Island Spirit Sailing Adventures: Fernandina Florida: Report 1

Report #1 from FERNANDINA FLORIDA! After having our boat delivered here by Ron and Paul, IP owners, while we stayed home to focus on our Drexel University Grad school work, we have finally arrived. The photos help to tell the story with Radeen packing up and provisioning the boat back in Rock Hall, MD with tons of food for the delivery and for living aboard in Florida. Four complete dock carts of food was secured, stowed and packed aboard along with a full menu plan and inventory of locations so Ron, Paul and Jeff could easily make planned meals. Once the boat was in Fernandina on a mooring ball, Paul and Ron flew home from Jacksonville. Two weeks later we drove our car down to Florida and moved aboard. Job #1 was to get the dinghy running, so I had to tear down the carburator and clean the fuel bowl, fuel pump, fuel line and fuel filter plus add a new spark plug. Once this was completed, we have a running dinghy. These ethanol fuels tend to clog up if allowed to sit for a while. Now the dinghy is running better than ever. Living aboard on the mooring ball, we completed our last papers for our course work and after 4 days, we submitted our work and ended the fall semester! WHAT A FEELING - Drexel is a ton of work. They make you write so much. As it turns out, the boat is actually a good place to study from, with no distractions and we have adjusted well.

Perfect Sunset in Fernandina, FL

This town of Fernandina Beach, Florida, is really a great town and the city should be commended as to the work they have done, focused on the boating community. With a newly built marina with floating docks and a clean bathhouse and wonderful restaurant, the location is very welcoming. The town is a short walk right over the railroad tracks and has cute shops, ice cream parlors, famous bars, a great Mexican restaurant, library and post office all within a few blocks of the marina. The beach is about 1 to 1.5 miles east of the marina, but with our car, we were able to explore the entire Amelia Island area. With rolling sand dunes and vacation homes on the beach, you can see why this location is so popular. Lucky for us, we have a very unusual warm front giving us 80 degree days and 65 degree nights. Now with our car shuffled down to Titusville, we are waiting out the fog, and as soon as it lifts we will head south for Jacksonville, then on towards an anchorage just below there for tonight. The we will pull into St Augustine where we plan to anchor off the fort and spend a few days before moving on south. So, our first Florida adventure NOW begins!