What an absolutely gorgeous day to be on the intracoastal waterway. A little chilly, but otherwise, a beautiful sunshine filled day for our trip from Jacksonville to St. Augustine. We had to motor most of the way, but had the sails up too, just to try to get a little extra speed. There wasn't much wind, but at least it felt like we were sailing. We arrived in St. Augustine and had to stop for fuel first. The Inlet Marina was located right under one of the main bridges in St. Augustine and within 2 blocks of a Publix. I was happy to do some grocery shopping. The guy that runs the marina gave me directions to Publix and when I told him I planned on buying a gallon of milk and some Coke Zeros he said, hang on a second...my truck is a silver Nissan parked right out front (with the keys in it), just take it to Publix so you don't have to carry everything 2 blocks. Really nice, fella. So that's just what I did. I reloaded us up on fresh fruit and vegetables and some other items we had depleted.
We left the fuel dock and motored into the downtown area. St. Augustine is beautiful! It had a huge cross on the country side to greet you and right next to that, an old fort. We contacted the city marina and made arrangement to pick up a mooring ball to hook up to for the night. A mooring ball is a ball attached to some heavy piece of concrete or something that sits on the ocean floor. They have a "mooring field" in St. Augustine filled with lots of mooring balls. They use mooring balls because there isn't a lot of dock space available. Well, it was our first time with a mooring ball - and I was little nervous. I was driving and Daniel was on the bow of the boat with a boat hook, trying to pick up the ball - he did it the first time. That done, we lowered D-Time (our dinghy) into the water and attached it's motor. We loaded up and took a 5 minute dinghy ride into town.
We left the fuel dock and motored into the downtown area. St. Augustine is beautiful! It had a huge cross on the country side to greet you and right next to that, an old fort. We contacted the city marina and made arrangement to pick up a mooring ball to hook up to for the night. A mooring ball is a ball attached to some heavy piece of concrete or something that sits on the ocean floor. They have a "mooring field" in St. Augustine filled with lots of mooring balls. They use mooring balls because there isn't a lot of dock space available. Well, it was our first time with a mooring ball - and I was little nervous. I was driving and Daniel was on the bow of the boat with a boat hook, trying to pick up the ball - he did it the first time. That done, we lowered D-Time (our dinghy) into the water and attached it's motor. We loaded up and took a 5 minute dinghy ride into town.
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| Mooring ball |
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| Dinghy ride into the city |
We walked around the old city - which was just gorgeous. It reminded us of New Orleans, with a Florida flair. It was really good to just get out and walk and enjoy the beautiful architecture that made up St. Augustine. We even saw the oldest wooden school house in the U.S. I do love history. It was a good day!
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| Carla on St. George St. |
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| Oldest wooden school house in America |
Sounds like you guys are off to a great start on your adventure. Great work on the overnight adventure. Before you know it you'll be in the warmer waters and making longer crossings.
ReplyDeleteKnow we're there with you in spirit, and are extremely jealous. OC White’s has great food there in town across from the dinghy dock.
Walter & Victoria
Thanks you guys! We wish you were here - you would love it!
DeleteWow, can you believe y'all were in ATL just 6 days ago? I'm glad to see you're making good time. How much longer until y'all get down here?
ReplyDeleteHey B! Can't believe it was only 6 days ago! We are looking forward to seeing you and the girls soon. Love you!
ReplyDelete