Leslie and I have been holding the fort here in St. Augustine. It is actually a rather pleasant place to hang out for a while. We have found that the mornings are reasonably comfortable (temperature) so we get school work out of the way and deal with chores like dishes or laundry or even cooking dinner for later. Then when it really gets warm in the afternoon, we head to the pool for a refreshing dip. By the time we get back to the boat, it has started to cool down and we can enjoy dinner in the cockpit.

We've borrowed the courtesy car a few times and sampled two miniature golf courses (a favorite passtime of Leslie's). Today we visited the Alligator Farm. In addition to having all 23 living species of crocodilians from all over the world, they have a collection of exotic birds, mamals, and other reptiles. To me, the most interesting part was actually the wading bird rookery. Because the alligators keep away climbing predators like racoons, local wading birds such as herons, egrets, ibis, wood storks, and spoonbills choose to roost here. Many even nest and raise more than one clutch of eggs per season. From the boardwalk, we were able to see eggs in nests and parents feeding their young.

We're looking forward to Colin and Evelyn returning tomorrow. It seems that the weather for off shore hops has deteriorated, so we expect to spend several long days driving up the ICW.