St Augustine
02 June 2022
• St Augustine
by Penni Singleton • Sunny
Yesterday was a boring day working through our to do list. We did have time for a lovely meal out in the evening but nothing much to report.
We set off again today for St Augustine. We did not have a fixed schedule but knew we wanted to leave in the morning. Amazingly, we were on our way by 10 am. I did not remember every part of the ICW. The area around Anastasia Island and Marineland were particularly beautiful with aqua water and natural habitats as well as homes. It was an easy ride with no shallows or hazards to negotiate. John and I chatted and joked as we traveled, using the jib to help us on the final leg. We got to St Augustine at 2:00. Not bad considering we had been going at less than 5 knots most of the way. We hailed the Municipal marina to see if they had a mooring ball available for us. They did, on the North side of the bridge. The Bridge of Lions is a bascule bridge and it was open as he spoke. We sped up and John immediately called the bridge. ‘I don’t suppose you can stay open for us?’ he asked using his best British accent. ‘No, I don’t suppose I can’ came the reply. We laughed, and prepared to wait the 30 minutes. It was however, a little annoying that he stayed open for another sailboat coming from the marina. We could have been there at the same time. Oh well, we bobbed around until the next opening and then grabbed our mooring ball with a precision and professionalism that only comes after 4 months cruising, and a little luck. We had a super afternoon in St Augustine- homemade ice cream, handmade treats for Timmy, a stop at a courtyard coffee shop and then a concert in the park with an excellent bluegrass band - The Driftwoods. We got back to the boat for lentil curry just before 8pm. We will explore the city again tomorrow. Our last bit of fun before the serious work of preparing Solitude for dry storage.
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