The main reason we winter in NE Florida is because most of Jan's family is here. My mom is in Ft Myers, 7 1/2 hours away.
The reasons we are in Julington Creek are: It was about ten minutes to Jan's mom so Jan could take care of her in her last days the summer before last, from St Augustine it was about an hour. Julington is well protected, especially from the winter Northerlies, by the nearby shore. The St Augustine anchorage is completely exposed to northerlies. Previous hurricanes caused some serious damage, destroying half of the municipal marina for example. There are no significant wakes in Julington, whereas in St Augustine we were often thrown around by inconsiderate boat drivers. This is mainly because the boats in Julington are small, lightweight, runabouts. It is extremely rare to see a boat hereabouts heavy enough to produce a wake strong enough to rock us. The marina we dinghy into is $42/month vs. $150/month in St Augustine. Perhaps the biggest factor is having a parking lot for our cars, a situation we take advantage of by continuing to pay the dinghy dock fee so we can store our cars there when we do cruise. In St Augustine we had to park on the street, and often had to walk almost a mile to our cars. In addition, the local homeowers would complain to the cops about our cars parked in front of their house, then the cops would put a red ticket on the car proclaiming it would be considered an "abandoned vehicle" if not moved in three days. When we came back from a visit to friends in Georgia it cost me $350 to get my car back. Now that my elderly mom needs me more than ever, we go to Ft Myers and stay with her for about a week every 6 to 8 weeks. My car would constantly be held for ransom by the city so we would have to pay hundreds of dollars a month to park in a private parking lot, if we could find one. St Augustine has some attractive qualities, but it is not attractive enough to pay the tribute required to stay there. Norm S/V Bandersnatch Lying Julington Creek 30 07.72N 081 38.40W > [Original Message] > From: Philip McConnell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Norm of Bandersnatch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 6/4/2008 5:53:20 PM > Subject: Why Julington creek? > > Hi Norm, > > Can I ask what caused you to give up on St. Augustine? Bandersnatch was > a seasonal fixture there in the harbor for so long. Do you ever consider > anywhere else? We are currently in Ft. Pierce and it seems pretty nice. > The inlet is easy and there is a strong Westerly most afternoons so it's > fairly pleasant. Jax could be sooo stultifying. > > Just curious if you don't mind. > > -- > Philip McConnell > USSV Gryphon > 1987 Tayana 52 CC Cutter > Ft. Pierce, FL _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
