April 20-25, 2014 St. Augustine

All ready for visitors!

Were all set for the Hagens visit!  Secure in a slip.  Dinghy is down, fridge and freezer full, holding tank empty, water tanks full, energy levels at maximum.

The Hagens flight landed in Jacksonville and they all hopped on a shuttle van which took them to the St. Augustine Marina by 8pm.  But at 7:30 we were scouring the area for food.


We had taken dinner orders a few days days before assuming that the Philly Cheese Steak place, South-a-Philly would be open.  It was Easter Sunday.  You'd think we'd know better by now.  After discovering none of the nearby restaurants with take-out food capabilities were open we managed to find the American Legion Post a few blocks from the marina open.   And open to the public!  We made up a sandwich order, had a drink at the bar while we waited and met a few interesting people there.  We made it back to the boat a few minutes before the gang arrived.

Yes, all this became a pretty comfy bed!

So we ate dinner and then off to bed.  The day before we converted the dinette from a dinette to a bed.  It took every spare blanket we had to correct an error we made when purchasing a mattress pad.  The pad was too small but armed with 5 quilt type things we got the bed comfy enough even for us.  It was large enough to accommodate both Jack(8) and Jonah(3) our grand sons.  But I think next time we'll have to figure out an alternative.  Kids seem to grow.  Go figure!

Jen, Jack, David and Mary.  I'm taking the picture.  Jonah is ...?

Next day we hit the tourist office near the marina and, doing our part to ensure tourism is alive and well, bought 6 tickets for the following attractions:

• Red Trains
• St. Augustine Lighthouse
• Oldest House
•  Fountain-of-Youth Florida (or for a more historical take, Fountain_of_Youth)
• Alligator Farm
• Old St. Johns County Jail
• Spanish Military Hospital Museum

The interior of the fort

Our first visit though was to the old fort, Castillo de San Marcos.  It's about a half mile away from the marina.  I chose to walk while the others waited for the red train.  Then I waited several minutes for the Train to deposit everyone at the Fort.  Using my coveted National Parks Pass we went in and spent a while looking at everything.  The fort is a national monument  and is very interesting, something not to miss if your in the area.

After the exertions of roaming around a fort and loitering in the gift shop we headed to the Mill Top Tavern for an early lunch.

Entering the lighthouse and step #1 of 219

The next day we went to the Lighthouse.  Climbed all 219 steps.  Stunning view from up there across to the ocean and back towards the city.  We looked through the lighthouse tenders house too and then took the shuttle back to the Red Train returned to the boat.

View from lighthouse looking south east towards the ocean

   

Approaching the secluded little beach

We all (except David who was taking full advantage of a birthday nap) loaded up the dinghy and headed to one of the beaches on Salt Run.  (Salt Run is the body of water between Anastasia Island and Conch Island, south of the St. Augustine Inlet).

Its the first time our Canadian beach umbrella functioned perfectly.  And yes, it was a rather calm day.  We spent a few hours there and returned to the boat where David was awake from his birthday nap.  We took the dinghy up to the San Sebastian River near where we stayed a few nights ago.  We were on the hunt for some Manatee's but never saw any.  I think the water may have been a little to cold for them.  

Crab legs anyone?

Cooking on board was unappealing so we went to OC Whites restaurant in search of sea food.  One our group has a penchant for sea food!

Better than sea food Jonah?

Helping the fountain erase my wrinkles

We hopped on the Red Train the next morning and visited the Fountain of Youth.  Aside from some its rather dated presentations of some of the exhibits, it was interesting.  The fountain of youth, the actual fountain, is a spigot set in a little stone facade.  You grab a paper cup, stick it under the running spigot  and drink some of the much ballyhood elixir.   I read the list of compounds in the water.  Quite a stellar array of minerals in there which accounts for it's, ah,  rarefied taste.  I liken it to those of you (no slight intended) who relish the essence of old, old smokey scotch.  But in any event my leathery wrinkles remained even after manual manipulation.  Oh well ...

The pinkish building is the old jail

We then hit the Old Jail.  Lucky not be incarcerated back in those days.  Yikes!

Back to the train I guess we got comfortable and ended up taking it on its almost full tour.  The driver(s) acted as tour guides reciting all manner of history and little factoids.  Jonah, usually sprinting from one place to another, made use of the opportunity to snooze most of the way and lost a shoe somewhere along the route. So while the rest of us shuffled into the old house area, Dave and Jonah went off to buy shoes since he only had the one pair.

After abandoning the Oldest House tour we walked up Aviles Street and found an ice cream place.  It was hot out.  Is there anything more apropos than ice cream to cool one off?.   

The Spanish Military Hospital was just up the street so we took that in since we were right there.  Really interesting.  I sure feel lucky not having experienced illness or injury back then.  Ouch!  

We ate lunch on Aviles Street at a Brazial/Itlaian place whose name I cant recall.  It sizzled with an eclectic character and the food was pretty good too.  We didn't eat out on the sidewalk though so Mary was mildly disappointed.

Jack wanted to bounce around in the dinghy again so we headed out the inlet into the ocean for a mile or so to experience some jostling in the ocean swells.  Mission accomplished.

I had rented a mini van for use on Thursday since we were planning on hitting one of the South St. Augustine beaches for most of the day.  What they gave me was this massive Chevy Suburban.  Ok.  Well if you dont have a mini van and we have 6 people with luggage I guess this is it.

Drove back to the boat where we, well really Dave, successfully stuffed all the beach paraphernalia and luggage in the back leaving enough room for all of us.  The plan was to do the beach thing and then drive them back to a Jacksonville hotel so they could catch their early morning flight without having to be up at 4am for the hour drive up to the airport from St. Augustine. 

Ahh, the beach with shells!

So after 30 minutes of driving we turned on "A" street and paid our driving on the beach fee and, well, drove on the beach a short ways until we found a suitable spot.  Everyone sprinted out and those that don't sprint any longer lugged all the beach stuff to the beach.

The tide was out and small sand bar was visible which made a nice little tidal pool in which to frolic.  We even had some dolphin (really porpoises) swimming along the shore.

The water wasn't 80 but warm enough for full body immersion.  Mary and I left after a short while to fetch water and snacks and then we each took walks along the beach on a rising tide.  The little sandbar disappeared soon and the breakers started rolling in much to the delight of the younger beach goers.

We ended up leaving around 3ish though and drove along the coast on A1A to a Bonefish Grill we've been to on several occasions.  The sea food aficionado got his lobster and it was early enough so bedtime rules weren't too severely broken.  We drove to a Hampton Inn near the hotel and after driving Dave to a nearby Walgreen's for some sunburn ointments and salves, Mary and I headed to St. Augustine.  Wish we could have more time together but there's always this summer up on the Chesapeake. 

I was able to park on the street overnight although it meant I had to get up at 7:30 and plug the meter.  But that enabled me to drive to Walmart and pickup some heavy items (water, soda etc.) that would be difficult bringing back on the bike.  

I returned the car before noon and walked back to marina (3+ miles) to start the putting back all the bedding etc. and do laundry.  It was a nice evening so we had a few drinks out on the sundeck and I talked with a Nordhavn 50 owner, Wolfgang for awhile before heading back to the boat and bed. 

Now we clean and recover for a few days!