A Relaxing Day Watching the Waves

(Mayport Naval Station, Jacksonville, FL) Hi 77 Lo 64 -- It was a cloudy day, and we thought sure we’d get some rain, but it managed to miss us all day. Jim and I took a long walk on the beach, hoping we wouldn't get rained on.

The surf was up today, and there were several "surfer dudes" trying to ride the waves. They look so little out in the ocean with the waves.


We saw a lot of guys out there, but only a few managed to catch waves big enough to ride in.

A mile south of our beach access there’s a line of poles stretching from the top of the beach to the water. This is the southern perimeter of the base, with "keep out" signs posted. Just past that is the beach fronting Hanna State Park. There’s a guard shack above the beach with cameras watching for unauthorized people coming onto the base.


I previously posted pictures of the beach at high tide. Today we were there during low tide.




It took us a little over an hour to walk about three miles. It was a great workout in the ocean breeze and warm temperature. When we got back to the RV I watched recorded shows while Jim read on his Kindle.

There wasn’t much activity on the river today, but I got a few photos of some boats and ships coming and going.





Sometimes we see two ships passing each other in opposite directions, like this tanker and sea barge. It shows just how wide the channel is for both of them to go through at the same time.


The highlight of the day was seeing the USS Mesa Verde, an amphibious transport dock, head out to sea. It’s an amazing looking ship. If you click on the photo to enlarge it you can see an Osprey twin-rotor plane parked on the deck.


It never did rain. The base was very quiet today due to the holiday. The commissary was closed so I didn’t get a chance to get groceries. We’ll do that before we leave. Tomorrow will be very active on the Navy side of the channel, with six ships going out and two coming in. It will be interesting.