7 January - Day #36. Having the winds die down last night made for a wonderful night's sleep at the Fernandina Beach, Florida anchorage. Before pulling up the hook this morning, we had a coffee hour with Heidi and Bill aboard S/V Act III. A subsequent walk revealed a nice, quaint little town. The mood of which was exemplified by a very charming "older" woman in her red hat. She approached us and with a sweet smile asked, "Which way is it to Florida? I could swear I was there, but the temperature seems to indicate otherwise." We chatted a bit, finished our walk, said our good-byes to Act III and dinghied back to the Nellie. We motored south without regard to time or tides . The St Johns river leading to Jacksonville is large and notorious for it's fast currents. For a while the temperature improved and actually reached 50 making it feel like we'd rounded the corner and maybe leaving winter behind at last. To our amazement, the complete lack of planning was rewarded with an average of 1.5 knot current pushing us along all the way to Jacksonville. The crowning achievement of the day was when Dave landed the mother-load of a marina--for a mere $8.15/day we got a slip (with water, electric and hot showers) at the Jacksonsville Naval Air Station. We arrived after a very relaxing cruising day and treated ourselves to a 2 mile walk to visit the Liberty Club. Typical Navy, the beers are cheap and the food is good. Enjoying the cruising life, docked at the Jacksonville Naval Station. 43nm miles today, 835nm total. BJH
