Day 352 - Reed Is. (Jacksonville) to Palm Coast, FL

     

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    		The motor yacht "Integrity" The Loop

    Day 352 - Thursday, April 13th: Anyone familiar with northeast Florida will realize that today we continued to backtrack by turning south into the Intracoastal Waterway instead of north.  Quite right.  We were headed back to Palm Coast to visit with our old friends Diane and David Hay for the weekend.

    We have known the Hays since 1967.  That's a long time - nearly 39 years.

    We had a long way to cruise today, and much of it would be fighting the current, so we left the anchorage about 7:30am - before showers and having breakfast.

    As we pulled out of the anchorage, we could see a very large freighter headed downstream under the big bridge and bearing down on us:

    We eased over to the right hand bank (the "green side") and let the big fellow have the channel:

    The closer he got, the bigger he got:

    In spite of his "bulbous bow," he still pushed a lot of water out of the way:

    Just as the freighter got past us, this container ship was coming upstream.  This is an example of how not to load one of these ships if you want to take advantage of the bulbous bow.  Note the cargo is loaded toward the rear of the deck, making the bow ride high and the stern ride low.  Actually, we guessed the captain had it done that way to give him a higher bow to ride over big seas:

    The cruise was uneventful, save the many "snowbirds" boats headed north.  There were dozens - the annual migration north had begun.

    A few miles north of St. Augustine, we saw a very unusual sight.  This bald eagle was perched on a daymark, completely oblivious to our passing by:

    When we got into the vicinity of the St. Augustine harbor we came across Freedom, a sailing schooner that takes folks for day rides in the area.  It's a very pretty boat under sail, and there was a good breeze today:

    The next remarkable sight was this house on stilts.  who had a good sense of humor, was building it (or built it) so that nothing was plumb, level, square or looked finished!

    We arrived at the Hays in Palm Coast about 4:30 and were greeted by our long-time friends.  We enjoyed a happy hour and catch-up stories, then went to supper at a nearby shopping village embedded in a high-rise condominium complex.  We didn't realize that tonight, Thursday, was "Elvis Night."  All the bored retirees and snowbirds gather here about 7:30 and watch the Elvis show.

    It is great people-watching.  This couple was sort of typical.  Their dogs were obviously their favorite toys:

    How they had gotten the pups to be still and leave that entire getup alone was beyond our comprehension; they almost looked stuffed!

    Well, The King finally showed up and started the performance.  He danced around the "stage" so fast in the dim light that it was almost impossible to get a decent picture; this one was the best:

    It was quite an unexpected turn of events.  We enjoyed dinner and Dianne and David drove us all home.

Position tonight: N29 35.856 W081 12.207

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