On Christmas Eve day we headed from Fernandina Beach to Jacksonville. We were spending the holiday with my friends Sherry and Mike. I’ve known them both since junior high school! It was going to be a Jewish Christmas – we were going for Chinese food. Bill wanted something Christmassy so we pulled out the few Christmas CDs we brought with us and listened to Christmas music as we drove south on the ICW. It was low tide so we had to be careful about shallow water. All was going well and was very festive until we ran aground. We never really stopped moving but I’m pretty sure we dug a big ditch as Bill gunned the engine to get back into deeper water. We figure it definitely counts as running aground though, which means we are now at 2 ½ times running aground on the ICW.

We left the boat at a marina for two nights while we stayed with Sherry and Mike in Jacksonville. We had a great time catching up and joined with more than twenty of their friends for Chinese food. Our Christmas was opening the package of presents our daughter Amy sent to Sherry’s address while we talked to her and my mom on Facetime on our iPad. Not quite the same as joining them next to the Christmas tree, but as close as we would get this year. We got to do our laundry and go to the supermarket, thanks to Sherry, and then it was time to get back on the boat.

Unfortunately we got back to the boat in time for it to rain. The rain didn’t last long but the wind started soon afterwards. We were able to get off the dock the boat was tied to a lot easier because of what we learned the last time we tried to get off a dock in the wind. We headed south again, headed to St. Augustine. We weren’t sure if we would make it, and we weren’t sure if we were going to stay on a mooring or not. The only place to put your dinghy when you go ashore in St. Augustine is at the city marina where they charge you $10 a day. For $20 a day you get the mooring and the dinghy dock. We decided to anchor last night and it turns out that the place we anchored was closer to the dinghy dock than the mooring would be, so we stayed put.

I didn’t realize it last night but we are anchored right next to the fort - Castillo de San Marcos. We went there this morning in time for the weapons demonstration. Bill managed to get the picture above of them firing off the cannon. The only thing that would have made this picture better is if Moonraker was in it too. The fort was really interesting. From the gun decks we could see the lighthouse, our next stop. The lighthouse was about 1½ miles away. Once we got there we climbed to the top. The best thing about it was that we got to see a great view of the ocean. We spent the rest of the day walking around St. Augustine. It is very much a tourist destination, apparently especially on Christmas week. We enjoyed it but are ready to head south again. We plan on not stopping at any towns for the next three days. I think our next destination is Vero Beach, which the cruisers call Velcro Beach because you never want to leave once you get there. We will see…