Onion Rings, Salsa and the 16 th Century
May 21-22, 2011

After a short hop from Daytona Beach to St. Augustine, we went from morgue silence to a different place on the other end of the scale. As we sit at on a mooring ball on the north side of the Bridge Of Lions, the salsa music from a nearby Cuban restaurant was loud enough to hear all the music and words. From across the water somewhere upwind, the aroma of frying onion rings wafted past. We could only hope the grease long since landed ashore or on some other object. Things were popping ashore in this old city. Folks were out in numbers along the waterfront looking at the boats in the mooring field. Kinda gives one the feeling of being in the monkey cage looking out at the visitors. In short, this mooring field is a crossroad for boats arriving from sea and for boats heading north and south along the waterway and is very much different than harbors that do not have an outlet to sea. For instance, there are larger sail boats in inlet harbors; those that cannot get under 65 feet bridges.
We are in a mooring field that is definitely made up of active cruising boats. We had a visit from Dennis and Donna of Donna's Diamond fame. They too are heading toward the Chesapeake. We spent all day Sunday just watching people ashore and doing boat stuff. It was good to see the activity, especially the pirate related tourist activities and the movement of boats. This is one of our favorite harbors since it has so much history and a very active town. We were fired upon yesterday by the fort guns at least six times. We were not hit a single time. Burgers on the grill finished off what was a warm, but very nice day.
We sail for Fernandina Beach today where we will stay a day or two. It is the northernmost port in Florida. More later.

Picture is of one of the four lions guarding the Bridge of Lions. S/V Why Knot at the lower left of the base in the background.