Unusual $9/day Marina & a Half-Naked Boat

One of our boat's guards here.

After our unwelcome intruder aboard (click here to read about that), we needed to decide where to go.  Not because of the intruder, but because we needed a place to hang out long enough to get our temporary "dirt dweller" digs set up.  It's just a bonus that armed guards and patrol aircraft watch this marina, and the land entry requires an individual-by-individual security check-in, too.

Landmarks to our boat's location.

We're here because the location's convenient -- between our prospective Jacksonville jobs and where we'll drydock our boat in Green Cove Springs.  We're also here because it's only $9/day to park at new concrete floating docks (versus the kind we needed to "lasso" at points further South -- click here and here to see what that's like).  It's not free (like this marina -- click here to check it out), but it's close and well worth it.

Not a typo -- it is a "dive in" movie, not a "drive in movie"
(like this one where the cars were golf carts).
Life's a little different here....

For non-yachties, the magic of floating docks is a rising tide floats all boats.  When the dock goes up, the boat goes up with it.  When the dock goes down, the boat goes down with it.  That prevents the need to rappel from the boat to the dock, which generally happens at least twice daily when the docks are stationary.

JAX Mulberry Cove Marina, our home safe home.

Plus, docking here comes with free marina showers, free power, free water, free laundry and access to all sorts of other goodies, like really cheap groceries (from a non-profit grocer), a free indoor and a free outdoor and indoor Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Where are we?

Near-naked without her sails, Journey
at dusk; JAX Mulberry Cove Marina.

We're at Jacksonville's Naval Base, Mulberry Cove Marina, thanks to Wayne's 20+ years in the military, granting him veteran retiree rights to stay here.

Before long, we'll be sailing Journey to Green Cove Springs.  Wayne's first day of work was today.  My employment is not far behind.  

We've stripped off Journey's sails for storage; she looks half-naked.  We've left up the dodger and bimini for now, as we're still living aboard and today's heat index hit 103 degrees Fahrenheit -- Wayne missed out on that while he worked in an air conditioned building.  We have air conditioning here but are missing a few pieces of wood to prop it into place. We've sanded the boat's exterior teak and revarnished (well, technically, cetoled) part of it, soon to finish the remainder.  Wayne rinsed the saltwater from our outboard and drained the fuel, so's not to repeat last year's fiasco (click here for that RTFM learning experience).

Today's weather.  I sweltered, and I don't swelter often.   

As soon as we're settled into our apartment for hurricane season, I'll get assistance resurrecting my scattered iPhoto Library, which means more cool cruising images to come.  My images from March until mid-May, which is the majority of my 2014 cruising photos, are currently inaccessible.  The timing has to be right to give up my computer for a day or two.

Location Location
June 9, 2014 Jacksonville, FL United States (N30.12.980 W81.40.234), JAX Naval Base Mulberry Cove Marina.  Lots of great retrospectives coming from our 2014 Bahamas cruising with as-yet unpublished images.  Next cruising season, we're off to the South Pacific.  Meanwhile, time to replenish that cruising kitty!