January 10^th marked the start of our second year on this Great Loop Adventure. On Thursday, January 16^th we started moving again. Long story short – we decided to postpone Scout’s bottom job. Too many logistics and we can put it off a little while longer,  so we’ll wait until things work out better down the road (water).

Once the fog lifted and the tide gave us a favorable current direction, we eased out of our slip and into the St. John’s River. We said so long to the beautiful Epping Forest Yacht and Country Club which has been home for over a month. We’re traveling again, and it feels so good after sitting still for so long. Wahoo!

It was an overcast day with temperatures in the 60’s as we passed by downtown Jacksonville and under numerous bridges, around nine, I think. There was very little water traffic and we had an easy-peasy 3 ½ hour cruise. Still in Jacksonville, we arrived at Palm Cove Marina about noon, hopped off the boat and found Vino’s for lunch. Back to the boat we relaxed and enjoyed the day.

We had planned to leave for St. Augustine on Friday, January 17^th but, when we got up the wind was blowing 22 with gusts to 30 knots. We decided it would be wise to stay put for the day. The breeze continued blowing like stink all day and into the night. I took advantage of the new (one month old) washers and dryers (three each) and only one dollar each. Yippee! Thankful for the small things in life.  Michael completed a nasty job in the bilge. Ahhh, the glamourous life of yachting. We did reward ourselves by walking up to Marker 32, just a few steps away, for a happy hour drink. It’s a very popular restaurant and was packed with folks enjoying the evening.

It was a “go” for Saturday, January 18^th. We had to time our departure so that we would arrive at our destination in St. Augustine at “slack” tide. The current is swift in this neck of the woods so if you don’t time the arrival correctly you could be slammed into the dock or thrown away from the dock by the strong currents, either way could prove to be exciting.

We figured we would leave Palm Cove around 10:00 so, at 8:00 we made the quarter mile walk to Publix for provisions. Word on the street is there’s no walkable grocery where we were going, so for us “cook-aboards” having a nice grocery only a quarter mile away is heaven and we took advantage. Another small thing to be thankful for.

About 10:20 we backed out of our slip and headed toward St. Augustine.  Yea, we’re moving again! It was a beautiful morning and we encountered lots of little boats zooming in and out and enjoying the day as well as fishing people, jet skiers and kayakers. We also encountered lots and lots of “Rodney Dangerfielder’s”. Our definition of a Rodney Dangerfielder is someone on a boat who zooms up right toward your stern, bow is so high in the air that we’re not sure they can even see over the top, they get real close then suddenly divert to one side or the other and then zoom by usually yelling and having a grand time while causing us to have to make double sure all is secure on the boat. We do sometimes get a little lax on tying everything down on the “calm” ICW.  The fruit bowl and banana hanger left on the dining table don’t do well in those situations. Michael and I just look at each other and comment either “here comes Rodney” or “there goes Rodney”. Anyway, now I remember why we like to travel during the week instead of on weekends.

Our cruise today took us by lots of beautiful waterfront McMansions and all sizes of homes in between. We enjoyed the view as we dawdled along at about seven knots since we were timing our arrival in St. Augustine. The residential area was on the east side of the ICW and the west side was swamp. It was nice not having to rubber-neck back and forth being able to concentrate on just one side. Once we passed the residential area we came to a waterfront restaurant, Palm Valley Restaurant and Bar, where we pulled over, tied up and had fish and crab cake tacos for lunch. After lunch we continued on, arriving at St. Augustine Municipal Marina in St. Augustine, FL around 4:00. The wind was blowing a bit as we approached the dock and we had a little bit of a “yee-ha” moment but not bad. Michael had Scout completely under control and corralled her in the slip.

Once secure we hopped off the boat and went for a walk-about. Wow, sensory overload here! Just steps from the slip we were in the heart of the action. Hundreds of folks were walking the streets and enjoying the holiday weekend.  There were long lines outside restaurants and pubs and lot and lots of retail therapy opportunities. To us, it had a New Orleans kind of vibe. What a different experience than we’ve had the last few months. That’s what makes this trip so interesting – it’s so diverse. After walking a bit we found a little Irish Pub with an outside patio and had a “another safe landing” beer then back to the boat for dinner.

Sunday, January 19^th we woke up to a little rain so we worked around the boat for a while then in the afternoon went for another walk-about. It was still quite busy on the streets but not quite as crowded. We went back to our little Pub had lunch then back to the boat to watch the play-off games. The rain started again once we got back on the boat.

Whoa, woke up this morning, Monday, January 20^th to a “feels like” temperature of 32 degrees. Brrr! Sunny, but cold. Stay tuned……