a REALLY familiar face.

After a good night sleep Whitney and I hurried to go get the boat from where we had stashed it the night before - a friend of hers house close to the boat ramp - and get me underway so she could make her 9 am law school class. I was resuming at the exact same place that I had stopped that night before, under the rt 210 bridge in Ponte Vedra Beach. The first 7/8 miles of the day were through the cabbage canal which is just a narrow land cut void of any marinas, anchorages, fuel, or commercial activity of any kind. In fact, the entire western bank of this stretch was completely undeveloped and apparently belongs to the Davis family of the Winn Dixie enterprise.

Again, I had the wind in my face. I know I mention the wind a lot but only because it is such a critical factor with paddling. Plus, everyone keeps telling me how unusual it is for the winds to be out of the north for so long straight. It was a pretty stiff (15 mph?) but not debilitating so I was able to eventually, after 5 hours, reach the Saint Johns River crossing. Until this point there hadn't been ANYWHERE to get out, stretch my legs and take a break, and for whatever reason I just could not get comfortable today in my boat. I was the most UNcomfortable that I've been yet, actually. My legs were getting tight, my butt hurt, my left elbow was sore, I was developing a new blister on my right palm, the muscles across my shoulder blades were burning, and I kept (for whatever reason I don't know) scraping my hand on the cockpit coping - i guess something was off in my stroke today. Anyhow, I finally found a place that I was able to pull over just before crossing St Johns but it was certainly not ideal, just a steep oyster shell bank. Crossing the river was a little tricky but just on the other side was a huge boat yard with some crazy vessels in it. There were all kinds of different types of boats but that one that caught my eye was Le Grand Bleu so I paddled up to it to check it out. There were 2 HUGE bumpers hanging off the port side of it and I wasn't sure at first why but after inspecting it closely I realized that it is where 1 or it's 2(!) auxiliary, deployable yachts positions to be re-stowed. I found it online, check it out: Le Grand Bleu.

So up until this point in the day I had decided that the Jacksonville stretch was my least favorite section so far. Coincidently Whitney had given me two very interesting but unreferenced facts about the city doing my crash-course tour she gave me. First, that Jacksonville has become the largest city in America, as defined by square miles. And second, that it has the highest AIDS prevalence rate of anywhere in the country too. Who knows if either are true (I'm to tired to look them up). BUT after St. Johns I had a complete change of heart. The waterway became an absolutely GORGEOUS stretch of undeveloped marsh. As far as you could see on both sides. It was a little taste of what Georgia should be like.

....Speaking of Georgia: I pulled my boat out of the water again tonight with the help of family tonight at the south end of Amelia Island - so I'm very close. My parents were at there place on Daufuskie Island this weekend for the Heritage Golf Tournament in HHI and so my mother made the 2 hour drive south today to see her baby boy and pamper me with a nice dinner. I'm getting spoiled, this is the 3rd night in a row I can sleep in a bed use a real computer: thats why this post is a little long-winded.

The FL/Georgia is only about 14 miles away. I can practically see it and I can smell the peaches on the other side. Tomorrow I say goodbye to FL!