Monday, January 25, 2010

UPDATE - Ortega River - Jacksonville, Florida


Yes - we finally made it to Florida. The bad news is we brought the cold weather with us. Please don't tell anyone. 
We are currently staying at "The Marina at Ortega Landing" on the west side of Jacksonville. Arrived here Friday, January 15th and have been busy enjoying the kids and getting to know the area. More to come about our trip from Brunswick to Jacksonville and our time here.





Saturday, January 9, 2010

UPDATE: Waiting out the Cold in Brunswick, Georgia -2


Well, when we left Rock Hall, Maryland back before Thanksgiving we expected to have to tolerate “some” cold weather until we hit more southern latitudes. Mind you we didn’t expect 70 F and 80 F degree weather until we hit the central Bahamas or Key West. We didn’t expect to carry this big cloud of cold weather from Rock Hall all the way down here either. It seems our mast must have pierced some of those “up north” clouds. Oh well, beats working.









We had a special visit from our friends Rick and Tammy Canada while we were in Hilton Head and Savannah. They were traveling  between Christmas and New Years and were in the Hilton Head area. It was a very nice surprise. 




Mega Homes Along the way.









A new friend who visited about 30 minutes on our boat. (Click on the photo to enlarge)






























Isle of Hope Marina just south of Savannah.

We anchored out New Years Eve in the Duplin River approximately 20 nm north of Brunswick, Georgia. It was a nice evening and 2 other vessels anchored in the river with us. We weighed anchor about 7:15 am and headed off to Brunswick Landing Marina. We were greeted by rain, fog and a mean 3.5 knot current once we made the turn up the Brunswick River. We arrived safely and got setup for the cold weather. Based on the long term forecast we decided to stay in Brunswick until the cold snap is over. We don’t mind moving in the cold as long as the overnight temps are above freezing.



I was reading up on the history of Bruswick and discovered many Liberty Ships were constructed here during WWII. There’s a memorial about a two block walk from the marina that has a large Liberty Ship model along with several Memorial plaques. It's pretty mind boggling to think of how fast and efficient these ships were built. Dedicated workers built 4 of these 447' steel ships per month here in Brunswick. That's impressive! 



As many of you know my father served in the Merchant Marines before, during and after the war. He served on many Liberty Ships during his Merchant Marine career and I now wonder if he served on any of the 99 vessels that were constructed here. This is right up my “curiosity alley” so to speak and I will have to do a little research to see what I can find. 

















Brunswick is a charming sea port town and we are enjoying our stay here. Everything we need is within a short walk and there are many cruisers waiting out the cold here. We are hoping the weather will break next week so we can move on to Jacksonville to see the kids.





The marina is very cruiser friendly and is huge.
  









The marina has 13 main docks plus a service yard and spans about 1 mile from one end to the other. 




Saturday, January 2, 2010

UPDATE: Waiting out the Cold in Brunswick, Georgia


Currently Docked at : Brunswick Landing Marina, Brunswick Georgia
Latitude 31 09 06.1  N   Longitude 081 30 00.6 W

Darn cold today and the forecast is for more cold.  Will someone please tell Al to turn up the thermostat? Please! 

More to come.