2/23 -  3/19/12

Pelican Roost, NS Mayport


OK, so I have had a couple of emails and phone calls threatening me it I don't get busy with blogging again.
As you can see we left Mayport almost a month ago.  Part of the delay was staying in remote locations with no internet service.  Once for 8 days!

Naval Station Mayport at Jacksonville Florida has been a superb place to stay during the last three weeks, with a double deep water channel right in front of us.  One channel for the Navy and one channel for the commercial ships/ barges.    While here we visited with our son Tim who just retired from the Navy last July and is now in school full time.  He has a very nice home about twenty min from our camp spot.  There is so much to do in the area; we visited the zoo, Budweiser Brewery, St Augustine, San Sebastian Winery who claims to be the oldest winery in the United States.  The tour was great at the winery, they also had a roof-top bar/grill and blues/jazz performance every Sunday which is the day we were there.  They were also dog friendly.  We also visited the Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach, they also had dog friendly places.  The beaches were starting to be packed as Spring Break was just starting.

However the beach at NS Mayport was just as good and no crowds.  We saw many Navy ships come and go along with a couple of subs.  Three ships (all frigates) were decommissioned while we were there, it was sad to see them leave for their last time and probably will be cut up and used for scrap metal.  Sometimes they are sold to other countries but we were told these will be cut up.  

Below is an aircraft carrier that carries helicopters and a type of boat that skims over the water and can be loaded into the stern of the boat, which just lowers onto the water and the boat just shoots right on up there and is then stored inside the ship.

Tim loves waffles so he was come for breakfast on every Sunday for our ritual of waffles, I sure wish I had a picture of that.  I make the waffles with Biscuit or Krusteas Buttermilk mix, using 2 ½ cups plus I also add ¼ cup of bran and ¼ cup of Flax meal.  I usually make the batter a little on the thin side and this makes the waffles light and crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

We stayed a little longer at Mayport than we had originally planned because our daughter Brenda and SIL Tom flew in from San Diego.   They were on their way to Jamaica to celebrate Brenda’s  

BIG 4 0  birthday  along with Tom’s birthday a few days later.  We were fortunate to be able to spend a couple of days with them.  Do they look a little tired?  Tom and Brenda had just arrived from San Diego about 2 hrs ago.

Tim, the master chef

And the whole gang:  Joe, Nancy, Brenda, Tom and Tim

At the Zoo in Jacksonville we were fortunate to see the black Panther and a Giraffe up close.

That’s it for now.

Be Safe

Joe and Nancy