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| Bye Bye St Augustine....for now.... |
As planned...we left St Augustine 3 days ago & yesterday afternoon we arrived at our stopping point for hurricane season, Green Cove Springs Marina. It's a bit depressing. Before I start whining let me say a few positive things. The marina staff is outstanding & they do whatever they can to accommodate your needs. The prices for mooring balls, long term storage, etc., are extremely affordable...some of the cheapest in Florida. There are so many boats here that things seem to run very efficiently. Here comes the whining. I hate it here. I guess I was expecting something different after all the great things we've heard about this marina. 1st of all...It is not a marina. It's a boatyard. A nice one...as far as boatyards go....there are showers & a laundry. It's loud, busy, not in walking distance of any stores. There are tons of mosquitos too. We are now in the St John's River & the water is gross. It's brown & stinky. I'm glad we're pulling Malaika out of the water & she won't have to sit in this river while we go home. (to be fair...the water in the ICW & other rivers we've stayed in, is brown & stinky too...I just miss the crystal clear water of the Bahamas...spoiled.) Let me give you a 360.
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| One view from our boat...not too bad! |
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| Turn your head slightly to the left and..... |
Ok...a 180 instead of a 360. Who cares. After realizing that having a car here in Green Cove Springs is crucial we made arrangements to pick up our hooptee (piece of crap car) from St Augustine. Our good friend Greer drove 40 miles round trip to help us out. Thank You Greer!!!
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| 1st stop...Auto Zone to find a fuel filter. |
Once we got back home it was time to get to work. The next week we will be prepping Malaika to live without our constant supervision for a couple of months.
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| Starting to remove our sails. Stay sail...done. |
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| Bye bye main sail....you made us proud. |
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| Dang.....almost naked. :( |
While Scott worked on the outside, I started on the inside. We have to basically tear the boat down & clean every surface before we leave her to face the elements without us.
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| Breaking down the Galley. |
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| Every nook & cranny |
We have about a week's worth of work ahead of us..then road trip to Arizona with a side stop in Memphis to visit family. It hasn't been all bad. Enjoy some pics from the trip up the ICW.
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| Flagler College in St Augustine |
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| Passed this guy on the ICW...he started rowing in Key West....headed to St Augustine. Wowza.....that's a LONG way. |
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| Pretty Florida ICW |
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| The view from our boat in a random anchorage headed towards Green Cove |
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| We don't share these waterways just with other sailboats! |
And now...The Bridges Of Northern Florida ICW (Intra-Coastal Waterway)
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| One bridge after another..... |
The next week will be filled with chores and then...the reward...heading home to see family & friends! Woo Hoo!!! I'll miss my Malaika though. Can't wait for November when we head back to the islands.
Love, Michelle, Scott & Jib
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6 comments:
I am glad they have a reasonable price for mooring balls, that is hard to find these days. I am sure you figured out I have no idea what that means, but it sounds important...Miss you guys cant wait to see you
Funny up here I'm in the opposite mode. I've been waiting all winter for decent weather and finally it's here. Mellow Seas just got put on the hard yesterday for those below the waterline jobs. Miss you guys. I'll be headed south in Sept and hope to hook up with you guys at some point.
Andy
Loved the pic of St Augustine and Flagler college. My father used to teach there. My boat is on St John in the Caribbean but I always planned to take a boat trip north to St Augustine to visit the family. I guess I'll skip that boat yard. Thanks for the info.
Lori---can't wait to see you! LOL re:mooring balls. There's a picture a couple blogs back that might explain. :) we tie up to them when we can't anchor.
XO
Andy--soooo happy your getting Mellow Seas ready!! Yay!!! We will definetely hook up with you! Scott will be back on the boat in July & he's taking her back to Hidden Harbor to do all our projects. He & Jib can't live here long term. I'll join them @ the end of September & we'll leave in November. Probably. :). Miss you!
@Han---St Augustine is great! I have no negative things to say about that place. I love it. And Green Cove Springs Marina is a GREAT place to store or work on your boat. I didn't mean to give the wrong impression. I just thought it was going to be more of a marina & less boat yard.
Safe travels! We hope to make it to St John & the Caribbean someday!
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