In early hours it is common for wind and current to be calm and we have an easy departure from Conch House.  Shortly after leaving we found ourselves in an area to recalibrate autopilot. Following steps provided in Garmin Sea Trial Wizard (aptly named), this is a very easy if you have depth, no crab pots, no anchored boats, no boat traffic. Our friends chug on by as we are recalibrating and took photo of NN.

Easy peasy, just like that we have our autopilot back and we decide to name him “Otto”.

Enroute we saw a flock of pink birds named roseate spoonbills. We had thought it was flamingos in the wild but my SIL bird expert identifies these beautiful birds.

Incredible holiday traffic continues with both fast speed, volume, all types of boats even tubing. I can’t imagine taking young children out in these conditions for tubing but that is exactly what we saw. Many youngsters on boats are not wearing flotation gear! This is why there are always holiday fatalities and injuries. ☹️

We arrived early without benefit of slack tide in Neptune Beach (south Jacksonville area). There was crazy tide and winds were picking up as we approached Windward Marina. After a couple attempts, we decided to go northward a bit on the ICW (slowly) and await a time closer to slack tide. 

It is better now but other boats were zooming in/out and undercutting. They are more maneuverable than Nauti Nerds and are a constant source of concern. More craziness on display after docking at the end of a T dock along the entry/exit path to the marina. There was a constant parade of two way boat traffic most of which were very close to Nauti Nerds. We put fenders out to protect the boat from this traffic!! There were two boat ramps, a fuel dock and a restaurant drawing the crowd plus the first holiday of the summer season all adding to the congestion we experienced. 

We had only been docked a couple hours when a rainstorm hit, cooling the very muggy atmosphere. Ahhh the ozone aroma when the first raindrops fall….. Even these birds had gathered on the dock and decided not to attempt flying in the storm!

We get settled in, replanned tomorrow’s voyage around tides, weather & winds. Quiet evening and dinner on the boat is most relaxing with occasional thunder rumblings. Captain has lots of lines to the dock, securing a good night’s rest.