Kingston Rovers: Jacksonville

Well, what has happened since I last wrote? We are now in Jacksonville, Florida with the boat on dry land after having the boat pulled from the water for repairs. We are at the St Johns Boat Company and the manager and employees have been very kind to us. They have hooked us up with electric so that we can have lights and use my coffee maker (a must). They have also given us a key to use the employee bathrooms after they have all gone home (also a must). Tommy Jones is the manager and he has been most accommodating.
Coming into Jacksonville, we spent the night at a free dock where 4 years ago we met Brown and Nancy Altman who helped us dock the boat. Well, lo and behold when we pulled into the free dock who should be there helping boats dock was Nancy. Four years later they are still helping boaters dock and give advice on the area. Brown, her husband had knee surgery some months ago and it did not turn out well and required the new knee to be removed and a new knee inserted. He still has problems. He is unable to walk far so uses a bike as his means of ambulation, resting the impaired leg and walking with the good leg. This couple are absolute treasures as once again they have offered us a ride if we need to get anywhere whilst we are in dry dock. Today, we may take them up on that offer as we are going to rent a car for a week to go and see our friends in Georgia. I would also like to go back to Jekyll Island in Georgia and have a better look around.
A lot has happened since I last wrote. We got stuck on a sandbank and had to wait about 90 mins for the tide to turn and lift us off. It could have been worse if the tide was still going out. We also had problems with the head. It became blocked again and it took Gary having to take it to pieces before we could use it. He cleared the head but unfortunately the bolts holding the head came loose and the toilet began to tilt when you sat on it (not a good thing) so once again Gary had to go in and do some repairs. The fourth thing to go wrong was we lost our anchor and 100 foot of chain. We were unable to retrieve them from 10 feet of murky water. Luckily, we have a spare anchor but without the chain it is of no use.
Getting to Jacksonville we had to pass through Georgia and this time of the year there was not much to see. The weather has been with us all the way, the days bright and sunny and the water for the most part, calm. The water was so calm I got some nice reflection photos of the boats docked at the Isle of Hope Marina and a pier somewhere in Georgia, I do not remember where.

The tides in Georgia were as much as 9 feet so at low tide we had to be very careful at not getting stuck on sandbars. At low tide the shores birds came out in their dozens to feed in the wet sand.

If you look closely you can see their beaks probing into the sand.
As the boat crossed a large area of open water we were followed by a group of gulls behind the boat hoping to catch the fish we churned up in our wake.

I did see them catch some fish but was not quick enough to catch them in a photo as the fish were gobbled down very quickly.
Travelling along the intracoastal waterway we passed a long pier with a wonderful assortment of birds on it.

There is a grey heron, egrets, cormorants and gulls, This must be the community meeting place for the feathered population!
I took some interesting photos of pelicans. I hope you like them.

The above pelican is a juvenile as he does not have the yellow head of the adult.

The above photo shows how close to the water the pelican's wings are when gliding.
We have seen quite a few dolphins on our journey but they are so difficult to photograph because as soon as you see them they are on their way down back into the depths.

We passed a bridge with lots of birds on the bumpers. There were cormorants at one end and pelicans at the other end. It was a case of us versus them!

Now, I think the most interesting thing that happened to us was in the area of the degausser where we were told by the coast guard to stop and hold our position because they were escorting in a vessel.

Degausser
We put the boat into neutral and sat back to see what was coming up the river. Well, it turned out to be a submarine. The submarine was escorted by two tugs into a huge shed.