We close this segment of the trip out with a cruise up the St Johns River to our next seasonal home for a few months. The combination of being in the middle of Florida's summer heat and our plans to explore the freshwater St Johns river to it's origins almost back down to Orlando in the interior of central Florida are not quite in synch and now that we are in the middle of the hurricane season finding a place inland and up the Ortega River is a good alternative for getting thru the remainder of summer in a place safe(r) from storm surge.
Jacksonville, like Mobile and Tampa is a major shipping port but located some 25 miles in from the Atlantic. To get there we have to turn off the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and deal with the huge tidal flow of the St Johns river, which is rumored to be tidal almost 60 miles inland/upstream. Encountering large ships in a fast moving current could be tricky, but our passage is relatively quiet and we make our way past the last railroad bridge and cute roadway bridge openings to our next marina home in time to celebrate the 4th of July.
The tidal currents coming up the river were running at 4 mph!
