It is a cold and very windy Saturday in St. Augustine. We have only had one opportunity in the last two weeks to make an overnite sail to Ft. Pierce and that was marginal. Offshore for the next several days is forecast for small craft advisories and gale force winds. We are tied up at a floating dock and we are still rocking and rolling with the waves, wind and tide. We may possibly be able to make our sail to Ft. Pierce later this week.

St. Augustine is a great town to be "grabbed by weather". Great history, sites to explore, good dining when Cathy is not preparing great meals, interesting shopping and a very good gelato store. We have enjoyed Sunday evening contemporary church services at one of the historic Methodist Churches. The congregation has been very welcoming and the messages insightful. We are doing a lot of reading, working out and bike riding along with catching up on chores.

Several days ago we were able to watch four Manatees (looked like two adults and two calves) swim under the dock ramp. Guess what? Camera was on the boat.

We have met a lot of cruisers who are heading south for the winter with most of them bound for the Bahamas. We have been gathering a lot of cruising and navagational information for our first trip to the Bahamas this sping. Our interest continues to grow as we hear so many great stories and tales of the Bahamas. It will be a good skills builder sailing in waters that are not only clear and beautiful but offer so many challenges due to their shallow and variable depths and tides.

We are looking forward to getting back to Marathon in the Keys. A great town to spend the winter. Beautiful blue waters, scenic and interesting wildlife (that is wildlife in the Keys and wild life in Key West), great bike trails,a great church, Key Lime pie and enjoyable dock mates that have all spent multiple winters in the Keys. We are hoping to get to Marathon for Thanksgiving if the weather will give us some breaks between a steady flow of Nor'easters moving down the coast. If not we will be blessed to enjoy Thanksgiving somehwere along the way. We will miss sharing this special holiday with family and friends.

We have been fortunate to be able to be taxied around St. Augustine for supplies and groceries by Roger and Linda Mullins and being able to enjoy several meals with them at some of their favorite restraunts. We met Roger and Linda in Marathon last spring and they live on Anestasia Island here in St. Augustine.

The weather was so severe over the weekend with strong winds and tides that we were challenged at times to walk on the docks. There was considerable damage to the docks and most boats had to be secured with extra lines.

I am amazed at the number of boaters that we meet each day that are heading to South Florida, The Keys and the Bahamas for the winter. This is an annual trek for many. I was very fortunate to sit with our dock neighbor (Bill Miller in a Krogen 48) and review their travels over the past several years via his chart plotter thru the Bahamas. He was a world of information and ideas. First hand knowledge is far better than all the cruising guides available. Now if we can just get some decent weather and start our travels south......looks like Sat 11/12 is a possibility.

Last night we went to a wonderful Patriotic concert at the Trinity Episcopal Church in historic downtown St. Augustine (11/10/11). An annual event on the eve of Veteran's Day. Very well attended and a very moving service and concert

We should be leaving on Saturday for Ft. Pierce. Forty five degrees this am in St. Augustine and at least 10 degrees warmer in Ft. Pierce. South Florida looking better all the time