Monday, November 15, 2010

Jacksonville, Florida

Last Boat has arrived in Jacksonville, FL! We got into Beach Marina in Jacksonville Friday afternoon around 2:00 PM. We did have some engine problems again but5 managed to overcome them. We were so excited when we arrived that we had four welcoming friends to greet us. Nelson’s sister, Loretta, and her husband, Mac and Billy & Diane Williams, friends of ours during Planter’s Bank days were also there. It was good to see familiar faces when we arrived. Friday was a beautiful day. The temperature was high 70’s and the sun was bright all day. We have motored most of the trip as we have had little wind or it was on our nose as usual.
Nelson had contacted the marina concerning our engine problem and the mechanic met him shortly after we got the boat secured. After they examined filters and fuel, they decided that everything was fine and the problem was that the electric pump was not priming the fuel filter properly and we had to put fuel in the primary filter ourselves to eliminate the air in the fuel system. We hope our fuel problems are now solved.
We spent three nights with Loretta and Mac and enjoyed our time at their house. We also went out to eat Sunday night with our friends from Rocky Mount. It was great to see them and catch up on all the years since we were last together.
We departed Beach Marina this morning at 8:30 and Loretta joined us on the boat trip to St. Augustine. Mac met her at the Marina where we stopped for fuel. The weather was beautiful and she wanted to continue with us only if we could say the weather would not change to a storm. Of course we could not do that so she went back to Jacksonville with Mac. We are thankful she decided to join us to St. Augustine. After lunch, we ate a delicious piece of walnut pie that Diane Williams gave us when we visited them Sunday at their home in Ponte Veda. It was great! Thanks, Diane.
We are anchored at Butler Beach outside of St. Augustine for the night. We covered only 50 miles today. We plan to get an early start tomorrow and move much further south.

2 comments:

Ceibo said...

We are at Sylvan Cove with Melinda and we are keeping up with your adventures. We saw Al and Martha on Sat. and they told us they are taking your car to chop shop. Ha, ha, miss you guys.

Joe and Sylvia said...

Nelson,
I had a similar problem when I tried using a NAPA filter for the secondary fuel filter. Due to it's lip, it doesn't allow complete sealing and lets air in fuel system. Just a thought. Cheers and good luck.

joe