St. Augustine, Florida

3/16/2017 - Clark's Birthday

The cold spell continues with high winds. When I woke this morning, the temperature outside read 37 degrees. Even though he stayed up to see the space launch at 2:00 a.m., Clark was up this morning before me. When I finally got myself out of bed at 8:30, he had already been up to the marina building and had his shower.

We left the marina in Daytona Beach around 10:00 a.m. Due to an adverse current, an "in-our-face" 20 knot wind, some required bridge openings, and a number of 'slow-speed-no-wake' zones, our average speed was well below the 8 knots we hoped to sustain. Fortunately, we had lots of sites to enjoy as we continued northward.

Caribbean Jack's suffered lots of dock damage!

Scruffy-looking trees along the waterway

Side channel

From the water, this looks like a building on top of a bridge 

We passed by Marineland Marina where we stopped last year.

River work - dredging

Last year when we passed through this area, another boater ran aground in the channel. We heard on the VHF radio that we should go outside the channel to find deep water. This year when we came through we found the channel markers had been moved to follow that deeper water.

Channel used to be on the right side of the green marker.
Now it is on the left side.

White line on chart plotter shows where the channel used to be, i.e.
not current or correct. The chart plotter shows that black dot (our boat) on land!

This picture clearly shows the channel on the far right of where our boat sits on the water.
The deep water is under our boat!

After this beach, the diverted channel joins the original channel.

As we traveled along this area, we saw evidence of Hurricane Matthew that hit last year. Many of the docks we saw are clearly new construction. Others have yet to be repaired.

Damaged dock.

We arrived in St. Augustine just after 4:00 p.m. As we made our way to this stop, Clark talked to a representative regarding our TRAC stabilizer system. That rep was waiting for us when we arrived at the marina and came to our boat to work with Clark until 6:00 sharing his knowledge on the TRAC system. While they talked, I worked on yesterday's blog entry. Afterwards, Clark and I walked into town to have a look around.

Snowy Egret fishing at the marina

Maze at the marina is actually a mini golf course.

Bridge near the city marina

Horse and Buggy rides available

Some chilly customers

I managed to convince Clark that we should eat dinner out tonight to celebrate his birthday. Since tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, I suggested we return to the Irish Pub where we ate last year. The only difference this time ... we did not need to retrieve a coat for Dick from Dream Catcher. When we stopped into the restaurant, however, they told us we would have a 30-to-45 minute wait for an inside table. They took our number to text us and we went sightseeing around the fort.

Sunset on the waters of St. Augustine, Florida

Lighthouse at St. Augustine, Florida

At 7:35, about 15 minutes after we put our name on their list, the restaurant texted us that our table was ready.

Meehan's Irish Pub in St. Augustine, Florida

I don't know when he captured these pictures in the restaurant. "Have camera, will travel!"

Live Irish Music and an Appreciative Audience

Clark suggested we walk through the pedestrian walkway with all the shops and restaurants as an alternative route to return to the boat.

We saw a couple of ice cream shops including a Ben & Jerry's. Clark said it was too cold for ice cream, but we stopped in to a couple of stores that advertised sorbets to see what flavors they offered.

Amazingly, Ben & Jerry's had a Berry Berry flavor that was the mix of raspberry and blueberry Clark has been seeking ever since Charleston, SC last year. I told him to at least taste a sample to see if it was the same. After that, he had to buy a cone.

As we walked back to the boat, Clark tried his hand at some nighttime pictures. He had to use whatever supports he could find to stabilize the camera. The two he took of the stained-glass windows at a church in town turned out very well. The bridge shot he tried for, however, came out somewhat fuzzy.

For a spur-of-the-moment decision to walk around town and eat out, we really enjoyed our evening and St. Augustine remains on my list of favorite spots found on the Great Loop.