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Plovers on the dock at 0745

We were up early because we wanted to leave at high tide as far as possible to avoid the shoaling in the Amelia River and Nassau Sound. I took some pictures of the plovers on the pier.

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My sister's picture from the dock

My sister decided to ride down to Jax Beach with us, so she boarded earlier than she probably wanted to (being a night owl), and we cast off at 0745. She ate her breakfast, which she brought with her. This picture shows the gangway to the south end of the marina - not the proper one to get to the outside face docks.

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Railroad Bridge

We came down to the railroad bridge and were so close to it when we went through that I could read a notice stenciled on it about lead paint. But I didn't get my digital camera unlimbered fast enough to take a picture of it.

As we went through, I looked back and saw someone on the bridge

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CLOSED railroad bridge

When I used the binoculars, I saw someone clambering around on the bridge, and pretty soon, the bridge CLOSED. I'd never seen that bridge used before.

Bob made my sister take the wheel for a bit, but I missed or forgot the fact that there was a range and she wouldn't know what that was. So when we came to it, she asked which way to go, and Bob said it didn't matter. Since it was high tide, there wasn't any particular indication as to which side was the shallow side, and she picked to go on the wrong side of it, which mean that the depth sounder went off.

So Bob took over and promptly ran aground. The tide was high (remember 8.1 foot tides), so we'd have been aground well before this at low tide. The depth sounder starts to sound at 7 ft. and we stop forward movement at 4.6 ft. Bob backed off without any problem.

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South end of Amelia Island

My sister took a nap in the main saloon.

While she was napping, we crossed Nassau Sound and I think I saw some of the buildings of her hotel up on the ridge under construction, although most of those buildings seem to look the same from a distance. I didn't want to wake her up and ask her.

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Nassau Sound non-opening swing bridge

We also saw the Nassau Sound bridge which is currently non-functional because the inlet is closed. My BIL will be traversing the bridge by car on the way to pick up my sister. He will also have to take the Ferry from Ft. George to Mayport.

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Sister's Creek bridge with height boards

We got to the Sister's Creek bridge about 10.

Next: Across the St. John's River, past the bridge building and marina distruction to Beach Marine in Jacksonville Beach.