Sunday, March 10, 2019

Ortega Landing, Jax, FL–Visiting with Friends

Thurs – Sunday, Mar 7-10, 2019:  St Augustine, FL to The Marina at Ortega Landing, Jax, FL

61 miles   …   5 hours

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (33)

A pretty nice day for a long run to Jacksonville, where we will stop to prep to cruise the St John’s River. We ran about 15 mph to shorten the time. Only during one 6 mile long area through homes lining the river did we have to go slow/minimum wake

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (30)

The rest of the time was more scenic

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (32)

until we reached Jacksonville …

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (28)OrtegaLandingJAX1 (27)

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (25)OrtegaLandingJAX1 (24)

On the way to our marina we go thru a rail road bridge that is in the up position. Work is planned on the rail road bridge that is going to keep it in the closed/down position for a while. We will be thru it, cruise the St John’s and then after stopping back in Jax for 3 days be able to go thru it again. It’s a very low bridge we won’t fit under.

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (22)

WOW – What a nice marina. 1st they emailed (days ago when we made the reservation) info on the marina, our slip assignment, approach info and a layout of the docks so we could see what slip we would be in. Wish more marinas would do this!!

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (6)OrtegaLandingJAX1 (15)OrtegaLandingJAX1 (16)OrtegaLandingJAX1 (18)OrtegaLandingJAX1 (19)

The nicest bathrooms this section of the Loop! Free Ice! FREE LAUNDRY!!  So, Friday was laundry day, boat cleaning day, etc.

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (20)

However, the best part of being in Jax is, for me Beth, I get to visit with college buddies including my UNC roommate.


Sherry and I hung for the day on Saturday and went shopping, picked up David and then headed back to the boat. OrtegaLandingJAX1 (14)

Dinner out was a really fun Mexican Place.

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (11)Good food, great service and funky atmosphere – what more do you need … oh, wild drinks like this Margarita with a Mexican Beer on top???

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (9)

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (12)

After provisioning and doing more Laundry on Sun morning, we headed out to lunch with Sherry & David.

It was so much fun to see David & Sherry again. Hopefully, I will get another chance when we stop back at Ortega Landing as we leave the St John’s River.

While we were out to lunch, Fred & Robin (who bought our Monk 36) texted they were in their dinghy out messing and saw our boat. They popped back over once we were back on the boat. FUN to chat with them. Such nice folks.

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (8)

Sunday night was Looper Docktails at the marina over by the grill area looking out on the river.

OrtegaLandingJAX1 (4)


Docktails with Sarah Louise (our old Monk), Pharm Life, Destination??, About Time.

What a packed day.