June 6, 2009: Jacksonville, Fl

There was a rumbling in our ears as we pulled away from the dock this morning and headed towards the huge blue Main Street Bridge. We were accompanying 100 brightly painted speed boats out to the starting line for the Jacksonville Poker Run. Some of the boats were powered by as much as 3800 horsepower and would go over 100 miles per hour. We saw them begin the race with tall fountains of water spraying behind them.

Turning up river, we found the Ortega River Bridge bridgmaster ready to open the lift bridge for us to return to Lamb’s Marina. We had our screen door repaired and had to collect it. Tom also made a quick trip to the grocery store and returned with blueberries from NC. Yea! Headed east on Saint Johns River, we returned to Jacksonville hearing the US Coast Guard announce a storm alert for the area on the VHF radio. Seeing the storm clouds brewing we decided to go back to the Jacksonville Metropolitan park for tonight.