Jacksonville City docks and anchorages?

[bobk]

We will be cruising to Jacksonville in April for the MTOA rendezvous at the 'Marina at Ortega Landing' and thought we might spend a few extra days in the area. Can anybody recommend a good nearby anchorage or comment on staying at the free city docks?

Bob
48MY Series I

[Jaxfishgyd]

The "Marina at Ortega" is less than a half mile from my marina. It's first class and has great slips.
As far as places to anchor, there are a LOT of them in N. Fla and here on the St Johns River.
You can dock at "The Landing" downtown free of charge for 72 hrs. but no electric or water provided.
A 30 mile cruise from here will take you to the "Outback Crab Shack" which also has free dockage (1500' dock) and it's been featured on FoodTV.
Let me know just what you want and I (or Julie/Tim on the "Slow Lane" can answer them for you....
Charlie

[bobk]

The "Marina at Ortega" is less than a half mile from my marina. It's first class and has great slips.
As far as places to anchor, there are a LOT of them in N. Fla and here on the St Johns River.
You can dock at "The Landing" downtown free of charge for 72 hrs. but no electric or water provided.
A 30 mile cruise from here will take you to the "Outback Crab Shack" which also has free dockage (1500' dock) and it's been featured on FoodTV.
Let me know just what you want and I (or Julie/Tim on the "Slow Lane" can answer them for you....
Charlie

Thanks Charlie, I was hoping to hear from you. All we will want to accomplish is find an inexpensive place to hang out for a day or two if we get there early, or choose to stay after the rendezvous to wait for good weather. And of course, a good spot to 'see' the town from. How is 'The Landing' safety wise? I assume it's right down town. I don't mind having no facilities or power as we anchor most of the time. If that's full, is there a close anchorage?

Bob

[Jaxfishgyd]

"The Landing" is a good place to tie up to.. Plenty of security in place. We go there a bunch during the year and spend the night or the weekend. Never had a problem.

Plus a lot of places to eat (Hooters!) there or over where Julie and Tim are at (across from The Landing) is River City Brewery, which has good food.

"Exchange Island", just East of downtown has a very good anchorage. We go there several times a year when the grandkids are around.

You can also anchor out just off of Marina of Ortega !!

There is no "safe" place to anchor on the St Johns River between the ICW and downtown (you can in the Trout River, but the wakes from the many tugs will rock you !!!

But most anywhere South of downtown is good... Good holding ground and you just pick a spot and drop the hook....

[bobk]

Thanks Charlie, just what I wanted to hear.

Bob

[Jaxfishgyd]

Bob,

Give me a call some time...... 904-704-3627

Just don't let anyone else know it....

Will let you know, when a call comes in and I do not know it, I will let it go to my voicemail..... Then call back.

Again, it's my private number so keep it to yourself...........

[Nonchalant1]

The cruise up St. John's River from Jax is very nice, and a side trip through Murphy Creek is really a great, fun cruise. It's a twisty curvey river connected to the St. John's and is full of alligators, birds, etc. It's like you're going into the Amazon or something. If you want to see pictures of it, go to my old blog here http://dougandkathysboatlog.blogspot.com and click and scroll to March 23rd and 24th. The Outback Crabshack is there too.... nice restaurant and free docks.

We stayed at the Jax city docks and they were fine, however a city fire boat ran a big wake through the no wake zone there and destroyed my seastairs. The city of Jacksonville did buy me new ($1,800) seastairs with no hassles and gave me $250 to fix the small paint scratches too. You can walk to everything downtown from the city free docks.

Doug Shuman

[Jaxfishgyd]

We stayed at the Jax city docks and they were fine, however a city fire boat ran a big wake through the no wake zone there and destroyed my seastairs. The city of Jacksonville did buy me new ($1,800) seastairs with no hassles and gave me $250 to fix the small paint scratches too. You can walk to everything downtown from the city free docks.

Doug Shuman

Several years ago I was docked at the city docks for the FLORIDA/georgia football game when the COAST GUARD, leading two NAVY boats by put out a wake of about 7 feet...(it was also a NO WAKE area) The wakes washed all the tables, chairs, icechest and whatever else was on the dock into the water....

Put 3 in the hospital, damaged over 100 boats (including mine) of which 5 were totalled. But we were all given our money quickly.

But every place has it's own horror story.........

Food ranges from Hooters up to Ruth Chris Steakhouse....