After our usual morning routine we set off at 7:15am with our sites on St Augustine...the oldest city in America! It was charted out as being 55 miles. To our knowledge neither of us had ever been to St Augustine but we have read and seen some really good stuff about it. We are planning to stay 2 nights and 2 days to get some site seeing in.
With the significant winds still blowing (15 knots or so with stronger gusts) we again chose to stay inside the AICW (Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway) where the ride would be much more enjoyable in our lightweight bobber of a cruiser.
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| History of the AICW |
The waters were choppy from the winds but very nice and manageable. Along our cruise we passed or saw on Nebo several other AGLCA members cruising or anchored. We believe that because of the covid situation many more than would normally be in Florida waters are still here. This has allowed us to meet and interact with more Loopers than we ever have previous years. The other unexpected, but welcomed, thing is that the temperatures have been much cooler than anticipated. For the first couple hours of our travels today Renee was actually kind of cold and she finally broke down at about 9:30am and went down below to put on a long sleeve shirt. The high temperature today only made it to about 80 degrees. Coupled with a nice breeze and lower humidity it made for a very comfortable day.
Upon entry into the St Augustine area on teh Matanzas River you immediately can tell that you are in a very old, historic town. The first thing you see as you round the bend toward downtown is the 'Bridge of Lions' which is constructed of stone with a very Spanish looking feel. The city skyline is full of gorgeous old buildings. Coming into the marina it was really windy and for the first we can recall Erik actually had to pull out during the docking maneuver and circle back to try again. The second time worked like a charm with a combination of the winds and a little forceful engine throttle sliding us gently into the slip to be tied off.
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Bridge of Lions drawbridge
The marina we stayed at was at the foot of this bridge
we will be traveling under it when we depart Thursday
it is just high enough for us to get under without having it raised |
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| Historic downtown St Augustine as seen coming into the marina to dock |
With the temps low and the wind blowing we decided to give the A/C a break and just left the boat opened up and prepared to set off into the downtown to explore. We have read that this is a very walking friendly city with most everything nearby. However, Erik's foot is still very sore and swelling when he stays on it for long (pretty certain he has broken a bone in the side of the left foot) so we opted for our bicycles. This actually turned out to be quite challenging because unlike every other town we have been in there are almost no bike racks here. Additionally, there were not bike lanes on roadways and the sidewalks were fairly small and bustling with people. We did manage though and got to see an array of sites: Castillo de San Marcos (a very cool old fort), the old original city gates, the Fountain of Youth, St. Augustine History Museum, the oldest drugstore in the country, multiple beautiful historic churches including The Cathedral Basilica, the oldest jail and much more. We rode through Flagler College which is quite impressive with its many old ornate buildings. It was a very pleasant afternoon of riding and walking around town.
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| Original gates to the city of St Augustine |
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| Picture doesn't do this justice but we rode our bikes down this road which had all of this cool moss covered tree canopy |
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| Cathedral Basicala |
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At our marina they have pirate ship cruises with actors about this boat
Many people appeared to be attending all of the cruises we saw depart
One advantage to being approached by a pirate during covid is that their swords are not generally 6 ft long!
lol |
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Castillo de San Marcos was actually a very impressively intact fort for its history
Unlike the one in Ft Pierce that we toured this one was fired upon and attacked many times during several wars |
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| A couple of many ornate old churches |
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| and another |
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| and another |
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| Monument memorializing Ponce de Leon |
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| Flagler college |
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| Lightner Museum, originally a swanky hotel |
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We had many birds stalking our dock looking for dinner
Notice that there is a fish right in front of this one |
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We kept hearing huge splashes in the boat slips
there were tarpon going after schools of smaller fish like these two who narrowly escaped the fate of the tarpon only to be helplessly stranded on the dock
Erik gave them new life by putting them back into the water |
Back at the boat we cooked up some shish kabobs on the grill and enjoyed a nice later dinner followed by some relaxation with sore feet propped up. Lots more to explore and see in St Augustine tomorrow!
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