Sunday, November 26,2006 Mayport, FL

Hurray, Hurray - We have finally made it to the Sunshine State!! But we are wondering why it is still 50 to 60 degrees and we have to wear the 5 to 7 layers of clothes that we had to in Northern Michigan when we are sailing here.

We just completed our 220 nautical mile two day journey from Georgetown, SC to Mayport, FL. Mayport is at the entrance of the St. Johns River and about 15 miles east of Jacksonville. We will set off to Cape Kennedy tomorrow mid-day for a Tuesday morning arrival.

We arrived off the river entrance so early this morning that we had to stand too off the channel for a couple of hours until sunrise. We were dodging several trawlers and 7 foot seas until the sun came up at 7:00 am.

We thought that we would have a calm trip down the South Carolina and Georgia Atlantic coasts but we received a small craft weather advisory forecast yesterday at noon and we had to continue as there were no ports that we could enter on the coast. We had a North East wind at 15 to 20 knots all night with 5 to 7 foot seas and were glad when we finally found ourselves inside the the St Johns River Channel.

The weather has been cold and clear and the scene at sunset reminds us of going to a planetarium.














There is a major US Navy base at Mayport. Joyce's brother Terry was based here in the late 60's and at that time was it the home of the 6th Fleet that served in the Mediterranean Sea. It seems as we travel that we frequently touch connections to our family's history.








We are heading out to Cape Kennedy tomorrow where Coco is our final destination until after Christmas.