MIDORI ADVENTURES

Depart 7:40 a.m. Arrive 3:15 p.m.
58.7 Statute Miles/51.8 nautical miles

The wind shifted during the night out of the northwest and it was cold this morning. (I would guess in the low 30's . (32F = 0 C) When departing our slip, we had to back into the wind - not a good thing - and the port engine was acting up. It was idling too fast, and when Brian shifted into reverse, it made a terrible loud banging noise, but now it was too difficult to straighten out and pull back into the slip. When the engine was put into forward, it ran a bit fast, but we were able to make it out of the marina, past several large motor yachts and head into the South Amelia River. After putting all the dock lines and bumpers away, and ensuring that Brian was having no "issues" with his navigation program on the laptop, I went down below to make fresh coffee and hot oatmeal on the propane stove .

With the wind behind us and low tide helping us, we were moving at 8.3 knots on the South Amelia River and 8.0 knots across the Nassau River and then slowed down to 6.6 knots in Sawpit Creek. After Sister's Creek, we had good speed crossing the St. John's River at slack tide, but now the current was flowing north (against us). Our speed picked up again when we entered the headwaters of the Tolomato River. I then read in the waterway guide that the water south of the St. John's River runs north and the water in the Tolomato River runs south into the Matanzas River. And that is where we ended up - in St. Augustine where these two rivers meet.

As we were heading into the Comachee Cove Marina, we noticed MUSKOKA MOON on the face dock and Greg and Marion waving hello. We had departed Brunswick on the outside, but they had traveled on the inside. We weren't sure where our slip was going to be and when we saw the dock hand waving us in, we had actually gone past the slip, and Brian had to put the engines in reverse. BANG! BANG! BANG! went the port engine - almost like gun shots. As soon as we were safe in the slip, Brian took at look at the engine. It seems that when put into reverse, the engine popped up and the engine haul-up line got wrapped in the prop!! Although he tried to get the line unwrapped, it was stuck in there good! The nearby Ship's Store was open, so he went in to see what his chances would be of getting a mechanic or a diver for tomorrow. Of course, the response was that on winter hours, nobody would be available on Saturday. We would have to wait until Monday. The repair of the motor being out of our control, we went out for a seafood dinner at the local restaurant with Greg and Marion.

On Saturday, the Ship's Store said there would be a diver available on Sunday. We weren't sure what time to expect him. And, we suspected that the lock down mechanism might be damaged which would still require a mechanic.

On Saturday evening, Marion & I went to the old town to watch the Christmas lights being switched on. We had the use of a courtesy car from the marina. Greg couldn't come as he was still reccvering from an infection and Brian decided to let the girls go out while he relaxed in the club house by watching television. Marion and I had a very enjoyable evening. After the lighting ceremony, we went to a Bistro for hot French onion soup and then walked the town and the shops.

Stay tuned to see what happens next ...............

Lynn