Early arrival
08 April 2012 | Jacksonville Beach, FL
We spent two nights in St. Augustine on a mooring - the first night was quiet, but the second was windy and bouncy. We did go ashore twice to walk around and get something to eat, but we have been here recently so we did not spend a lot of time doing tourist things.
Yesterday morning we left the mooring, intending to make the short trip (15 miles) to an anchorage at Pine Island. We were bucking a stiff NE breeze, and a stiff current until we got past the inlet. Then the current was in our favor for the rest of the day.
We did anchor at Pine Island, but the strong current was bucking the strengthening wind and our anchor chain was here, there, and sometimes leading under the boat, as we moved around. After watching this for a while, we decided that we didn't want to deal with any problems in the middle of the night in this tight anchorage space as the current changed and the wind changed. So we fired up the diesel and came north another 15 miles or so to arrive a day earlier than planned at the Jacksonville Beach marina where we will be keeping the boat while we fly to CA.
We had dinner at a nice restaurant next door last night, and tomorrow we are picking up a rental car to use for provisioning and to take to the airport. This is also maintenance time, and so far the Captain has changed the diesel oil and filter and both fuel filters. In short, we are getting ready for the last 1000 miles of our trip.