Fernandina Beach

Yesterday we planned as a lay day.  Good thing - because when we got up it was blowing stink and raining off and on.  I spent most of my time wiring in the Atlas ham transceiver that my friend David donated for our cruise.  It took me most of the day to snake the wires through the back of lockers, behind our microwave and through holes that were smaller than the wires I was trying to stuff through.  I had to study the back of our circuit breaker panel to try to remind myself where the wires went.  Where does the positive go?  Does the switch interrupt the positive side?  I figured it out.  Foolishly, I did all of this before even powering up the rig to see if it worked.  It did.  The reception was much better than I get from my Icom 710 Marine SSB but I could not get the microphone to work.  That will be my next project.

When the weather let up in the afternoon Maryanne & I took a cab to the local Publix to provision for the next few days.  We decided on one last dinner out at a local Mexican restaurant before we started dipping into our newly refreshed larder.

I liked the juxtaposition of the Christmas Tree
with the Palm Tree.  That may be one of Cortez's
Ships on the obelisk behind us.

As a resident of Nassau County I was amused to see a sign out in front of the Historic Nassau County Court House in Fernandina Beach.  I think I like this courthouse better than our own Nassau County Courthouse where I used to run a court project and bail fund for young people.

The next morning we had the pleasure of once again following our sister ship, Brilliant Star.  Her skipper made our navigation job much easier - especially since he has set up a spreadsheet showing where to be at what times to make the right tides.  There are some shallow spots where we don't want to be at low tide.  The  number of different cuts and rivers make calculating tidal current almost impossible.  We got to Jacksonville Beach early enough in the afternoon to take a little time ashore.

Beach Marina at Jacksonville Beach.  The bow of our boat is
barely visible at the far left behind a big powerboat.

This is the approach to the marina - typical of the ICW.  The beauty of the scene
 is not enhanced by the billboard advertising another marina