We spent a nice night with our friends in their home in Jacksonville. When we got back to Moonraker she was doing fine on the dock. We loaded up our clean laundry and pulled away from the dock. It was a fairly calm trip but since we had had a nice breakfast at our friends’ house we weren’t going to make it to St Augustine on Sunday. No problem, that meant we would have to anchor in time to watch football. Along the way we ran across this interesting scene on a beach. All the white pelicans were standing very close together on one end of the beach, and a black bird was standing all alone on the other end of the beach. Bill realized it was an eagle and that was why the pelicans were so scared. He ran and got his camera and caught the scene above. Until he looked at the picture he didn’t realize that the eagle had caught a fish. You can see a better view of the eagle and fish in the inset.

We ended up anchoring in the Tolomato River for the night and it was gorgeous. If it wasn’t for the football we would have spent a lot more time in the cockpit. It was a nice calm night.

This morning we came into St Augustine. We took a mooring ball because it was only twenty dollars. It was going to cost us ten to leave the dinghy at the dock and this way showers were also included. After we had our showers we walked along the waterfront and a little further to meet some cruisers who have a house here. They knew of us because we are in the same caving club in Virginia, but we had never met. They have been reading our blog so they knew we were in the area, and when they went past Fernandina Beach on their way south they saw us anchored in the harbor. In typical cruiser fashion they invited us for a meal, offered their laundry room and their car to run any errands or provisioning we had to do. How can you say no to that. We already knew we had a lot in common. We talked for a while and had lunch with them, then took their car and went to the supermarket. When you know you have a car you buy lots more than if you know you are going to carry it. We bought lots and lots. We knew we might have an issue when we got back to the marina though. The waterfront is in the middle of a major tourist city, parking is not easy. Bill dropped me and the groceries off and looked for a place to park the car so we could get everything to the boat. It took him a lot of time and was very frustrating. Finally we got back to the boat and tied the dinghy up so we could get the food onto the boat. After a while Bill went back on deck to get some air, that is when he realized the dinghy was no longer attached to the boat. It had escaped!! It was in sight, and seemed to be slowly drifting away, but we had no way to get it. We started waving to the power boat moored not far from us. Bill yelled and asked them to help us. They quickly jumped in their dinghy and rescued ours. I invited them on for drinks but they had to get back to their boat for something. We aren’t sure how our line came off the dinghy but it managed to. Obviously there is going to be a change so that never happens again. We were lucky there was someone else there to save us – that is not always the case.

We finished the night by taking our friends car back. They made us a wonderful dinner and we had a really nice night sharing stories and experiences. Tomorrow we have a lot of distance to make so we are getting up early. We need to get to Melbourne by Thursday night. It’s not going to be easy!