Palm Coast to Jacksonville

After 3 days in Palm Coast, the forecast was for partly cloudy skies and winds about 10 MPH.  So we departed around 7 AM for the long 60-mile run to Jacksonville.  As soon as we were in the ICW, it was clear the forecast was off.  The winds were easily 15 to 20 with gusts to 25.  We figured maybe it would be just an early morning thing and the wind would die down, so we pressed ahead.  We were wrong.  It was an all-day affair, but we just decided to suck it up and get the trip done.  After 2 1/2 months, we were anxious to be in Jacksonville.  With the weather like that, we didn't take many pics, but this one was pretty clever - what some people will do.....

There are a couple of tricky spots on the way to St. Augustine IF you are not paying attention and miss a couple of buoys.  So far, we have not had any navigation problems and today posed no problems either.  Arriving from the south side of St. Augustine you see the lighthouse in the distance.

Here's a couple of shots of the downtown area with the city mooring field in the foreground.  If it looks like the water is running downhill from left to right, it's not an unusual phenomenon unique to that area.  It's because Rhonda took the pictures!  LOL  In fairness to her, it was a little rough that day and she is getting better.

Pretty bridge downtown.

Castille de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. Construction was begun in 1672, 107 years after the city's founding.

Rhonda got this nice shot of a cross in the distance.

After you pass the downtown area, you proceed eastbound toward the ocean.  The ICW runs right up to the St. Augustine inlet before making a 90 degree turn back northbound.  If you look closely you can see the surf really churning outside of the inlet.

The St. Augustine airport sits right on the ICW north of town.

And that my friends is the last picture we took.  It was just a windy, cold, sloppy, salty, wet day.  Once you leave St. Augustine, the ICW narrows a good bit and there are miles of houses on the starboard side heading northbound.  The waterway opens up again as you approach Jacksonville and we were glad to see our home for the next couple of months, Harbortown Marina.

Since we didn't take many pics on the way up here, how about a tour of Harbortown.  The slips here are privately owned.  We are actually renting ours from an owner in Massachusetts.  There are 2 separate condo establishments around the marina.  This one is called Windmere.  It's nice to have floating docks again!

Nice cobblestone walkways, flowers, benches, and swings in several locations.

The marina sits right on the ICW at the foot of the Atlantic Boulevard bridge.  The beach is about 4 miles from the marina.

By the way, we've traveled 1627 miles since we left Galveston.  It's been a great trip thus far.  We found a 

nice church already in Neptune Beach and have had several opportunities to eat and visit with Rhonda's 

family.  All of her family lives here - her Mom and Dad, her sister and her husband, her brother and his girlfriend, a niece, and 3 nephews.  I've gotten a couple of boat projects completed with more on my list of things to do.  Looking forward to resting up some also.

 I'll close with another bird picture of the day.  We believe it to be a cormorant.

We'll be in touch now and then.  Planning to resume the trip in late March/early April and continue northbound as the spring warms things up along the coast.