Hello Florida
23 November 2018 | Palm Cove Marina, Jacksonville Beach, Florida, USA
There is nothing like a good night’s sleep, and that was nothing like a good night’s sleep – but at least it was to be expected. Our new anchorage held solid and was reasonably protected as the gale blew through, though the anchor chain clanked and the snubber groaned all night long, right by our heads.
We headed off this morning and were quickly across the border into Florida. The North Florida Marshes turned out to be reasonably scenic with good wildlife to watch. We are seeing more of the White Pelicans now (non-diving), rather than the Brown Pelicans that we saw further north. Had our first sighting of Glossy Ibis - a nice formation came past – and also our first American Oyster Catcher. So all told a good day on the bird front. We’re in manatee country as well as right whale territory, but gather that it’s not the right season for manatees just now. Might catch sight of a right whale though when we get offshore.
The tides are stronger on these stretches now (and it’s springs). We had to fight a hard current along a 5 mile section this afternoon which had us crawling at 3 kts. At one point we were trying to get under a bridge and the compressed current between the pontoons was so strong we were virtually standing still, under the bridge, in rapids, pushing up the revs and inching forward until we eventually popped out the other side and finally could breathe again. Not to be repeated we hope.
This stretch turned out to be really thin on places to stop. The first place we looked at was a NO due to wind, tides and a grounded trawler blocking access. The second, an anchorage, was worse. So we pressed on to our last ditch attempt – the marina at Palm Cove, south of Jacksonville. Turned out to be a cracker, with all a boat could desire. So we are now refuelled, watered up, laundered, de-rubbished, pumped out and amazingly well fed courtesy of the excellent restaurant next door. We have finally figured out that we like oysters, so long as they are cooked.
ICW Mile 747 – 33 statue miles today.