St. Johns River Flashback

In late November of 2005, I was invited to test out a then newly designed boat on the St. Johns River in Florida. The boat, a economical trawler design of 37 feet in length was manufactured by Mirage Manufacturing, in near by Gainsville, Florida.


After just a few short hours of getting my sea legs on it, the bright red "N37 Semper Fi" was a true delight to live aboard and sail as we explored the beautiful river for a couple weeks.

A few miles below Jacksonville, Florida, on the river, are the towns of Orange Park and Green Cove Springs. Green Cove Springs has a wonderful warm mineral spring that flows through a public swimming pool, and then down through a beautiful public park before emptying into the St. Johns River. It was here that I boarded the Semper Fi.

At the same dock, were two large cruise ships, bobbing up and down in the gentle river currents. Asking around, I learned that they had been laid up since 2002 (three years) when their buyer couldn't pay for them. They were identical twins, the Cape May Light and the Cape Cod Light.


The Cape May Light, was built at a cost of $37.95 million and its sister, the $38.5 million Cape Cod Light (pictured from the dock of the Semper Fi) were basically repossessed after American Classic Voyages defaulted on its loans without ever making a payment on the principal.

The Cape Cod Light was designed to cruise the U.S. East Coast, Maritime Canada and into the St. Lawrence River and Seaway. In the winter, the ships were to sail south to Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and Panama, and in the of summer 2002, cruises were expected to range deep into the Great Lakes.

Built at Atlantic Marine, Jacksonville, Florida, the 1,580-ton diesel-powered ships have a service speed of 13 knots.

The ships were finally sold, for $9 million apiece, in 2008 to two Florida companies.

So, ancient history, huh?

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see one of them on the television about two weeks ago in a news item titled, "Coastal cruise ship gets Haiti mission." After being laid up since 2002, one of two 224 passenger coastal cruise ships was chartered to provide accommodations for World Food Program (WFP) staff engaged in relief efforts in Haiti.

The lucky ship, the Sea Voyager, was previously named the Cape May Light. It has the following dimensions:

Length overall: 286.3 ft
Width: 50 ft
Height: 96.5 ft
Draft (maximum): 13.5 ft
Gross tonnage: 4,954 tons