Wednesday 5-26-2021 to Friday 5-28-2021 / Green Cove Springs to Ortega Landing Marina Jacksonville

Well our trip started off a bit bumpy. Hopefully we got the bumps out of the way early and the rest is smooth sailing(or cruising to be exact).  We flew into Jacksonville on Wednesday May 26 and luckily were able to get a rental car. No small feat in today’s crazy environment!  We drove to the marina and connected the battery banks and got the generator started to get the batteries charged. 

Aquaholic up on stands in the work yard getting all cleaned up and provisioned 

Erik ended up finding a great deal on a bike which we picked up in the rental car and took to the marina.  $90 for a like new Schwinn Beach cruiser with all the bells and whistles. 

One replacement bike for our old rusty ones that traveled aboard the past four years....now we just need to find another

We Stayed in a hotel that night and headed to Walmart early Thursday to stock up for provisioning the boat.  We got to the marina shortly after 8, to find out that we would NOT be launching 😣.  They told us we could stay on the boat and should be able to launch Friday.  We retuned the rental car and got a Lyft back to the marina where we got busy cleaning and prepping the boat for the trip. Since the air conditioning only works when we are in the water we had a very hot exhausting day!  

A beautiful old church in Green Cove Springs

Nice park in town with a spring fed swimming pool

One small snafu with the boat.  Since we were in the work yard and had access to water we decided to start up the engines to ensure launch day would go smoothly.  After starting both motors with no issue Erik was opening the through hull fresh water intake valve back up on the bottoms of the boat and unfortunately while turning the lever the handle broke off.  Errr.  We were able to locate a new ball valve of the correct size at west marine for $97 but, it was 24 miles away and we were now without a car since we had returned our rental car earlier.   Fortunately, a guy working on his boat next to ours mad the suggestion that Ace Hardware would likely stock one.  He was right!  AND Ace was only 4.1 miles away.   Time to put the new Schwinn to use!  In case you’re wondering, 8.2 miles of “mostly flat” (according to GPS) peddling on an asphalt road in Florida on a 93 degree afternoon is NO JOKE!  However, the valve worked perfectly and we were back up and ready to go after a quick switch out. 

ACE hardware to the rescue!  $30 for a new ball valve was MUCH better than $97 at West Marine

Old ball valve with broken off handle.  We actually purchased two new ones since chances are if this one broke to the starboard engine the port engine valve is not far behind  

Friday morning they were finally able to get us launched around 11:30am!!!! Yippeeee.....but wait...... immediately after launch from the travel lift the starboard engine would not go into forward, only reverse😳.  After messing with it for a few Erik was able to figure out that the linkage was out of adjustment.  A few turns of the adjustment bolt and we were now able to go backwards AND forward (this is a nice feature to have when cruising).  He might end being a good mechanic by the time our boat makes it home😂🤣.  

Finally time to splash!  The boat yard had just finished installing three new tires on the travel lift.  The mechanic working on it says the tires are $3000 EACH

Riva is patiently waiting and watching as the boat is launched

Up the St John’s River we went to made a short 25 mile day to Ortega Landing where they have amazing facilities; a pool, a party with live steel drum music, a food truck with free food tomorrow, a beer 🍺 truck with FREE beer 😳 😂 AND a buy one get one free night for first time visitors. Looks like we will stay here till Sunday!  

Renee and Riva are happy to be cruising

Riva is having a REALLY tough time acclimating to the 'Loop Life'

                                     

During a refreshing dip in the pool we met some nice folks and had some good conversations.   We followed that up with grilling up some shish kabobs on grill.   We spent the remainder of the evening relaxing aboard in our new comfy recliners that we put in a few months ago.   

View from Ortega Landing clubhouse upper deck looking down over the pool area

On an apropos note, as we were backing into our slip at the Marina this afternoon we looked directly behind us at the bot across the dock from us and noticed it’s name...”The Promises”.   

Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly; they will always come true IF we work for them.   They’re certainly coming true for us!