Thursday, April 26, 2007

Jacksonville

We arrived today at Jacksonville Naval Air Station (JAX) Mulberry Cove Marina. It has been some adventure since our last update, we never got past Boot Key Harbor at Marathon. What had been a planned 3 to 4 day stay turned into almost three weeks, all due to high winds day after day after day! We never had so many high winds and rough seas for so many days. Although Boot Key is a very nice place, we felt like the line in the Eagles "Hotel California" which goes "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave." We also got stuck in Key Largo on the way back to Miami for the same reason. Bernie got talked into working at the West Marine there since we were stuck. Only spent a week in Miami Beach and then got enough of a weather window to get to Lake Worth (Palm Beach). Leaving Lake Worth started out OK, but the weather rapidly deteriorated just North of Jupitor Inlet so we were driven back into the ICW. Have stayed there all the way to JAX. We had a variety of weather systems along the way including a squall line which produced many funnel clouds and even a waterspout (off-shore). We will stay here about 2 weeks before proceeding further north with next long stop in Isle of Palms to visit Arlene. Carol has a canvas job to do for her. Hopefully we will see Sue's new place too. I'm sure Arlene will also have a list for Bernie. While here at JAX, Bernie will be working at this WM a few days too. We also will do some routine maintenance and reprovisioning at the Commissary and Exchange - especially alcohol (spirits). Gilligan and Scupper are overjoyed to have a dock to explore again. Hope everyone is doing well. Bye for now.