April 21 ... Finally underway

Seriously, can it really be 3 weeks since our splash down and we are STILL tied to the pier at Green Cove Springs???? Yes indeed ... there were some dark days then...

We got off to a good start with our engine tests at the dock. We had a decent place along the pier to tie up with water and electric (this pier saw it's heyday some 70 yrs ago and has been officially condemned for years).  The real problems surfaced with the engine shaft alignment.  Things that fit together on land did not fit so well in the water resulting in vibration where there should be none. And after 5 months on jack stands, it flat out took time for s/v Maja to get her water-hull back in shape.  Dan worked his tail off every day, occasionally getting some advice (and lots of encouragement) from a wonderful retired Coast Guard engineer he met in the boatyard. 

And there's the fact that the marina wants you to move off the pier after 2 days, and here we were overstaying our welcome by 3 weeks.  Arghhhhhh.

It stormed the 4 days before we left, so nothing felt better than to greet a blue sky and sunshine as we finally put Green Cove Springs astern.

And we went all of 21 miles into Jacksonville. Long enough for an engine test (all good) and short enough to reach the first nice marina we could find with floating docks and a pool! Even better, Ortega Landing Marina gave us 7 nights for the price of 3. Perfect.  After 5 months in the boatyard, we were ready for some rum drinks, pool time, bike riding, yeah - vacation!

Free use of bikes.  We could stay here!

 

We spent 7 days enjoying the pool when the temps reached 90 degrees, the bikes when it didn't, and the sturdy dock when repeated storms pounded the Jacksonville area.  But alas, we are in this game to move, so onward we go.  This time, 6 miles down the St Johns River to the Jacksonville Landing.  It has a face dock that's easy to reach and it puts you on the Jacksonville waterfront.

 

Or, in our case, one of our favorites!

 

There's just something fun about sitting at a table just a throw from our boat.

Two of the most interesting men in the world.

 

May 30.

We've been debating whether to go north or south from Jacksonville, and ultimately the lack of good southerly sailing weather and the Fernandina Shrimp Festival helped make the decision. We are going north.  When the St Johns River intersected the ICW, we turned left.

s/v Maja on mooring at Fernandina Harbor.  We snagged the last ball.

 

 

May 4

 

We had 4 days of 80 degree sunshine for the Shrimp Festival.  The vacation continues.  We found out that the new solar panel is able to fully charge our batteries ... meaning we had yet to rely on the Honda generator to charge them while we are watching TV at night with wild abandon!

 

Now it was time to the final test of this journey, the new sails.  We caught the falling tide at St Mary's inlet, set the sails and zoomed all the way to the St Simon Channel.  The 10-15knot east wind sure helped, but in the morning, when the wind was lighter, the new sails stiffly held their shape. 

 

 

Definitely happy sailing ....

Meet the mizzen stay sail.  It runs between the main mast and mizzen mast.

We weren't too sure how to rig it so we tried three different ways before figuring it out!

 

We caught the flood tide into Brunswick and rode the tide in at 8 knots.  We made great time and reached the marina at 5:30pm, in time to hear familiar voices on the VHF radio and learn that we are going to be docked on Dock 10, next to our friends, Sherri and Clyde on m/v Morada.

 

Funny how we've barely traveled 100 miles, but still Brunswick marina always feels like home to us.  We hang here till June, attacking a few more boat projects, and then who knows where the wind may blow ....