"Last Trip Home, April 2004" Top 5 Page for this destination Jacksonville Beach Travelogue by grandmaR

Large House on east side of the cut

The sun is in and out of the clouds today. We listen to the weather report , which sounds ominous with thunderstorms. The clouds get lower, and it starts to rain about 1045. We see lightening ahead of us. We have about 20 minutes of hard rain and lightening just before the Palm Valley Bridge.

Manatee statue with rabbit ears

We were in a narrow cut or canal at the time, with tall trees all around, so it wasn't too bad.

On the east side of the canal are huge homes with two or three story screened pool enclosures. On the west side, it is totally untouched.

I saw some interesting lawn ornaments - a manatee statue with rabbit ears, and a topiary in the shape of a gardener.

Foliage on the west side - thunderclouds above

I got everything wiped up, but then we had showers off and on until about 1300. It is hard to take pictures in the rain, and the light made everything look kind of lime green.

GRAND FROMAGE from Georgetown CI passed (a big motor yacht). They went into Beach Marine.

Because of the rain, we couldn't see too well when we went through the McCormick bridge (I called the bridge tender and asked him to open when we got there, and he actually opened in plenty of time - maybe even a little early)

RosalieAnn aground

The bridge is right by Beach Marine where we spent the night. We tied up at the dock in a hard drizzle (but without lightening). Then it cleared up and the sun came out. We were tied up by 1300 after a trip of 30.7 miles at an average speed of 6.7 mph.

They put us on the T-head of the number 2 dock. After I went up and paid and sent the emails off, I came back to the boat and Bob said that we were solidly aground at low tide. Could not even move the boat by pushing on her.

Looking south from the road over McCormick Bridge

We went and ate dinner at the Boathouse Grill. Bob had a hamburger and I had the surf and turf which gave me a choice of several items for the surf part and I picked swordfish. I also had a creme brulee for dessert. After dinner I walked up to the bridge so I could get a better view of the area.

Moon setting in the west

At about 7:30, Bob walked up to the bathroom and got a paper. He found out from the dock master that low tide was about 8, and he was afraid that we would not be able to get off the dock until after nine. So he proposed that we leave right away. A boat named JAZZ from Annapolis was going out of the marina and said that they only had 3 feet (!!!) in the center of the channel.

So I threw on some clothes and he removed all the lines (It didn't matter - the boat was almost aground so it wasn't going anywhere.) and then Bob pushed the boat out from the dock and to the rear. Then he got back on board backed into the fairway between docks one and two and turned around and went out. The moon was still pretty high in the sky.

Pablo Creek used to be here

We went by the decimated Pablo Creek where there used to be a marina (condos being built now), and under the two new bridges being built and crossed the St. Johns River. A larger power boat NEVER BETTER III passed.

Next: Passing by Amelia Island