A Special Treat... A Submarine

(Mayport Naval Station, Jacksonville, FL) Hi 87 Lo 62 - We were woken this morning about 7:30 with the bed vibrating. I knew it had to be something different than normal in the waterway. I got up and sure enough, coming into port was was a large Navy ship that’s brand new in the fleet.  HSV-2 Swift is a "non-commissioned, hybrid catamaran originally leased by the United States Navy as a mine countermeasures and sea basing test platform."  I'm not sure what all of that means, but it reportedly can go up  to 50 knots, which is around 58 mph. So its name is very appropriate.

Here it is at the dock. (Click on photos to enlarge)


We didn’t go back to bed so we watched the firefighting training in the complex just down from us. All ship crewmembers go through extensive firefighting training. There’s usually an EMS truck and fire truck close by for any emergencies.


We pulled up our chairs and sat with our neighbors Vicki and Mark for most of the morning.


About mid-morning a submarine came into port. It didn’t stay long, but it’s always a special treat to see one of these magnificent vessels.


This is the gate across the channel that leads into the Navy base. It's in the open position.


We know that as long as the gate is open we'll see Navy ships come in or out. When the gate is closed (they have little boats that come out and drag the end of the gate across the water), we know there will be no military action in the channel. Then we watch for civilian cargo ships that come into and out of the Port of Jacksonville, which is about 10 miles up the channel.

This is a container ship that carries automobiles.


At 12:30 Vicki and Mark joined us for lunch at Safe Harbor Seafood Market. We went there in October and we were anxious to go again. It’s a combination seafood restaurant and fish market.


When we got back to the base we went to the commissary to do some grocery shopping. I’m determined to do one big shopping trip for the whole month and only get bread, milk and eggs the rest of the month.  I hope that helps keep the food budget on target.

The rest of the evening we sat outside with several neighbors for happy hour. It was a great time of good lively conversation as we tried to fix the world’s problems. And we had lots of advice for the politicians in Washington about how to avoid shutting down the government at midnight tonight. :)


It was another wonderful day in paradise.  We just love Florida.