Saturday 4/14
A flock of big birds must have roosted on top of our bimini last night. There was poop all over it. Carl spent almost an hour washing it down. What a mess!
We all took the noon shuttle in to the dock. Carl and Grant went in search of lunch. Dianne and I took off on our shopping spree! We took in two or three shops at the top of our list. Dianne then suggested one of her favorite places, Alcazar Cafe, for lunch. It is in the former Alcazar Hotel built by Flagler in 1888. The cafe sits in an "atrium like" room where the indoor swimming pool used to be. It is beautiful, with its "Gilded Age" grand staircases and beautiful palms scattered all around. Their was a pianist playing a baby grand piano. We enjoyed our lunch of turkey, apple and gouda sandwiches and a glass of wine. The Lightner Museum is in the old hotel and I loved browsing in the estate jewelry stores there. We met Carl and Grant at the Cobalt Lounge in the one hundred year old Casa Monica Hotel. It is exquisite and I wished that we had longer to linger. We walked back to the marina in time to catch the 4:00 shuttle to our boats. Carl and Grant told us of their adventures of lunch in an old diner car on their way to Sailor's Exchange, a consignment shop with all things nautical. It was a good day!
Sunday 4/15
We have prepped for a front moving through today. It was a calm night and was 7:30a.m. when the winds started to increase. It was a wicked looking front. We clocked winds around 35 knots. The national weather was forcasting wind gusts to 50 knots with a tornado watch. It was a bit eerie to put on our life jackets and have our ditch bag ready while tied to a mooring. We decided it was better to be safe that sorry. We were relieved when the worst had blown over.
Friday 4/20
This will be our 10th night on a mooring here in St. Augustine. I developed a nasty cough and with Carls urging, we took an Uber to see a doctor. I was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. He said it could take 2-3 weeks to get over it. So we will sit here as another front moves through and wait until I am feeling better. Hopefully, by then we will get the weather we need to go outside and get farther north.