Marineland Florida - Mile 796

We made it to Florida! Northern Florida had a good bit of hurricane damage from Matthew.  These boats are a good example of severely "hard aground". There are boats like this everywhere.

 

Fernandina Beach Marina was disabled as well so we anchored out across the river. Good holding but gusty so the boat makes a never ending variety of new noises during the night so not much sleep. I like Northern Florida. I thought it would be all developed but there are long stretches with this on one side.

 

And this on the other. You can watch the king fishers, herons, bald eagles, and egrets and then turn your head and window shop the water front houses with great docks.

 

Yesterday we were in St. Augustine on a mooring ball.  Here was the view off our back porch of the oldest masonry fort in the US.

 

I scored a coveted triple selfie while on a tour of the city at the oldest tree in the city - yes it is in the Ho-Jo parking lot.

 

Cruisers are full time liveabord boaters traveling up and down the US and into the Caribean and beyond. Cruisers are an interesting bunch. They are like the opposite of a high school clique. We were at dinner last night and offered to help the folks next to us take a group picture. They asked if we were on a boat and were elated that we were first timers heading down the ICW. They grabbed our table, joined it to theirs, introduced us to every cruiser that wandered by, and started telling us stories and asking about our trip. Fun and we got some good tips.

We finally are leaving behind the massive tides and currents of South Carolina and Georga.  I am so happy to be in Florida.  There is one price to pay though. Florida is the land of bridges. Many open "on demand" just by calling on the radio.

 

Others have restricted opening schedules so you plan your day around them.  Today the Bridge of Lions was not opening between 7 am and 10:30 am. So we were up and going before dawn.

 

Tonight we are in Marineland a very cool little marina in the complex were they used to film lots of animal related TV shows and movies like Sea Hunt. Tomorrow we start working our way down into the Treasure Coast. 

796 done 488 to Key West.