The Anchor Windlass

After FOUR long hours today the motor and the windlass was finally wrestled free. Before it finally let go of Miss gg, a sledge hammer was used and I think I heard a saw being used also. The banging vibrated through the boat. We could only see the legs of the service tech as he worked up in the chain locker....no way could have the Captain, with his sore back, climbed around in there! Without the complete diagnosis it appeared a new windlass...expensive...would have to be installed. But the good news is that the company that made it is still making this windlass...at $4,000....more than any other new ones we have seen advertized!! So, we are hoping any new parts needed are readily available. Hope to know more tomorrow.

In the meantime, our plans may change again..... we may hang out here in FL until a friend's wedding in Tampa in mid April. (of course this has nothing to do with the fact that it is still COLD in North Carolina!) We were going to rush home and drive back to this event. Yep! We are spoiled by the cruising mentality...NO Rushing Allowed! Now, if I can figure out how to plan the Anniversary event from afar........

Signs of Spring

After many cloudy and chilly overcast days in north Florida we have enjoyed a sun shiny weekend.  So I walked today looking for Spring.

I don't know what these flowers are called......perhaps they were originally cultivated but now they seem to grow wild along the road sides.

The Bradford Pear trees have been blooming but here one is giving up its flowers for the new fresh green of tiny leaves.

I loved this old live oak tree but had trouble not sneezing looking at all those flowers on it! This is the season of pine and oak pollen.

We had planned to leave this past Friday but the Captain hurt his back.  And since we will be anchoring out for several nights before we get home, we must now get the windlass fixed....this is the motorized mechanism that hauls up the anchor.  You may remember that it broke a while back and Walter has been pulling it up by hand while I'm on the bridge moving the boat back and forth as he tells me to loosen it from the sand/mud.

There is a service tech coming on Monday to look at our windlass.  We are hoping for a quick fix as Wednesday looks good for travel.  However, rain and cooler temps are headed this way next week.  I believe when we do leave we will be doing longer days....still a lot we want to see along the way but we also need to get home....why? To plan a 50^th Wedding Anniversary Party for the Captain and his First Mate!

The Castillo at St. Augustine

Today we drove to St. Augustine to see the fort we had passed on the water yesterday. We discovered that there are many more places we want to see in this town so we will need to go back another day.

It is biker week in Daytona Beach but it looked like all the bikers were in St. Augustine today. One long street that stretched for many blocks had motorcycles parked all long it angled toward the street.....hundreds!

Before this fort was build the town of St. Augustine was burned to the ground 7 times!  After it was built, when an enemy was approaching, the entire town would go to the fort for safety......two months worth of supplies for them were kept there.

The most interesting thing to me about the fort called, “The Castillo” is that it has Never Ever been taken by an enemy!  It has changed hands several times but only under treaties....like when the Spanish gave Florida to the British. It is made of Coquina rock (sand quartz, and tiny sea shells) and the outer walls are 16 ft thick!

As we approached the fort this is what we saw.

It's a little known history that only 21 yrs after Columbus' voyage, Juan Ponce de Leon claimed “La Florida” for Spain and then came the FIRST permanent settlement 1565. This was 42 yrs before England established a permanent American settlement. So America's Spanish colonial origins played a part in our past.

Here we are about to cross the first draw bridge. And in the distance on the right of the photo you can see the second draw bridge.

View from other side of draw bridge.

I had never heard of a “dry moat” but that is part of the reason this fortress was never taken.  View below the draw bridge.

Court yard from the top of the outside wall.

This is how the soldiers slept.  These were double bunk beds, two men above and two men below.

The ceilings in the lower rooms were arched so they would support heavier cannons on the roof. Look close and you can see that when the British took over they put beams across the top for another floor to sleep even more men.

Hospital room....with fire place at one end.

One of the cast bronze cannons.

 

This was originally just a ramp going up to the roof where they could roll up the guns.

Some of the cannons in place.

A collection of the some of the guns used. 

Looking out over the water from the fort you can easily see how they could protect the inlet from the Atlantic Ocean. Anyone coming at them from the water had a disadvantage.

The sentries had a clear view of outside the fort from turrets. These protected the sentries from enemy fire and from the weather.

The turrets were painted red and the walls were white when the Spanish had the fort so it resembled their country's flag.

The design, with a diamond shaped bastion on each corner, made it possible to defend every wall. Here I am standing on one corner looking back at the opposite corner.

Looking down on the water side of the fort you see a “shot oven” where cannon balls were heated red hot before loading into the guns...this would cause fires on the ships trying to attack. The cannons were different sizes with some able to fire 3 1/2 miles!

There was a high hill beyond the dry moat around this fort.  On the right of this photo you can see only the top of the fort in the distance....originally this hill went completely around the fort on the land side......it is nearly 7 feet lower now. The soldiers actually hoped the opposing military would climb the hill to try to gain entrance as they could then be easily overpowered by the fortress cannons.

So much amazing history here in Florida....I think it would take many trips to this town to understand just its history......there were a lot of culture mixes here...very interesting.

We will be leaving in the wee hours on Friday to fly to Texas to enjoy my college roommate's 50^th wedding anniversary.  She's a hoot!  So I know it will be FUN.  Lots of last minute things to do …...we never expected to be leaving the boat for something like this!   So I will be busy trying to figure out how to cover up the fact that all we have are boat clothes to wear to this wonderful celebration!   

Ortega Landing at Jacksonville

We slept late...until 7:30a....had a casual breakfast and slowly pulled out of our dock about 10a under partly cloudy skies.  Notice in this photo how the water takes on the mood of the sky overhead.

Soon a sail boat passed us doing what most of them do instead of sailing.....motoring.

Again we left on a rising tide and our speed was boosted but about an hour later we joined the St. Johns River....leaving the ICW to move further inland toward Jacksonville.  We were now going up the River which was slowing our speed to only 4 knots at times......today's trip would be longer than we first thought.

I loved seeing the few river barges and the tug boats....reminded me of the tow captains that were so kind and helpful on the midwest rivers.

When we entered the harbor of Mayport we saw a Navy war ship in dry dock with the tower wrapped tight.

This Coast Guard patrol boat was making sure we didn't get too close.

Here is an interesting boat.....we think it is an oil platform service boat.

Jacksonville Fire & Rescue boat.

Then we came to the usually busy container ship area where these huge cranes load & unload the ships.

Close up of loaders.

Notice the ladder going up the side of this one to the control platform.......how would you like that exercise to get to your office every day?

A beautiful suspension bridge.

The Captain pointed out the large expansion joint under the center of this bridge.

The only container ship we saw today.

In the middle of this ship was the escape pod or life boat (orange)....did you see the movie, “Captain Phillips”? This is what the Somali Pirates got into when they left the ship with Captain Phillips.

Under this bridge we came into Jacksonville harbor.

Downtown Jacksonville.

The Waterfront looked nice with boat docks & plenty of places to eat.

We had a low train bridge in front of us just passed this waterfront area...we found out there was no train schedule but the bridge tender just gets a 15 minute warning when a train is coming...and just before we got to the bridge it closed!  We were doing donuts when the SLOW train showed up.

What a BIG surprise to look back and see our friends on Harmony! They were suppose to be staying about a month at a port south of here. They got in line with us and waited on the train.  They were going to our marina also. 

Finally the last train car passed and the bridge opened.

We entered some shallow water.... Harmony radioed that the depth was only 1 foot below their keel....we had about 3.5ft so we both proceeded slowly as we entered the Ortega River. Then one last bridge opened for us and soon we were in the marina.

The dock crew was great and so was my Captain...he has really learned how to smoothly back up Miss gg into a slip...without bow or stern thrusters!  

Today was such a great day on the water....I just love moving along on this grand old boat...I think I was all but singing...... I was even feeling like cleaning....so I washed the isinglass on the sun deck while we cruised!

And now I really need to say, “Thank you”......many of you have been praying for our good health to continue.  I was reminded of this when we found out why our friends on “Harmony” had rushed to get here: her captain needs surgery!.....they will leave to drive home to Atlanta tomorrow. The captain of the other Looper couple here had a heart attack when they arrived!  We are older than these folks and know only because of much prayer have we remained well and I might add.....HAPPY!

Jacksonville Beach

Our time on the water was longer today than we have done recently since crossing Florida from the west to the east coast.  Instead of three days we will make it to our marina in Jacksonville in two days. This is because we need to resupply the boat and get some things done before we fly out of Jacksonville to Texas...more on that later.

A beautiful day and we had the waterway mostly to ourselves this Sunday morning...probably because the good folks were in church and the bad ones were still in bed!

We lowered our mast for the first bridge...all the others were very high or okay due to low tide so we didn't have to request any openings.

We were leaving on a rising tide....which boosted our speed and saved us almost an hour getting to Beach Marine at Jacksonville Beach.

We passed St. Augustine where we are planning a trip by car from Jacksonville later.

Also in the harbor was this tall ship.

We have unlimited towing with a company called “Tow Boat US”. Thankfully we have not had to use them but often see them in action like today. A sailing Catamaran had broken down and the Tow Boat US guys were pulling it down the waterway.

This guy had figured out how to get some shade.

Before getting into Jacksonville Beach we came through a narrow part of the waterway where the boat houses seem to be the main thing rather than the houses...on some lots where houses were just starting to be built the GRAND boat house was already built.

Here are a some close up.

This one even had awnings that were rolled up.

This house was unusual for more than one reason...no boat house!

Here's another....no boat house.

Miss gg tied on a T-dock .

After we had everything hooked up, I walked the two miles to the beach.  It was very busy with mostly families...after all, this weekend is the first sunny warm one in a long time.

Notice how FLAT & WIDE this beach is...and it is hard enough to drive on OR to use as a runway for a plane!

I had to walk past the historical section of town on my way  & I read some remarkable history about this beach. Until 1925 it was called “Pablo Beach”..not Jacksonville Beach. During this time it was used for planes taking off to travel to the west coast...however it took them 115 days!!! But on September 1, 1922, a army lieutenant James (“Jimmy”) Doolittle flew a DeHavilland DH-4 Biplane from Pablo Beach to San Diego, CA, in less then 24 hours with only one fuel stop in Texas!  He set a new speed record and proved the practicality of Transcontinental flight! This is the same Doolittle that led the first air attack on Japan after that nation bombed Pearl Harbor. His squadron took off from the carrier Hornet.

In the downtown area of the Beach community was a pretty park. This paved brick area also ran a long way beside the beach.

Hurray! The Captain says we don't have to get up early tomorrow.....we have a short trip tomorrow to our marina in Jacksonville.  I will enjoy a slower morning. 

Blessings to all.