Reynolds Park Marina, Green Cove Springs

 Dockside at the Reynolds Park Pier

The dock from the bulkhead

Reynolds Park Marina is only a mile from Green Cove Springs Marina but may as well be a world away. It is also centered around one of the 10 derelict half mile long piers in the St. Johns River that date back to the last days of WWII. It is on pier #2. Green Cove Springs is on pier #9. Reynolds Park Marina has redone the water and electricity and provides safe berthing along side. Green Cove Springs uses mooring balls as the electricity on the pier is not safe. Indeed while we were there a wire overheated and the pier caught fire briefly.

Reynolds is very quiet, clean, gated, and seems safe. There is a comfortable cruisers lounge with clean showers and reliable internet. Capt. David Peden answers the phone reliably at 904-284-4667 although they do not answer the VHF. You can drive your car onto the pier for easy re provisioning. Rates are reasonable. Having said all that, we missed the hustle and bustle of Green Cove Springs Marina. The squalor and dust seems a small price to pay for all of the interesting people and activity happening there. Jan and I have become quite fond of the staff at GCSM as well.

White Pepper spent 13 days at Reynolds Park including Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was a pleasant pot luck affair in the cruisers lounge. There was even football at the big screen TV. Our stay at Reynolds Park all seems like a blur to me. We had to finish up the motor project with Al, bend on the sails, re provision and generally put the boat back together after being torn apart during her stay at Green Cove. The big run to Wal-Mart for paper and plastic goods came within an ace of $400. These items are much more expensive in the Bahamas so we take our own. Also cat food is scarce and expensive. We bought Aphrodite 6 months worth and repacked it all in plastic bags. The newly emptied locker in the fore peak (where the holding tank had been) was quickly filled.

Several days were spent re-caulking the hatch over the engine which had to be cut out last August to install the new motor. I used a whole 10oz. tube of 3M's 4200. I was planning to re bed the opening ports, but they would not come apart. Thanks Deltaville Boatyard. I will have to eventually go to a proper boat yard with enough tools to pry apart what seems to be 5200 sealant.

The two weeks were a pleasant contrast to the previous ones at GCSM and proved be a convenient way to prepare for the upcoming season. Finally the last day dawned clear and calm. Jan an I were able to push away for the next and first stop of the year—Jacksonville Municipal Marina. Regular readers will remember the Muni from the tribulations last Spring. This time it should be different!