Monday, March 29, 2010

Ship Watching - Meeting Neighbors

I have to start out with last night's sunset. It was gorgeous, and again picture do not do it justice. Here's a few that I could get before the sun went down. Cargo ship going out of the channel.


The USS Roosevelt sitting with others in the inlet.
A gorgeous sky with the sun hitting the channel.
The 8:00 Reveille woke me up this morning, but I fell back to sleep fairly fast, so I'm getting used to it. At 9:00, I heard something like a motor roar, something different than I've ever heard, so I got up to find out what was going on. There was a lot of activity going on in the channel and the huge gate was open. I grabbed a cup of coffee and Jim followed me to the waterfront. There were two tugs connecting to the destroyer USS Roosevelt. The crane pulled away the gang plank and the tugs moved the ship from the dock. The ship backed up then set sail forward out of the port. It took one hour and half to get it moved out, from the time we started watching. It was amazing.

If you click on the picture to make it larger you can see the sailors on the decks.
The tug
Cargo ships went out the St. Johns River all day long. It was an all day thing and we sat out and watched most of the afternoon. This one was going out.
An hour or so later this one came in.We're not sure what this one is in the distance, but it's been sitting there since we arrived. It's anchored and only turns around occasionally.
Another one coming in
Many people from the park came out with their dogs to watch the ships, too. We've met two other couples that are full timing and several that stay in Florida during the winter. We've had the most fun. There's all branches of the services and we have so much in common. The first question is always, "what service were you in?" Then it's, "where are you going from here?" Our neighbors next to us are Air Force and they loved moving as we did. This lifestyle with the RV is a carryover from all the military moving. What a wonderful life.

The clubhouse and the area for dogs and their owners.

5 comments:

Debbie and Rod said...

So glad you guys are having fun. You deserve it!

Debbie & Rod

Speedy said...

What a cool place to be staying. Love the pictures of the ships. Must be a busy channel!

Cyndi said...

Your day reminds me of all the times we used to go watch aircraft land and take off at Rhein-Main Air Base - you could get to a great viewpoint at the end of the runway, still on base, and watch the Frankfurt airport planes fly right overhead.

KarenInTheWoods said...

What an exciting event.. right on your own doorstep!

Karen and Steve

Anonymous said...

Before you leave the area, be sure to get over to Mayport and eat at Safe Harbor Sea Food. Very casual.Reasonable, very good food and they sell seafood too. Barbara

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