Visiting St. Augustine

Visiting St. Augustine

Friday December 11, 2020

After a slow start, we got the outboard onto the dinghy and motored to the marina.  This trip had the added excitement of getting to go under the drawbridge!  Once we had tied up we spotted “Tiger Bay” in a slip.  (They were making the same passage yesterday and Mike got some photos!) We went over to say hello and had a nice chat with them.  Jeff and Debbie are from Ontario and / or upstate New York and took their boat from the Great Lakes to Granada and then back to the US over 20 months.  Covid-19 closure of the Bahamas, two days before their planned arrival, forced them to make a 7-day passage from Puerto Rico to Florida.  Previously, their longest voyage had been 30 hours!  They had left their boat on the hard in the St. Mary’s, Georgia area for the summer.  Now they are back aboard and contemplating a winter in Florida.  

After our chat we went to the fort—The Castillo de San Marcos.  From the gun deck, there is a fantastic view of the inlet and the surrounding islands. One of the signs mentioned that when attacking ships entered the inlet, they would be bow to the fort.  That meant they were unable to use their guns (need to turn broadside) but taking fire from the fort’s cannons.  It was reminiscent of the book I recently read about the battle for Fort George (Castine, Maine) during the Revolutionary War.

While we were on the upper level we heard that there was going to be a SpaceX rocket launch from Cape Canaveral at 12:55 pm.  Naturally, we had to hang around for that!  Minutes went by with nothing to be seen.  Eventually there was another announcement that the launch had been scrubbed.  We wandered off to find lunch. 

Maybe it just wasn’t our day. The whole downtown area was experiencing a power outage.  From what we heard, a truck had hit a pole and lines were down.  The restaurants with outdoor seating all seemed to be closed.  Eventually we had to resort to Australian meat pies from a coffee shop.  It kept the wolf from the door, which was good enough.  Our post-prandial stroll took us to a lovely looking church –Presbyterian (I think).  Mike remembers being there before.  It all seemed new to me!

Gloria

29 53.954 N, 81 18.482 W

St Augustine inlet from the Castillo de San Marcos - Cotinga at anchor on the right 

Canon on the walls of Castillo de San Marcos with Cotinga the middle of three boats well within range!

A storage room within the castle

The beautiful Presbyterian church in St Augustine

A hibiscus flower in the gardens of the church

A lizard in the gardens of the church - the photo illustrates the depth of field challenges of a macro lens!

Unfortunately the light was not as spectacular as the previous evening due to low cloud on the horizon, but maybe this video gives you a sense of how lovely it is in this anchorage off the Castillo de San Marcos as night arrives