Jacksonville - St. Augustine

We left the dock at a reasonable time (9:00) to be past some areas that had reported shoaling.  As I said yesterday, there was a 3-knot current from the stern so we had help casting off.  The turn into the intracoastal was confusing as they were dredging.  It is somewhat concerning when you see on the GPS that you are in shallow areas but as the cruising guide says, follow the marks!

The most interesting area was through the Palm Valley Cut, Jacksonville Beach, where you see some magnificent homes and their substantial docks holding go-fast 4 outboard boats.  We saw for the first time the homes with “Bird Cages” some of them being repaired from the storm damage.  “Bird Cages” are structures covered with screening extending off the back of the house including in many cases a pool area.  Interestingly you get some very nice homes, and then a little bit later you see some deterioration in the quality, and then it goes back up again.  Zoning laws in the US are great!  We kept seeing warning signs about this being a congested area but we saw only one boat - 3 ladies presumably going for lunch.  We are not sure where all the other boats heading south have gone.

As we approached St Augustine, we could still see boats up on the shore, probably from Matthew.  

There were even sailboats up on blocks at the marinas that had been knocked over.  Guess they were not properly tied down.

Bridge of Lions

Castillo de San Marcos

St. Augustine

Upon arrival, Crew and Captain walked the 15 min to do some provisioning.  It so happens that there was a West Marine in the same plaza.  Could not help buying a few supplies including some Rescue Tape that was introduced to me by Jim Pyke.

Tuesday, October 25

The captain got up this am and decided that we would stay another day at this Marina.  This means that we will be visiting the town of St. Augustine tomorrow.  This allowed us to catch up on some laundry and errands.  We also made reservations for the next few days. 

Boat decoration

It appears that there must be a lot of traffic as the marinas indicate that they are tight on space.  We were able to stow our purchases from Bills Liquor store so that we now have more space in the salon.

In one of the trips up the dock, we found out how the boats here keep the growth of vegetation on their hulls down to a minimum.

Just in case the above video doesn't load, here is a picture instead:

We are now up to date!  Phew.  In answer to some questions:

• No, we have not washed the boat down every night but did so when we had been out in the ocean
• Crew is doing excellent work - I would say above and beyond the call!  They have stopped complaining about early departures, and have not been demanding in their requests.

  

  ♬ Day is done ... gone the sun ♬