We started this week with our dinghy ride. Another looper boat came to the marina a few days ago and plans to stay for a few months. On course we invited them to join us for our dinktails and told them about our weekly “support a local restaurant” and they told us to include them in these activities.
Even though we explored the Ortega River last week, we took the same route again since we had others with us – Callin’ in Gone, Destination, Maggie Jo,and Odyssey. Destination had engine trouble and headed back to the marina. They were disappointed as they had just had work done on the engine.
The next three days included our usual activities – walking in the sunshine, reading, boat tasks/maintenance, Governor Cuomo’s updates, etc. We also received our first food delivery from Walmart SuperCenter. When we traveled on the rivers we started shopping at the Walmart Grocery since it was generally the only one around. Here we have Publix but we found that for standard items, their prices are considerably more expensive. We still use Publix for certain items and Peter uses the courtesy bike and my list. I started a Walmart list earlier in the week and reserved a time for delivery and had until 1:45 am to add/change my items set for an 11am-12pm delivery. When I looked around midnight all of my items were still in the cart and available. By the time the morning came and I checked my list again, probably 20 items were no longer in stock. Fortunately I did not need anything desperately as I over ordered to start restocking the boat for our eventual trip north. I rarely walk to Publix now, maybe once every two weeks as Peter has taken on that task with the bike.
The next few days we had lots of rain and basically stayed on the boat. While we had bandana face masks, I took advantage of the lousy weather and took out my cotton yarn and crochet hook. Made masks with pockets for filters. Easy to make and then throw them in the wash and dryer. Peter posted the photo on his FaceBook accounts. The rain continued. Good thing we like to read and we have also been watching some of the original series on Amazon Prime and Netflix. Since there was so much rain we all agreed to postpone our weekly Wednesday dinner to Thursday.
We are still in Jacksonville and expect to be here at least until the end of April. The marina situation traveling north of Virginia does not look promising as Maryland has basically shut everything down on the Chesapeake. We anticipate that when we do have the opportunity to leave, it will primarily be a travel trip to get home without being able to explore some of the towns along the coast as previously planned. The good news is that we are both healthy and able to make plans even though they needed to change. We will continue to monitor the Waterway Guide and the AGLCA forum for changes on the water.
For now, we are both doing lots of reading. Good thing I have three library cards and we can check out multiple ebooks for each of us. Our usual visit to the local library to find used books is not possible any longer. However, with the Libby app, we have plenty of choices. To offset some of our reading, we are fortunate that the marina has excellent WiFi and we are able to connect both the TV and Amazon Echo so we have access for updates on COVID-19 and Governor Cuomo’s daily reports and music when we want to turn the TV off.
The next dink ride only included us and Odyssey. Since we explored Cedar River last week, we decided to explore the Ortega River next. The river is twice the distance (8 miles long) so we traveled to the end and then headed back to the marina. We generally do a slow trip and speed up on the way back after drifting for dinktails of course. The idle is too high on the engine. Odyssey offered to take a look and show Peter how to fix it. It turned out to be a simple adjustment of the idle screw. It is now much quieter and we are able to run the engine at a slower speed and enjoy our ride that much more.
This week we ordered food from the Metro Diner located near Publix. While they do not deliver, they stated we could use DoorDash and coordinate a delivery through them. Downloaded the app, created a group so we could order and individually pay for our meals but it didn’t work. Continually wanted to charge all the meals on my card. To make it easier, we decided to order individually and Odyssey offered to pick dinner up by bike. While the food was good, they are not prepared to handle outgoing orders – no online orders, cannot order in advance for pickup, must call 15-20 minutes before you want it, cannot pay in advance, only when you pickup, etc. Doubtful that we would order from them again.
Plans for next week are to monitor marina updates, read, and take a dinghy ride.
The mechanic arrived around 10:00 am to begin work on the transmission. This was a long process as it involved the removal of the old and then the replacement with the new transmission. Kodey and I stayed out of the way by retreating to the pilot house. As usual, he slept and I read and did some computer work . After the mechanic was finished at 3:00 pm, we all took the boat out for a test drive. Peter and I were thrilled that everything worked as it should. The old transmission is now stored on the boat and Peter will need to followup with the warranty issue.
Sea C Rider and Maggie Jo arrived and got settled. They each reserved a slip for a month. We provided some information about the marina, what’s local, and talked about our dinghy ride the other day. They liked the idea of a group dinghy ride so we planned one for Monday since there is usually too much traffic on the water over the weekend.
On Monday, we took a two hour dinghy ride to explore Cedar River. We had a total of five dinghys – Maggie Jo, Odyssey, Sabbatical (a Gold Looper) and Sea C Rider joined us for the day. Everyone brought their own drinks and snacks and I decided that we should rename “docktails” to “dinktails” for the time being.
COVID-19 continues to have an increase in numbers in many of the states. New York seems to have the most at this point. We are the only New Yorkers in our group. Others are from Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida and Illinois. We notice changes in the area and decided that it would be a good idea to order dinner from one of the local restaurants each week in an effort to help maintain their businesses. Most are now doing curb-side delivery and very few do any actual delivery unless you coordinate it with DoorDash or UberEats.This week we selected The Loop Pizza Grill and Sabbatical offered to do the pick up since they have a car at the marina.
The marina has 192 slips and there are a number of loopers here and also a number of liveaboards. We estimate that about 25% of the boats have people onboard. However, a number of those who live on their boats also have homes in the area and cars here at the marina. The marina staff continues to work remotely but there are cleaners who not only clean but disinfect the restrooms, laundry room and pool area twice a day. We are all most appreciative of these efforts.
We are in Jacksonville at the Marina at Ortega Landing for the foreseeable future. With the COVID-19 situation in New York, we are not exactly rushing to get back. Actually, it would be difficult even if we tried. Status of marina openings on the east coast change daily and most of those further north are not even open as it is not yet their season. For now, we will sit tight where we are and our children are happy that we are not in NY.
There is little to do but we have completed a few small projects and tasks. With another looper, we took our dinghys for a quick ride but also brought our own docktails on the boat while we drifted and talked. We decided that this would need to become a regular activity as it provides an opportunity to explore the immediate area – Cedar Creek and Ortega River – by dinghy and socialize with others safely.
We found a Dollar Tree that is within walking/biking distance. This adds to our resources for miscellaneous items. Peter has used the courtesy bikes available at the marina. The bikes have rear saddle baskets so this has proven useful for shopping. He used the bike this week to go to Dollar Tree, Publix and the UPS Store to ship out the binoculars that require a lens adjustment.
While Florida still does not a have stay-at-home mandate as many other states do, Publix has begun a senior (65+) shopping hour from 7-8am on Tuesday and Wednesday. We walked up to Publix early so that we could pick up things on our list. The line to enter the store was very long and there were so many people waiting for the store to open. When it did, people were courteous on line and walked orderly into the store but people were still too close. There were no social distance guidelines at that point. Although we picked up a number of things, some items were not in stock. On the walk back to the boat we decided that while the stores are trying to accommodate seniors with a special time slot, one hour twice a week is not enough for the population here in Florida where there are many retirees. We actually found the store to be much less crowded any other time we went. The next step is to start a list and either have Publix or the grocery at Walmart deliver directly to the marina. We might fare better that way.
Good news! The mechanic is coming on March 26 to install the new transmission. More details, next week. In addition, two loopers who we have traveled with before, Sea C Rider and Maggie Jo will be joining us at Ortega Landing.
The mechanic from the ZF transmission dealer came and inspected the boat. He appeared to be following similar procedures that the other mechanics had but then shifted and did more testing. He identified a few issues that no one else picked up on and I guess when you specialize in transmissions, you are able to diagnose certain problems. He ran a few tests and determined, in consultation with his office, that the transmission needed to be replaced.
Although the transmission is still under warranty, it will be messy since the Yanmar dealer we bought the engine from buys the transmission and pairs it with the engine. They did not purchase the transmission directly from ZF but a third party so it is more complicated about reimbursement for the new transmission and who is responsible. Since Peter was a warranty administrator in his last position before retirement, he knows how to deal with this so we will buy the new transmission, get the boat fixed and deal with the reimbursement after it is finished. Having a working boat that can be trusted to get us home is critical.
Unfortunately, it will take 10 days to two weeks before they can get the transmission and schedule time to do the repairs. In the meantime, Peter found out that we could not extend our stay in St Augustine because they had a full marina for the next few weeks due to a regatta/rendezvous they had scheduled. Since our plans included a tour of the St Johns River, I located a marina on the Ortega River (just west of the St Johns) that allows outside vendors to do repairs. Reservations for two weeks beginning on 3/16 were made. The mechanic has previously done work there so no problems are anticipated.
With a few more days in St Augustine, we decided to continue our “tourist” journey. As mentioned last week, we are noticing changes with the impact of the Coronavirus and the increasing numbers here in the US. While Florida does not have the stay-in-place rules that are beginning to surface in other states, we noticed that a number of the churches we planned to visit were now closed for tours. Scheduled activities such as the St Patrick’s Day Parade and the 3 day Celtic Festival were cancelled. By Saturday, we learned that St Augustine Marina cancelled their event as well.
We still visited a number of churches in the area the first few days – Cathedral Basilica of St Augustine, Saint Photios Greek Orthodox National Shine and the Ancient City Baptist Church, but by the weekend Memorial Presbyterian Church and Grace United Methodist Church were closed. We expect that closures will only increase moving forward.
Since we would be leaving on Sunday, I wanted to pick up some provisions. I heard that it was getting more difficult and saw many photos of empty shelves. I walked the 1.7 miles to Winn-Dixie (closest grocery store) to pick up a few staples. The shelves were not as full as usual but the store did have plenty of food just limited paper products. We didn’t need much but I could only manage two shopping bags anyway since I was walking almost two miles.
We left St Augustine on Sunday and waters were calm with little wind. The only difficulty we had resulted from it being the weekend and lots of boats, especially center consoles, were on the water with most being inconsiderate by traveling too close, not slowing down, and waking us! When we got close to the inlet, we encountered an ocean going ship that was coming into the St Johns River/Intra Coastal. While we stayed far enough away, it was still intimidating.
The plan was to stay overnight at one of the Jacksonville free docks, either at Jim King Park or on Sisters Creek. No space at Jim King so we stayed at the latter dock around the bend. A few boats were already tied to the dock and while they came to help and grab a line, it is the first time there were NoHandshakes but ElbowBumps.
Quiet night at the dock and we timed our departure to coincide with the tide/current. Things were going well until we got squeezed by a huge (300-400’) ocean going cargo ship (Crowley) and tug in a narrow part of the channel. We were rolled pretty badly as there was no place to go.
Soon we arrived at the Marina at Ortega Landing. It’s a very nice place and close to Publix and West Marine; not a bad place to stay for two weeks. We immediately went to Publix to do more food shopping since we knew that groceries were becoming more difficult to purchase. Scheduled to be here for a few weeks, I wanted to pick up some things for the freezer and heavier things I couldn’t carry last week.
By Wednesday, the numbers of those with Coronavirus – now referred to as COVID-19 – are increasing throughout the US. Individuals and businesses are putting new policies into place. Marinas are impacted throughout the east coast – some closing, not accepting transients, etc. The Waterway Guide is updating the list of marinas on a daily basis so at least we have a resource to track.
The marina staff is now working remotely but the cleaning staff will continue to come in twice a day to maintain the facility. By Wednesday, other things have also changed – the lounge is now closed except for pickup of deliveries from UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc.; only one person at a time in the laundry and social distancing of 6 feet is expected to be maintained by boaters. It’s strange but that seems to be the new normal. We immediately called the staff to extend our stay for a month and will consider renewing monthly until it will be safe and practical to leave. The dock master returned the call and indicated that we can stay as long as we want/need. That brought us some relief and security since it is a good place to be stuck and we have discovered other loopers here.
San Sebastian River – St Augustine
Memorial Presbyterian
Ancient City Baptist Church
Grace United Methodist
Saint Photios Shrine
History of Greek Immigration
Castillo de San Marcos – imposing site from the water
Around the Great Loop on the Answer 