calm and mind preoccupied, she mentioned their time in Oriental, North Carolina, where we own a boat slip.  You cannot tell me that all of that was coincidence.