May 22, 2021
Ouch, that’ll leave a mark.
I got a little sleep and headed out with my alternate anchorages figured out, just to be sure. In St. Augustine I had to what for the Bridge of Lions to open for me. That area is notorious for a strong current. Unfortunately, I allowed the boat to get too close to the opening while waiting. Instead of going around and get a better angle I tried to make it through and kissed the fenders on the bridge. Ouch. Left some scuff marks and a little fiberglass repair on a scupper. All minor stuff. To make it even better I had to wait at the city marina to fill out an incident report. That only took four freaking hours. OK, it was only a couple of hours but it seemed like four. Once again, I was dreading another night passage. Not to worry, I made good time and go to Jacksonville and tied up at the “Free Jacksonville City Dock” before sunset even. Found it on Active Captain but it is not mentioned on anything official I could find. Nice concrete floating docks and got the last space remaining. Even though the day started lousy it turned out pretty nice with lots of nice things to see along the way.