The evening was Saturday, April 12th.
We disembarked from the Vilano Beach Boat Ramp.
The weather was sunny, low 80’s.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
We left the dock around 6:00 pm. He headed over toward Morgan Island. Because it wasn’t totally low tide yet, we anchored near by and waited for land to appear. We ate another dinner of Subway subs. Stupid Larry’s Giant Subs! What sub places closes at 5:00 pm on a saturday?! When Morgan Island finally did, we headed over to the sand. Mike had gone over a little earlier than Michael and I; I had to call and wish Grandma a happy birthday; and built Michael Mountain out of sand. We had a blast. we swam a bit, played with Michael Mountain and the “Lake” Mike had created. Michael even went out further into the water than he ever has before. He even went under water for the first time…he didn’t like that too much. It started to get dark so we headed to downtown where it’s lit up.
we anchored and enjoyed the lights of the city. Well…we tried to enjoy the lights except Michael was tired and crankier than ever. I’m sure the boats that were moored in the bay appreciated our presence and that of Michael. We headed in at 10:00. We were surprised at how few people were out boating tonight. I’m sure we should take advantage of it before summer hits and it’s likely to be much busier.
The afternoon was Friday, April 11th.
We disembarked from the Vilano Beach Boat Ramp.
The weather was sunny, upper 70’s.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
Jen writes
We left the Vilano boat ramp around 4:30pm. We cruised over to the Castillo de San Marco and anchored for the evening. We saw dolphins playing, we saw the Victory III go out twice, we saw the Schooner Freedom sail around. Michael had fun playing with the radio and the trim switch. He even tried to drive a few times. We headed back in around 9pm. It was completely dark, except for the lights of downtown St. Augustine. It was pretty but I was a little nervous driving back in at dark. At least it was good practice for the Fourth of July.
Mike writes
It was a great night for boating, we pretty much just anchored and enjoyed the nice weather. Grabbed some subs from Subway before we left and had dinner on the boat. Took a ton of pictures while we were out. Mikey had a great time, ate a ton of cookies, whatever keeps him happy right?
Stayed out until dark, was first time in the dark and I have to say, thank you Dock Holiday for the gift certificate because that GPS we bought with it sure came in handy in the dark. I can see how it could be scary at night but it wasn’t too bad. We cruised back in slow and there were a few other boaters out so we didn’t feel so alone. We came back in at low tide, which is always a challenge at the Vilano boat ramp and even more of one in the dark but we managed.
One thing i noticed is that the dash lights on the GT 185 sure made my night vision worse, will have to look into putting some sort of dimmer switch or kill switch on the dash lights other then that the Glastron GT185 was great at night just as it is during the day.
The afternoon was Friday, April 4th.
We disembarked from the Vilano Beach Boat Ramp.
The weather was sunny, upper 70’s.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
We headed out about 4pm we planned on staying out until dark. We headed to downtown Saint Augustine on the GT 185 and just enjoyed the warm weather for awhile then we saw the Victory III heading out on it’s 4:45 tour, so we followed it through what we think is called Hospital Creek. Hospital Creek starts near the fort and ends near the Vilano boat ramp. There is not much to it but we found out today that the dolphins go there when the tide comes in. We watched the dolphins, maybe 8 of them, swim around for quite awhile. The dolphins came real close to the boat and were coming out of the water a lot, we got to see there faces. I would love to show you the pictures but I did not bring the camera, sorry. Well after watching the dolphins we headed back downtown and anchored near the Lions Bridge and just enjoyed the breeze. We watched people from the sailboats that anchor downtown come and go from there dingy. We stayed downtown until 7:45, that is the latest we have been out so far. We wanted to stay out past dark but the weather was not looking good so we headed in. Getting in was a breeze, was high tide and I just followed the GPS in to the ramp. I did get to put the navigation lights on today, it wasn’t dark but it was dusk.
After having our Glastron GT 185 for a few weeks and taking it out over a dozen times we are still happy with the choice we made to buy a Glastron. We stopped in Gander Mountain in Saint Augustine over the weekend looking for a life jacket to use when we tube and looked at the boats they have there. There is no comparison the Glastron boats are far superior to the Tahoe and Sea Swirl boats that Gander Mountain sell. From the bow to the stern everything about the Glastron GT 185 is better then the Tahoe we would of bought. Yes it is normal to comparison shop after a purchase everyone does it and this time we can say we made the right choice.
Here are a few things I noticed about the Tahoe that I did not notice prior to buying the Glastron GT 185. The side windows on the Glastron T 185 extend much further then the Tahoe Q4 SS. There is no option for bolster seats on the Tahoe Q4 SS. There is no glove box on the Tahoe Q4 SS. The option for a full bench seat or sport seating is non existent on the Tahoe it is standard on the Glastron GT’s. This was a HUGE deal for the wife. What I am talking about is the rear seating, on a lot of boats the rear seats are split because the engine is basically between the rear seats, this is not the case in the Glastron GT series, the rear seat goes all the way across the boat and the engine is behind you completely. The cleats on the Tahoe are cheap, the vinyl in my opinion is cheap and thin and after cleaning the Glastron I have realized that the snap in carpet is a must have, the Tahoe has glued down carpet and I may be a new boater but even I know that you do not want carpet in your boat that is glued down. I can spray my Glastron down with the hose and not worry about it not drying because it dries quick and is very easy to wipe down. From start to finish it takes me less than an hour to power wash the boat and wipe it down completely dry, inside and out. And the times when I do wash the carpet I can just hang them from the side of the boat to dry out. The Tahoe, I can see it already smelling of mold and mildew due to the fact that the carpet is glued down. I know it probably dries quicker then I think but it can’t dry any faster then my already dry carpet on the Glastron because I unsnapped it before I washed the inside of the boat.
The Glastron GT 185 is also a lot smother then the Tahoe. What I mean by this is the finish on the interior of the Glastron is so smooth and easy to clean, it’s actually one piece. I can wipe the interior down in no time and insure there is no water to cause mold or mildew, or what I like to refer to as “boat smell”. The Tahoe, forget about it that glued in carpet runs up the walls into cracks and crevices that you could never reach to dry the same is true about the Bayliners we looked at. The Glastron unitized construction is well worth the extra money, which is not really much extra over the other boats we looked at. I have priced out the Tahoe Q4 SS and to get it with all the features the Glastron GT 185 I bought has it would be the almost same price however you would not have the quality the same is true on a comparable Bayliner, however in my opinion there is not a comparable Bayliner or Tahoe for the money, you get better design and a better built boat with Glastron.
As far as the power choice the Glastron we choose is powered by the Volvo Penta 3.0L GL. Now I am no expert on marine engines however I can say after looking at the Mercruiser outdrive on the Tahoe it just looks little and weak compared to the Volvo Penta outdrive. We are very pleased with the performance of our Glastron so far. Once the temperature gets a little warmer we will be pulling a tube behind the GT 185 and maybe even a wakeboard, we will then see how the Volvo Penta 3.0L does. Now the GT 185 does have the option of a 4.3L which would give you more power if you needed it, maybe you would need it if you wanted to pull several skiers, this is not the case with us so we choice the very economical 3.0L.
So to sum it all up, no buyers remorse here. We are very glad we bought the Glastron over the other boats we looked at. Now there are bigger boats, more luxurious and faster boats out there but better built? For the money I would say not.
The day was Saturday, March 29th.
We disembarked from the Vilano Beach Boat Ramp.
The weather was sunny, upper 70’s.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
The day started out terrible. First of all, the Vilano Boat ramp was packed! I mean there were absolutely no parking except for trying to catch people leaving. The First Coast Offshore Rodeo, which we are assuming is a fishing tournament, was happening today. Next, while walking down to the dock, my ankle twisted coming off the ramp and I feel to the concrete…with Michael in my arms. Thank God my motherly instinct was stronger than the instinct to protect myself because I held on to him the whole way down. Luckily he only scratched up his one elbow and was otherwise completely unscathed. Myself, on the other hand, could barely walk, was torn up and bloody on both feet and ankles, and was in a lot of pain. We had a first aid kit on board so that helped some. I iced my ankle and soaked it in the cold saltwater later in the day and that probably helped the most. Now it will just take time for everything to heal.
Because of my injuries, we decided just to anchor for the day and take it easy. Morgan island wasn’t going to be visible until the evening anyway, so we figured it wasn’t worth beaching anywhere else. First we anchored down by the Saint Augustine airport. A plane was practicing some neat air stunts for awhile so that was fun to watch. Even Michael was entertained by it. Mike tried some fishing with absolutely no luck. We ate our lunch and relaxed.
We then headed over to the Castillo de San Marco and anchored. The fort was busy and we pulled up just in time to see a reenactment demonstration. The military men blew the cannon off twice. We were so close and it was so loud that it actually scared Michael the first time.
We headed back in around 5:30. Michael was great all day and really had a good time. Thankfully it seemed as if he had completely forgotten about his near death experience earlier with Mommy. Unfortunately for Mommy, she won’t be forgetting it any time soon. I’m sure I’ll have the scars as a constant reminder!
Short video of cannon being fired at Fort Castillo de San Marco in Saint Augustine. video is a little shaky, but give me a break I was on a boat
The day was Sunday, March 23rd.
We disembarked from the Vilano Beach Boat Ramp.
The weather was sunny, mid 70’s, windy.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
Morgan, our Shih Tzu (Deck Hand)
We headed out around 12:30. We had planned on spending the day at Morgan Island (our little sand bar beach).
We headed out a little too early, Morgan Island was still under water. So while waiting for the tide to go down we spent some time across the way on another beach that had glass, shells, sticks and some other stuff mikey tried to eat.
We finally got to go over to the Island, we anchored on the west side today, the island provides protection from wake caused by passing boaters. We anchored 30 yards west of the island which insured we would not be stuck there any longer then we wanted to be. One trip to the boat Morgan decided she wanted to go swimming and followed me to the boat and to think 2 days prior she wanted nothing to do with the water.
We had a great time out today and got a lot of great pictures of Mikey and Morgan having fun, see below.
On the way back in Mikey fell asleep so we tried fishing again. We tied off of the Vilano Bridge and had no luck once again.
On the way into the boat ramp the wind pushed us onto the sand, I will be glad when they dredge that place, there is no room for error at all.
Jen backed the car down the ramp like a pro today, too bad I couldn’t get the boat to the ramp like a pro, maybe next time.
The day was Saturday, March 22nd.
We disembarked from the Riverdale Park Boat Ramp.
The weather was mostly cloudy, 70 degrees.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
We launched from Riverdale Park boat ramp, read more about that on our Boat Ramp page. We had a short 10 mile cruise north up the Saint Johns river to Sixmile Creek, Sixmile creek is deep in Palmo Cove. Our destination was the Outback Crab Shack and the reason was to meet up with the Dock Holiday Posse. We arrived a little after 1pm and docked on their 1500ft floating dock. We had lunch there; the food wasn’t the best but the atmosphere was good, with friendly people. We saw a little aligator next to the dock.
After lunch we got to go on a house boat from Dock Holidays Boat Sales. It was pretty cool, mike jr liked it. Not sure we could ever live on a house boat, it would need to be much bigger. I could however take a nice long vacation on one.
After the Dock Holiday/Glastron/Nautic Star/Gibson meet and greet we headed back to the boat ramp. The cruise was nice and relaxing and not having to worry too much about water depth is nice.
The day was Friday, March 21st.
We disembarked from the Vilano Boat Ramp.
The weather was sunny, clear, and mid-70’s.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
Morgan, our Shih Tzu (Deck Hand)
We left around 11:30. We had heard there were more beaches down past Fort Matanzas, so we headed down that way. We did see some small beaches, so we parked the boat up on the sand to have some lunch. Well, to our surprise, 2 dolphins were playing about 25 feet away from our boat! They were rushing the wakes as they came into shore. It was awesome! We watched them for about 45 mins.
We then decided to head over to Fort Matanzas and beach on the opposite side of the fort. That turned out to be a better spot than the right side of the waterway. Morgan and Michael played on the beach. We even got Morgan to go swimming, mostly against her will. We saw a cool sand crab burying himself in deep holes in the sand. After awhile, we headed back towards St. Augustine. We saw some more dolphins just past the 312 bridge. There were even baby dolphins in the group!
We drove out past the Vilano bridge and came across this great sand bar in the middle of the intercoastal. Michael was sleeping, so we decided to take advantage of that and park the boat for some relaxation. Morgan was able to run until she was exhausted! It really ended up being the perfect little beach island. The water was crystal clear and warm from the sun. It was also shallow for quite awhile, so it would be a perfect wading spot for Michael. We can’t wait to go back to our new spot. We’ve named it Morgan island!
The day was Sunday, March 16th.
We disembarked from the Vilano Public Boat Ramp.
The weather was sunny, 70 degrees, and windy.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
Left at 11:30ish again, cruised downtown, seems we do that first to check out what’s going on down there. Tried to go fishing at the Salt Run but Mikey had other plans, seems he wanted to cruise so we left there and headed north. Mikey fell asleep and we stopped just north of the Vilano bridge. Tried fishing but again no luck, saw other people catching fish so we were at least in the right area; must be our technique.
once Mikey awoke we headed north. i know we should plan our day out before we leave but we usually don’t and today we just kept cruising all the way up to Beach Blvd. in Jacksonville. We anchored there for about 45 minutes and just enjoyed the day, Mikey explored the boat and finally ventured into the bow under the cover with me. He didn’t seem too impressed; i guess i have more fun under there then he does.
The ride up was real choppy but the ride back was much nicer, also quicker. Must of had a tail wind, made the trip from Beach Blvd to the Vilano Bridge in an hour. That is hard to do in a car on most days.
Had a good day out on the water, and to think we almost didn’t go because someone got sunburned the day before, and it wasn’t the Captain.
On another note, I think the pickles we are using on our sandwiches is ruining them, I liked the old pickles better.
The day was Saturday, March 15th.
We disembarked from the Vilano Public Boat Ramp.
The weather was sunny, 85 degrees, and very, very windy.
On Board:
Mike (Captain)
Michael (First Mate)
Jennifer (Navigator)
We left the boat ramp around 11:30am. The day was sunny, warm, and gusty. Winds were probably reaching 30 mph. But did that stop us?! NO! We forged on ahead. We cruised around a bit, down past the fort and past the 312 bridge. We got shot by the canon twice. Today was the first trip we put Mikey in his little swimmers and his new RED Elmo swim trunks. BIG MISTAKE!!! The little swimmers leaked everywhere and of course got red all over the port side captains seat. Now I’ll have to research how to remove red dye from boat vinyl.
We beached over by the inlet again. Michael had a ball. He went in the water further than he’s gone before. I think it scared him a bit because after he whined for me to pick him up, he wouldn’t let me put him down in the water again. I made the mistake of trying a new sunscreen on Mikey. I tried the banana boat baby spray lotion because it’s easier to apply. Well, our baby has gotten his first official sunburn because of it! Anyone who reads this needs to know that Aveeno baby sunscreen may be expensive but it works! I will never trust another sunscreen on his delicate skin again! Luckily just his forearms and his cheeks got burnt a little. Now me, on the other hand, got absolutely scorched! I made the mistake of trying Tropicana’s dyr oil SPF 12. Mike said it was like putting crisco all over my body and he’s right!
We then headed over just past the Vilano bridge and found a really pretty spot to anchor. We tried our hand at fishing but to no avail. I’m beginning to think Mike just got lucky catching that one fish in the ocean the first time we tried fishing. Mike decided to use one of the storage wells under one of the bow cushions as a cooler this time, instead of bringing the big cooler. First of all, it adds a lot of weight to the boat. and secondly, it’s a pain to haul in and out of the boat. It worked nicely. It was also, much easier to get to. Mike used a spark plug boot as a drain plug. I’m sure that will now become our standard cooler from here on out, unless we have people with us and have more drinks and food. The winds really got blowing early evening, so we headed back into the boat ramp around 5:30.
