New Friends Old Friends in the Oldest City

           

We just spent a week in St Augustine, Florida, the oldest continuously settled city (by Europeans) in the US. The city will celebrate its 450^th year in 2015. We picked up Artis and Steven, friends from church who had purchased a week on the boat at the auction in November, near Jacksonville and wandered our way south. We had some coolish days anchoring out and cruising along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), arriving in St Augustine to sunny days and warmer weather. It was fun to share the boat and show them some of Florida. We all got in lots of walking and exploring the old city, the fort – Castillo de San Marcos, St George Street, the beach (Artis and Steven), and the Farmers’ Market and WestMarine (Sally and Jeff).

We said farewell to Artis and Steven, off to visit family in Gainesville, and the next day met up with Mary and Dennis from “Tortola” for lunch – friends from the Great Loop trip. It was wonderful to see them and catch up as they head back to Ontario for more travel adventures and a summer raising grass fed beef.

That evening we picked up friends from Stillwater, Dan and Linda, and had them on the boat for two nights and a short, windy cruise down to Marineland for a great walk on the beach there. Dan is an electronics guru and was able to tune up the radar overlay on the chart plotter on the way, making Capt Jeff very happy! It was a treat to have them visit.

After a day of laundry, getting the brand new dinghy motor fixed (plugged carburetor – still under warranty), and a gathering of the members of the St Augustine Cruisers Net, we set off back up the ICW. We will wend our way slowly back up to Charleston by mid April, exploring old and new places along the way. 

We went back to the free dock near Jacksonville and Jeff dinghied all the way into town (20 miles!) and discovered a Gumbo Competition and a good lunch. Sally spent the day reading and knitting and also had a good lunch on the boat.

It was great next to pick up a mooring ball in Fernandina Beach and spend a few days really seeing the city, including a trolley tour to the beach, great fried clams and ice cream, reprovisioning at Winn Dixie and wandering among the shops in town.

Now we are in St Mary's, Georgia, a sleepy little town near Cumberland Island. We are tied up at Lang's Marina for a dollar a foot with power only on some of the pedestals, but we found a working one and the batteries are getting equalized even as I type. We are getting all the electronics charged up and will have a good bike ride later today. Tomorrow we are off to Jeykll Island to see the "cottages" of the rich and famous, now a National Park. Sally