April 01 – May 02, 2020
On April 1 the governor of Florida signed an executive order for the entire state to “Stay-at-Home”. This was just our first full day at Melbourne and we had planned to spend a month here anyway, so be it. Checking with marina management about what conditions we may expect and they assured us that we were secure in our slip, that all services would be available with exception of access to their ship store and office, and the dockmaster would be on site everyday and available if needed.
Callin’ in Gone had an early reservation at Ortega Landing in Jacksonville so they departed the next day. Ed & Kathy on Vitamin Sea arrived the same day as us and stayed for a few days and decided to move up to Fernandina Beach Marina to spend a month as Ed’s brother lived on Amelia Island and they would be close to family. Jim & Marilyn on Spinning Dreams came in and took Vitamin Sea’s slip so that left our small dock with Spinning Dreams, BackAtcha and us to weather through the stay-at-home together for the month.
First order of business was to read through the governors order and see just what was in it, what we could and could not do. While ‘nonessential’ businesses were required to close, restaurants could open for take-out only. Aside from all the standard CDC guidelines of social distancing and limiting gatherings to 10 or less, etc. we were free to go for walks, all forms of boating were still allowed (the governor disband the small boat raft ups and gatherings on small islands), parks and boat ramps open, fishing was ok, even some counties allowed very limited walking on the beach. At least that is what we experienced in Brevard County where we were located.
We did our best to stay active within the guidelines of the governors orders. We did general cleaning and maintenance on the boat, waxed the gel coat and fixed things that we had been putting off. We took a walk every morning and again around 4pm to the park across from the marina or to one of several known manatee hangouts; we did get to see a manatee up close. Occasionally we would walk to the historic district of Melbourne and get take-out lunch from one the non-chain type eateries. At 5pm everyday we would gather at the end of our dock with Chris & Lisa (BackAtcha) and Jim & Marilyn (Spinning Dreams) for a social hour and just talk to someone besides ourselves. Then we would disperse to our own boats, cook dinner and settle in for the night.
As time went on we became more comfortable being around each other and by Easter Sunday we decided to have a meal together aboard Spinning Dreams. Each couple prepared a dish, we blessed it and broke bread together. Hence forth we decided to make Friday night our ongoing steak night and break bread together. Chris our gourmet chief would prepare the steak (always above and beyond the standard grill), Maggie would toss up one of her specialty salads and Marilyn would do an appetizer or dessert. It was good to gather with friends and we looked forward to it each week.
The marina has mid-rise condos surrounding the docks. Every other Friday night one of the condo residents would come out on her balcony and perform for an hour, singing tunes from the Sinatra era, God Bless America and the National Anthem. Turns out she is a retired professional singer and just wanted to do something for the residence who would come out on their balconies and listen; we too enjoyed her performances from our dock. She was good and we were grateful for her generousity.
As the end of the month approached we started making travel plans with Spinning Dreams to journey north to Jacksonville and our final destination, for now, Ortega Landing Marina. Some of the municipal marinas were still not taking transient boaters but all the others were open and we had no trouble reserving a slip at each stop.
On April 29 we departed Melbourne Harbor at 8:30am with Spinning Dreams headed north to New Smyrna Marina. The weather was clear and warm but the wind kicked up to 15-20 knots which made for an exciting docking but all went well. This marina is newly rebuilt after being destroyed by a hurricane a couple years ago. It is small but nice, has beautiful landscaping, an attractive restaurant on site and new Billingham concrete floating docks.
On this first leg of the trip we passed Kennedy Space Center and had a good view of the SpaceX rocket scheduled to launch with 2 astronauts onboard on May 27, a first in a long time. Previously, while still in Melbourne we had an opportunity to watch a SpaceX rocket launch with a satellite aboard which will be used for a new remote location internet service.
We had planned to depart the next day, April 30 but the weather was terrible with severe thunderstorms predicted along our path the entire day. So we decided to sit it out and stay put one more day and wait for better weather. In between rain showers we took a long walk to see the area, something we try to do at every location we stop and stay. Although access to shops, museums etc is very limited due to COVID-19.
May 1 dawned with favorable weather predictions and we cast off at 8:15am headed for St. Augustine. Not much in the way of boat traffic, it was a nice trip passing through Daytona and some interesting residential and remote areas. The original plan was to dock at Camanchee Cove Marina but with the delay of one day they could not save our slip so we changed to the Conch House Marina in St. Augustine which turned out to be just fine. It too was recently rebuilt as the same hurricane that impacted New Smyrna also impacted St. Augustine. This is a large marina and base for many sport fishing boats. We had an opportunity to see the boats return from fishing and watch the experts clean and dress some rather large fish (Mahi Mahi and others, not sure what they were).
From the time we entered Mobile Bay in November of 2019 until present, we have been graced with the presence of dolphins greeting us everyday and entertain us with their frolicking and playful attitude swimming and jumping in our quarter wake. On this leg, New Smyrna to St Augustine, we had one occasion where 2 dolphins swam on our starboard side and 4 dolphins swam on our port side at the same time, what a joy. We never tired of watching them and having them come along with us. (We have some great video of them and will try to post it soon)
Our friends Steve & Vickie drove from St. Simons Island, GA to meet us at St. Augustine, spend the night aboard and travel to Jacksonville aboard Serenity Blue. Steve was a roommate in college with Greg and best man at our wedding. A long time best friend. We were thrilled to have them travel with us on this leg of the voyage.
We took the furry mates ashore at sunrise for their walk, it was early and an absolutely perfect morning. The sky was cloudless, the water was still and the air a gentle breeze, I could just feel the peace of the Spirit indwell my being. We checked signals with Spinning Dreams and decided a 9am departure would work fine today. Had breakfast, ran through my pre-departure procedure, started the engines and as they warmed up I pondered, is this the last ever leg of our dream voyage; what is God’s will for us. Time will tell. For now, its time to cast off and head for Ortega Landing, Jacksonville, FL.
The Conch House Marina is located in Salt Run, a cove just inside the inlet to the ocean, once we cleared the area and headed north we were in the Tolomato River with an abundance of marsh and uninhabited areas on both sides. It was still early and little boat traffic, so we enjoyed the tranquility, at least of now.
We traveled for 2 hours before we came to civilization at Palm Valley where neat homes lined the east bank of the waterway for the next hour at No Wake speed. It was fun to see the folks sitting on their docks having brunch, fishing or just watching us and other boaters pass by. The channel was close to their docks, I felt like I could reach out and shake their hand as we slowly went by.
Shortly thereafter we began to enter the southern end of Jacksonville, a lot of Saturday small boat traffic buzzing by us creating an annoying wake as they head for their favorite place to anchor or whatever; what’s the rush.
About 4 hours into the trip we came to the treacherous Pablo Creek area where the intracoastal waterway intersects the St. Johns River. We coordinated our path through this section carefully with Spinning Dreams to avoid the shoals and all went as planned. Once we entered the St.Johns River we turned west toward Jacksonville, our destination is yet another 25 miles or 2 1/2 hours away.
Most of the small boat traffic continued across the St Johns River and back into the intracoastal waterway or headed out to sea, making for a much more pleasant run into Jacksonville. From here the river was wide and deep with little traffic so we decided to spin up the turbos and burn some carbon for a while, its good for the engines after running them at slow speed for hours. We don’t do it all the time as it lights my wallet on fire; our normal fuel consumption is 5 gallons per hours, 40 gallons per hour at Wide Open Throttle (WOT).
As we pass through downtown Jacksonville at No Wake speed we can see the streets are deserted, more signs of COVID-19 compliance. Once pass the city we turn off the St. Johns River into the Ortega River, request the Ortega River Bridge to open for us and arrive at Ortega Landing Marina on the other side.
Spinning Dreams goes into her slip first, we follow into ours and shortly we are all secure, hooked up to power and water, just like home. It was a great day.
From Green Turtle Bay in Grand Rivers, Kentucky to Ortega Landing in Jacksonville we have logged 2,000 miles, including direct routes and side trips. It has been a wonderful ride and a true blessing.
