Florida: St. Augustine Overview

Day 301
May 7, 2016
NM Today: 16
NM To Date: 1496

The trip to St. Augustine from Marineland only took a little more than two hours so we had plenty of time to explore after we arrived in town. We left Marineland at 8:30 to catch "slack tide" in St. Augustine upon arrival as we had heard that the currents are brutal and make docking hazardous at non-slack times. We led the way to the marina, and Dream Catcher followed our wake. I fell in love with St. Augustine upon arrival.

First View of St. Augustine

We managed to dock with no major difficulties. For some reason, probably current, instead of backing straight into the slip, Clark came in at an angle and we bumped the edge of the dock. We quickly got her straightened out and tied up.

When we walked over to the fuel dock to register, we saw  Daybreak in a slip. I was surprised to see this boat that we last saw in Marathon and did not expect to see again until the Chesapeake. No one was on board, so we left a message with the owner of the boat across the way ... "Tell them Sea Moss is here."  A short while later we had a knock on the side of our boat, and it was Kenny from Daybreak stopping by to say hello. He had planned to leave St. Augustine but decided to stay one more day so we would overlap for one night at the marina. So nice!!

Kenny and his friend cum first mate, Dewey, gave us a run down on what to see and not to miss in St. Augustine, and we made plans to get together for dinner. Afterwards Dewey went off on his bicycle to visit the St. Augustine lighthouse, and Kenny stayed with his boat to attempt to protect it from harm should someone be assigned the slip right next to Daybreak.  (He was that worried about potential damage due to out-of-control boats due to current.)

Since we had the whole afternoon to explore this historic town, we jumped on our bikes to hit the highlights before dinner. Some streets are still cobblestone, and some alleys and one main street have been converted to pedestrian / non-motorized traffic only. We decided that today we would just get the overview of what St. Augustine had to offer and then make an agenda for the next few days regarding which things to explore in more depth.

Side Street in St. Augustine

 Kenny mentioned Lightner Museum as a highlight. On our wanderings around town, we found the museum. It did not make our "come-back-later" list as it seemed a bit too highbrow for my tastes. The architecture and grounds were stunning however.

Lightner Museum

Lightner Museum Courtyard with amazing architecture

We stopped at a free exhibit on canoes at the Governor's House. The whole "tour" took about 5 minutes. Still we learned about how Indians made and used canoes and some history of canoes in this section of the U.S.

Canoe Exhibit at the Governor's House

 Juan Ponce De Leon discovered Florida in 1513, and when he arrived here, his boat landed very close to the spot where a statue has been erected in St. Augustine in his honor.  I remembered from history classes 40-something years ago that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth. We noticed one tourist sight labeled "Ponce De Leon's Fountain of Youth", so perhaps he actually found it. I did not remember that part.

Ponce De Leon Statue in St. Augustine

We meandered all over town -- down side streets and across busy main roads. I had no idea where we were or where we were going as I just played follow the leader with Clark in the lead. Ultimately, we found our way to the pedestrian, St. George, "street" with all the shops. Here, I walked my bike so I could have a good look around at all the things to see. While walking through this section we saw multiple ice cream shops. The temptation was too great, and we stepped into a Kilwins to get ice cream treats.

St. George Street- no cars allowed

 Many historic places in St. Augustine boast that they are "the oldest" or "the first" something or another in the U.S.A. We found many of them as we biked around. One very old spot was the old fort. We biked around the grounds and added this place as one to come back to on another day.

Castillo de San Marcos Fort

As we exited the fort grounds, we saw the St. Augustine Visitor's Center across the way and decided to stop in for coupons and literature. Three full-sized, wax figurines depicting important cultural impacts in this area captured my interest.

Full-sized wax statues depicting the
 cultural impacts to St. Augustine
(Indian, Black Slaves, and Spanish Explorers)

Wandering aimlessly after leaving the visitor center, we came across the Old Drugstore and Wax Museum, supposedly the oldest wax museum in the U.S. We took turns standing with the bikes while the other of us got a peak at the inside of the store. Neither of us wanted to pay money to see more however.

1886 Old Drugstore & Wax Museum

Apothecary Shelves in 1886 Drug Store

 As the day was getting on and dinner plans with Kenny and Dewey were set for 6:30, we headed back to Sea Moss. We arrived back at the boat with plenty of time to spare to drop off the bicycles before heading out to a pub for dinner. As we waited for the dinner hour to arrive, we saw the local pirate ship heading out for the evening to entertain their guests on board. The pirate ship is docked at the municipal marina where we are staying.
 

Priate Ship - Yo Ho Ho
(Fully costumed entertainment)

 The other activity we participated in while waiting for dinnertime was egret watching. Depending on the tides egrets gather along the docks and stand on the twigs floating in the water catching their dinner. It is like a feeding frenzy at times with fish jumping out of the water and egrets vying for the best fishing spots along the docks. I found it simply amazing that the egrets could stand on the floating twigs and not sink! They must weigh next to nothing!

Entertaining Egrets Fishing for their Dinner

Precisely at 6:30 we got a text from Kenny telling us to meet him and his friend at the bottom of the ramp exiting the docks. We had decided earlier to try an authentic English Pub called the Prince of Wales which was just a short walk away down a small side street in town. We found a table outside which was perfect on such a lovely night.

Prince of Wales English Pub

The menu certainly appeared authentic with cottage pie, fish and chips, bangers and mash, and even “mushy” peas. I was psyched! When I went to order the Beef and Guinness, I checked with the waitress to see if it came with a “pie crust”. Sadly, the waitress told me, "No, it comes with crumbs like and apple turnover."  I have a lot of dietary restrictions these days due to food allergies, so I decided to avoid the mushrooms in that selection as "crumbs" did not sound inviting. Instead, I ordered a burger “medium well”; whereby the waitress said I could not do that as Florida state law requires all burgers to be cooked well done.

I have been in Florida since December and this is the first I heard this law. I ordered it and told the waitress, “Okay, as long as it does not come burnt!”  Later, as I was eating my burger, the waitress came by with a Beef and Guinness ordered by another customer and showed it to me. The "crumbs" turned out to be a "Flaky Pastry" topping which I am sure I would have enjoyed. Ah well! I enjoyed the burger, but I am sure that if I preferred my burgers on the rare side I would have been sorely disappointed.

After dinner Kenny and Dewey came back to Sea Moss, and we sat on the fly bridge and talked until quite late. When they left around 10:30 to head to their boat to get ready for departure the next day, I decided I was too tired to work on this blog entry. It had been a very long and busy day, and I had no energy left. I went to bed.