April 4, 2020 – Around the Great Loop on the Answer

Week 41: St Augustine, FL to Jacksonville, FL

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 No Handshakes but Elbow Bumps.

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.