From Jacksonville to Sanford on the St. Johns

Posted April 26, 2004


Map scanned from Power Cruising Spring 2004 magazine.

 Here is the story of our trip up (South) the St. Johns River as we move from the Ortega River Boat Yard in Jacksonville to the Monroe Harbor Marina in Sanford, Florida.

April 2, 2004 - Friday
April 3, 2004 - Saturday
April 4, 2004 - Sunday
April 5, 2004 Monday

 

April 2, 2004 Friday

After almost not getting on the plane (something about overbooking) which I raised my voice about and somehow got aboard … we got a head start on the trip leaving Ortega at 2pm!  Waving to Kate (his former landlady) who had driven Jim up to Jacksonville and Steve a buddy of Jim’s, we felt a sort of milestone pass, leaving a place we thought we might live in (Jax’ville).  As I waved I mentioned something about “where’s the champagne”?  On the other end I said … and hopefully Steve will cross our paths again and see us in Sanford and beyond when we get Tortuga out to blue water!  So, we were off to a great start because of Jim’s hard work, the boat was performing beautifully!  And the weather, although they were forecasting thundershowers was sunny, clear, and warm!


Goodbye Ortega

We made our destination ahead of schedule at 5:45pm, averaging 7.5 to 8 knots the entire way!  We pulled into Six Mile Marina on Six Mile Creek just barely as there was less than 1 ft. of water below us for a section at the entrance.  But the dock was a piece of cake!  1500 feet of floating dock with 3 or 4 boats on it.  So Jim whipped Tortuga around pointing her out for leaving the next morning.  We poured ourselves a glass of wine and toasted to a successful first leg of the trip.  (It was also the first time that I had ever navigated the boat through a narrow bridge)!!  The surroundings on Six Mile Creek are beautiful with Cypress trees and Spanish moss and water lilies all around.  About 6pm we strolled up to the restaurant called Outback Crab Shack, and it said for boaters to check in.  So we did and was surprised when the proprietors said there was no fee to dock for the night!  We celebrated with the huge boiled seafood platter, (see picture) that consisted of King Crab Legs, clams, mussels, shrimp, crawfish, corn on the cob, broccoli, mushrooms, onions and more all boiled in Old Bay seasoning and served with drawn butter, yum yum!  Needless to say, we pigged out! 

 If you are on land, they are in St. Augustine, so please go there it was such a fun place, with delicious food!  On the walk back to the boat we saw an alligator very close to us (see picture)!  Early to bed as we have a long travel day tomorrow!

Six-Mile Marina
904-522-0500 
8155 County Road 13 North
St. Augustine, Florida 32092

                   
     Up Six-Mile Creek  Steph size portions   Too much wine!      The Real Thang!

 

April 3, 2004 Saturday

This is a big travel day for us because we want to cover the bulk of the miles today (60) so we are not pushed tomorrow to make Sanford.  So far, so good as I even got Jim to run the generator after he had turned it off so I could get my last cup of tea, yea!!  An absolutely gorgeous day, sunny and cool, 68 or 70 degrees!  Perfect day for cruising!  Arrived at our Astor, Florida destination at 3:30 – 2 hrs. ahead of schedule!  Boy, when the boat works it makes cruising a whole lot more fun!!  Tied up to a restaurant called the Blackwater Inn, which is a nice restaurant, but connected to it (upstairs), is Williams Landing, basically a great biker bar!!  We mosey on up and have a screwdriver.  Talked to this nice biker couple and he loved our boat.  He’s restoring an old Porsche so he said he understood the work and love that goes into an old project boat like ours (was that a compliment or not??) HA!  Anyway, they’re going to go to our website because they just happen to live in Orlando and we invited them to come see the boat in a month or so once I’m down and settled in.  Poor Jim has developed a cold and sinus headache, but is a trooper and takes me to dinner.  We decide on the casual dining thang, with me getting grouper fingers and Jim a good ole burger!  Afterwards we went down to the nice restaurant to pay for the dockage and found out that since we didn’t hook up to shore power there is no charge!  For two nights now we’ve docked for free!  In the bar of this place we hear live music, so we wander on back and it’s the cutest thing … an older lady in a long evening gown playing a fancy keyboard, and an older gentlemen with a saxophone!  They were good too!  Oh they would play “Crazy” and Jimmy Buffet, but there were a few old good ones like “It Had to Be You”.  I asked them if they knew “The More I See You”, having had just enough cocktails to offer up my singing ability, but darn it – they didn’t know it!  I think Jim breathed a sigh of relief!  Early to bed again for an early rise and head for home port tomorrow (that is until she’s ready for blue water and we move her to the coast).

                           
BLACKWATER INN                                         Tortuga from above     A quiet moment         Time to reflect
55716 Front St., Astor
352-759-2802

April 4, 2004 Sunday

Got a late start at 7:20 this am, but all is going fine.  Again, the weather is beautiful, blue sky and no clouds, mild temperature (for now anyway).  The surroundings are wonderful with moss of the trees, water lilies, Jim said he expects Bogart to come out any moment in the African Queen – that’s the feel of this pretty winding river.  Lots of ospreys and hawks!  Arrived at Monroe Harbor (our new Marina) at 12:30pm, although it was actually 1:30pm since we had to “spring forward” last night.  The wind is blowing at 25 mph and making Jim very nervous.  First, we have to come through this narrow zigzag entrance then we have to parallel park.  It would’ve been fine except we had to go in bow first and tie a line up and then get the stern in … the problem was I would’ve had to jump off the bow which is quite high (onto a concrete dock) and probably would’ve broken an ankle … so, we opted to ask for help!  I called out to some nearby boaters to catch our line and once they came over and grabbed it Jim maneuvered the stern in and we were home safe and sound!  Whew, that wind can be scary!  Now, we tie her up, introduce ourselves to a few folks and neighbors and almost RUN to the showers!  After having lunch on the boat we’re off to run errands and see “the house” again!  Rachel and George met us at the house and we looked around, took a few pictures and chatted with them.  Then they invited us down to their beautiful home that is right on the water.  Very modern, very large with lots of interesting areas, a pool room, a swimming pool, a beautiful kitchen, family room, dining room, in-law suite, master bedroom, what can I say, the whole house is great, with again a wonderful screened in room overlooking the water!  Anyway, we really like these guys and are glad they will be our neighbors soon.  After leaving them, we get some vitamins and stuff for poor Jim who is struggling with this nasty cold, but even so he is so sweet and takes me out to dinner!!  It’s at this great Italian place called Buca di Beppo.  It means Buc’s Basement and it started in New York in this guy’s basement!  Anyway, it’s very homey, and as they take us to our table they take us through the kitchen and we wave at the chefs!  There are more that 16,000 pictures on the wall of Italy and Italian people laughing, eating pasta, etc.!  It turns out to be a really fun evening and terrific food!  We had this chicken dish with lemon butter, capers, and sage and a pasta dish with red sauce, yummy!  So good!  Our waiter told us about the theatre across the street that serves drinks and food and great independent movies.  Since we couldn’t eat another bite, we said we would go to the theatre one night and then over to Buc’s for dessert, since he highly recommended them!!

                   
                                Heading to Sea                Birds              Jim can be quiet !   The Angel of Tortuga

April 5, 2004 Monday

Had to get up before 5am to leave by 5:30 and catch a 7am flight … barely made it as it turned out … lots of people traveling on Monday morning (note to self, DON’T DO THIS AGAIN)!!  I’m headed back to Atlanta to start packing and get ready for a moving sale and think about a new life in Sanford.  All in all everything went really well with the boat.  I was getting into steering her around the twisty turns of the river.  Jim even complemented me!  I’m glad Jim will have his boat down the street so he can go and work on it in the evenings (sometimes that is, when I give him permission)!  HA!

Stay tuned for moving stories and by the way, does anyone want to buy a really cute house in Atlanta!!

  
Tortuga Safely Home

Lessons Learned from the Captain

Fuel consumption was excellent.  We consumed approximately 80 gallons for the trip covering 126 nautical miles.  That works out to 4.95 gallons / hour  with an average SOG of 7.8 knots.  Just where I expected it!

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