Great Loop: Jacksonville & Emily Joins the Fun!

Days 36-27: February 22-23, 2023

We departed St. Augustine and with good weather took to the outside. Traveling in the open Atlantic is a nice change. While you still have to watch the helm continuously it’s a lot less effort because you are on the same course for a long period of time and the depths are not usually a concern.

We decided to stay on the outskirts of Jacksonville on a city-owned dock at Sister’s Creek. Boating into the city would have added a bunch of time and we only planned to stay one day, plus it was free up to 72 hours. The drawback to this location is Uber/Lyft are not as easy to come by and can result in a bit of a wait.

The free dock is decent. However, there is a large current running parallel to the dock, and it takes a bit of maneuvering to get the boat settled on. Dock was wide open when we arrived so and it only took two tries since the current blew us past the first time.

We were so excited for our first esteemed boat guest: Emily flew in to stay with us for a week!

Jacksonville Downtown (Feb 23)

On the 23^rd we opted to take an Uber to the downtown area of Jacksonville. The start location chosen was Sweet Pete’s Candy Shop, of course. Though maybe not the best place to begin with as the kids didn’t seem to want to see anything else after and perhaps resulted in little tummy aches…hmmm, wonder why?

We spent a couple hours wandering around checking out the sites. It’s a nice downtown area but is a big city so has that feel. We did find a bunch of food trucks and hit them up for lunch.

Caught a little of the bridge coming back down after letting a boat through. This one had a lift mechanism versus drawbridge like Seattle.

Downtown fun with running statues!

After lunch we walked down to the Maritime Museum though opted not to tour it since as was very hot and admission workers said it would be miserable. Instead, we all decided it was time to go back to the boats and do some kayaking. Much easier to get an Uber in town.