Loop Dreams

Loop Dreams

Saturday, March 31, 2012

March 26-28th, Jacksonville, FL

March 26 - 28

Jacksonville is the largest populated city in Florida and 11th in the United States.   Jacksonville stands astride, the largest north flowing river in the country...the 310 mile long St. Johns River.  We took advantage of the free city dock which was located in the heart of downtown Jacksonville Landing with tons of restaurants to choose from and a few shops.  We took advantage of the Tuesday downtown walking tour which was very informative.  There are seven bridges over the river in this town and we were parked by the Main St. bridge which was also known as the blue bridge. The blue lights were striking at night!
                                               
Parked at the Jacksonville Landing City Dock
                                                      
                                          
Walking tour took us into underground tunnels where we saw an old bank safe
 
Downtown architecture in Jacksonville

Ken atop the Florida Theater, the oldest theater in Florida where Elvis preformed.


Whistle blew to warn the cars that the  Blue Bridge is raising.
                        
                                                                        

March 25, St. Augustine

March 25

Last day here and I am not ready to leave St Augustine.  We were not able to see it all and will have to return.  The Camachee Marina had a courtesy car which we took advantage of.  Also, the Trolley Train provided a shuttle to and from the marina and the train ticket was good for 3 days.  It was so easy to get around town.  With the heavy traffic we did not feel comfortable on our scooters. Fantastic public transportation and tons of sights to visit.  The first night on the mooring ball we were across from the St. Augustine Lighthouse with a flashing beam.  A spectacular town to visit!

St Augustine Lighthouse
                                                          
Oldest Drug Store in the US

Monument in honor of an Indian chief



Old waterwheel and grist mill
                                                                             
Tex Mex restaurant overlooking the river.

National Geographic claimed this street lined with live oak trees with Spanish moss the prettiest in the US.


March 23-24th, St Augustine, FL

St. Augustine won my heart with it's Old World Charm.  I understand why Henry Morrison Flagler, the oil tycoon and real estate magnate who created Miami from swampland, chose this historic city as his home. Standard Oil founder Henry Flagler, built the Hotel Ponce De Leon, a perfect example of Spanish Renaissance architecture.  It now serves as the centerpiece of a small liberal arts college known as Flagler college.  This building received the prestigious status of National Historic Landmark, one of only 2,500 buildings in the US with the designation. The grounds and building was amazing!
We also toured Castillo De San Marcos, located along St. Augustine's inner shore which was constructed in the late 17th century with 12 foot thick walls. The Fort included a moat, deep freshwater well, a latrine flushed by the flood tide, and nonperishable stores made it an almost impregnable refuge for about 1,500 civilians against would be attackers. We were just in time to watch the soldiers fire a live cannon!

The Castillo De San Marcos is on the Mantanzas River.


Soldiers preparing to fire a live cannon.


                                                
                                    The Bridge of Lions with a clipper ship passing by.


                                            Flagler College once the Hotel Ponce De Leon. 


Cross erected in the spot where the first Catholic Mass was held in the US.


                                                                                                       

March 21-22nd, Butler's Beach

March 21 - 22

On our way to St. Augustine, FL and we decided to anchor at Butler's Beach.  We pulled into
the area and every Captain's nightmare happened...we ran aground.  It was low tide and after sitting there for awhile we discovered the locals hugging the east shore before they went out into the ICW.
Looks like they dredged the channel in front of the residential docks and we were sitting on the uncharted spoil pile.  We waited for several hours for the tide to come in and then we were able to float away. We made our way limping into St. Augustine with a chain from the spoil pile wrapped around one of the prop shafts.  We grabbed a mooring ball and the next day we went to Camachee Cove Marina to see what damage was done.  Bad boating day!  We just had the props tuned at Stuart, less than two weeks ago.

Butler's Beach, we are grounded and waiting for the tide to come in.
Diver pulled this chain from the prop shaft
                                                   


Props were pulled for repairs.  Ouch!!
                                                                                                                  

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

March 19-20th, Daytona Beach

March 19 - 20

In 1959 Daytona Beach hosted the first Daytona 500, now regarded as America's most prestigious stock-car race.  The hard compressed shoreline enticed such names as Louis Chevrolet, Ransom Olds and other notables who didn't, at that time, have an asphalt road to race on.  Hyped up sand competitions inaugurated one of the first large spectator races in 1903 when Alexander Winton drove his "bullet" at a then unbelievable speed of 68 mph.  To this day they allow cars on the beach.

For the first time we took a few hours to go to the "World's Most Famous Beach"  and relax in the sun and sand.  Later that day we visited the Museum of Arts and Sciences and took a nature hike in the Tuscawilla Preserve,  After our fist attempt to walk to the museum which was over 2 miles from the dock it turned out to be closed! Tuesday we caught the bus to the museum and went to the planetarium as well.  The museum had many interesting exhibits and featured water colors from famous Florida artist, a Coca Cola exhibit, old weapons, drug store, and a 13 ft tall skeleton of a giant sloth which was excavated in 1975. Approximately 130,000 years ago, the giant ground sloth lived in the coastal area of Florida.  Our anchorage by the bridge was perfect and the dingy docks were close by so we were able to tour the town and beach. We had fun in the sun!

Ponce de Leon lighthouse first lit in 1887
                                        
Ocean front amphitheater was built in 1938,
                                                                                         
Clock tower overlooking the beach.
Famous Daytona Beach
                                                                                                     
Spanish moss growing on live oak trees in Tuscawilla Park
 
                                                                              
Florida's Giant Sloth
                                                                     

Sunday, March 25, 2012

March 17-18th New Smyrna Beach, FL

March 17 - 18

New Smyrna Beach was hopping because it was celebrating St. Patrick's Day and Bike week.
We marveled at the hundreds of bikes in the city zooming around.  We meet up with Rita and John on Brandy IV and Dean and Beth on Kismet and we all went to the River View Grill, a very nice water view restaurant.  We anchored and dinghied in to tour the towns.  Ken had the best ever hot fudge sundae at Victoria's Drug Store, a truly old fashion soda fountain.
                           

                    
Town clock at New Smyrna Beach
                                                                              
Archeological site
          
Home of the old time soda fountain
                                                                            
Now that's a sundae!!!

                                                   
Crews of Loop Dreams, Brandy IV and Kismet enjoy a meal

Ironic sign
                      
Bike week at New Smyrna Beach

                                                                            

March 15-16th Cocoa, FL Kennedy Space Center

March 15 - 16

Loved the little town of Cocoa.  We anchored out and took our dingy to the Lee Wenner Park dock where Ken explored the oldest and largest hardware store in Florida known as SF Trafis and Co.  Like a kid in a candy store...We enjoyed the historic town and all of the antique and art stores.  Just a trolley ride away from Coca and over the Merritt Island Preserve is the separate town of Cocoa Beach, known as the surfing capital of Florida.  On our way back to the boat John and Rita invited us to dingy over and have supper with them.  What a treat!

Next day we went to the Cocoa Village Marina and rented a car to drive to the Kennedy Space Center.  John joined us and we had a wonderful time.  We were able to see the retired space shuttle
Discovery.  It's final touchdown was March 9, 2011 after spending 365 days in space.

Quaint, historic Cocoa, Fl
                                                                                             
 
 
Rockets from the space race
 
 
John and Ken at the Rocket Garden
                                        

Power!!!!!
 
 
Space shuttle Dicovery, retired
                                             
Command module
                                                                              
Awaiting launch at sunset
                                                                            

March 13-14th, Eau Gallie & Melbourne

March 13 - 14

Left Vero Beach after doing our laundry and headed for a nice anchorage in Eau Gallie south of the bridge in a protected basin.  Very quiet night and the pelicans put on a show for us diving for fish.
Next morning we were off to Melbourne to pick up a VHF radio which we ordered.  We docked at
a public dock in front of the library and walked to West Marine to find out the radio would not fit.
So Ken decided to send our current radio in to get it repaired. Melbourne was a sleepy town with some quaint shops and restaurants.  We had an official ask us to leave the city doc because it was
intended for smaller boats.  We begged forgiveness and asked if we could mail a broken radio and
then we will be off...no problem. 
Passing men fishing on a shoal.  Important to stay between the markers or else you will be aground!


Loop Dreams docked at Melbourne city dock.