St. Augustine, Florida
November 11 through 17

The crew of the sailing vessel Southern Star took a different tack last week. We spent the week camping in St. Augustine, Florida. Camping is a natural for us. We camped long before we sailed and Judy grew up camping with her family. Ours is a "pop-up" camper that we bought several years ago. We also enjoy sightseeing especially historic places. We had never been to St. Augustine and since it is billed as the oldest city in America we went to check it out. Judy made reservations at Anastasia State Park and found there were only a few sights left for the week. Glad we didn't wait too long.

It's a long drive to Florida. We left early Sunday morning for a day's drive. We were not in a particular hurry so we stopped several times along the way. We arrived in plenty of time to get set up and explore the campground. Most of our meals would be prepared in the camper. This and the reasonable price of the campsite make camping much more affordable than staying in a hotel and eating every meal in a restaurant.

Monday was spent touring historic Castillo de San Marcos an ancient Spanish fort. Tuesday we traveled a few miles south to Fort Matanzas, another Spanish that guarded the inlet south of the city. Later in the day we went sailing in the Schooner Freedom, an authentic replica of a 19th century blockade-runner. She is a 72', double masted, gaff-rigged, topsail schooner with a steel hull. The excursion was a bit pricey and she would have performed better with a bit more breeze but it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours. We had a nice dinner at a St. Augustine restaurant before returning to the campground.

On Wednesday, Judy and I headed in different directions. Judy would do more sightseeing in St. Augustine and I would drive north to Jacksonville to have lunch with a friend who I had worked with for six or seven years and had never met face to face. After a very enjoyable lunch and visit I stopped by a marine salvage store to browse. I rejoined Judy later in the day for a stroll down St. George Street. We returned to the campground for dinner. The Lightner Museum was the main activity on Thursday. The collection of mechanical musical instruments was fascinating.

The weather turned much cooler on Friday. We went to the beach for a walk but found the howling cold wind made walking a bit unpleasant. We spent most of the day driving around the area taking in the sights. It takes a while to break camp. We did that late on Friday so we could get an early start on the trip home on Saturday. The return trip started early, with a nice breakfast at the Village Restaurant. The drive home was uneventful, and that is always a good thing.

We did hear from our friendly neighborhood diesel mechanic last week. We are "on the list" but there is no estimate as to when he will be able to take a look at Southern Star's cranking problem. It will be soon, I hope.

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and a big family gathering.