North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Jacksonville

Preparing for the trip

Captain Jerry has been making the final preparations to North Star, our 32 foot Cape Island down east trawler. We are anxious to leave our landlubber lives behind and begin our long awaited journey around the Great Circle. Join us as we travel 10, 000 kilometers: through the historic Trent Severn Waterway; the pristine waters of Georgian Bay; the North Channel of lake Huron; and hop from beach to beach on lake Michigan. We will visit Chicago and begin our trek along the rivers: Illinois; upper Mississippi; Ohio; Cumberland: Tennessee; Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior. We will have transited through 68 locks at this juncture. We have chosen the inner route from Mobile Alabama to Tarpon Springs Florida and the shorter Ocheechobee Waterway to reach the East coast of Florida. We will skip over to the Bahamas to wait out the winter before heading North on the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway.
The 10 years of researching and planning are finally at an end and we invite you to come along on our adventure.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Jacksonville

We had a perfect day on the water yesterday. The weather was perfect, the seas calm and there was lots to see.The ICW from St. Augustine is narrow with more wildlife and vegetation and less populated. As you near Jacksonville, you cross sections with more modest homes than we are used to seeing.
We entered the ST. John's River and were thankful that we had timed the tide correctly. The currents are strong and the traffic increases. We travelled on shipping lanes for the first time since Lake Michigan. The shores are lined with boat yards and container ships, barges and all manner of industrial installations. The river and the lanes are quite wide with lots of water so no problem for little old North Star.
We are tied up at the Jacksonville Landings free dock. There are 3 other boats here including a French couple from France who sailed across the Atlantic 2 years ago. I had a nice long chat with them last night.
The current is strong here and it is better to arrive at slack tide, we have learned our lesson from tying up at Bonita Bill's which is similar to this. The docks are floating so we need not worry about adjusting dock lines. This is a festive kind of place with restaurants and sports bars and entertainment. We opted for cheap wings at Hooters during happy hour. We cased out all the restaurants and went for the cheap deal. Not like us is it? You are not allowed to cook on a bar-b-que at this dock. You are allowed 3 nights stay and we may just do that.
We sat out in the square last night and listened to the free concert. They were celebrating leap year, that's one I'd never thought of. It was the perfect night for it, warm and calm winds.
We hear the bus service is free for seniors over 60. We are going to ride our bikes to explore around so more on Jacksonville tomorrow.