Going South, from Jacksonville, FL

Our route and destination today:  Jacksonville Beach, FL

It was a short cruise day today because we wanted to time the tidal currents in Pablo Creek, which can rip at 6 knots.  So, we planned to depart Jacksonville Landing late morning to hit Pablo at slack.  BUT, after a brief walk in the morning we returned to the boat to see signs were posted that "Unauthorized Vessels May Be Towed or Impounded".  Now these were new--not there for the past two days.  Well, it seems that on game days (Jaguars were playing at home) the free public dock where we were tied up becomes unavailable.  "A big stern-wheeler party boat is due there any minute" says the water taxi captain.  "You better skedaddle!"  So,  we rushed our departure to make room for the bigger boat.  And, just in time.  The stern-wheeler was in the channel waiting for us to leave.  That early departure required us to pretty much float in idle speed North to the ICW. And, even at that, we were making almost 8 mph sometimes.  But, it worked out ok and we were able to slow down enough to hit the Pablo Creek bridge at slack--as planned, I might add.

It was getting late, so we pulled into Beach Marine at Jacksonville Beach for the night.