We arrived in St. Augustine Friday, April 10th after a long day traversing the ICW. After anchoring and setting up the dinghy, Michele went ashore and her sister. They went to the Ripley's Believe it Not museum (the kids really wanted to go) and then went out for pizza. At the hotel the kids went for a swim while Auntie had some alone time in the hotel having very long, hot shower (besides it was 9:00 p.m. - cruisers' midnight)! When the Miller family returned it was still an hour or so before we settled down for the night. By the time lights went out, it was 11:00 p.m.
The next morning (well closer to noon actually), we met Uncle Steve and toured St. Augustine's. First on the agenda was the Castillo de San Marcos. A picnic lunch was enjoyed by all under a shadey tree on the grounds of the castle. We went by the Fountain of Youth which we thought was just a park to walk through, but found out it cost way too much money and it probably wasn't worth it. We went to Flagler College, The Government House and the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine (the oldest continually active Catholic faith community in the continental US - founded on September 8, 1565.) Again, I would show you pictures, but my computer and camera are still fighting. I've tried to get them to work out their problems, but they refuse to speak to each other.
On Easter Sunday morning, there was a sunrise service at the fort that we could hear through load speakers. We did go ashore for fuel, water and showers to get our $10 worth of dinghy dock usage at the marina. We met several boats that we've heard on the radio a few times including Passport, Plumpuppet, Triple Star (well, TS we just met without previous radio knowledge, but they were on an IP anchored right near us and they are travelling up the east coast to Maine where they have a house).
Yesterday we left St. A's with weather warnings for the afternoon. You'd think we've learned a lesson from the day we left Vero with severe wind warnings. However, there were many boats doing the same, and we also thought that we could travel during the morning and anchor before the weather got too bad. As it turned out, we had a southerly wind behind us most of the day with following seas. We had the current with us as well. We had a tentative plan to stay at the Palm Cove Marina at Jacksonville. However, when we arrived in Jacksonville, it was only 11:30 a.m. and the weather was still holding out. We decided to continue on (as did Celtic Cross a boat a couple of miles ahead of us that we'd seen at Vero Beach.) At about 3:30 (and 50 miles into the trip) we followed Celtic Cross into Alligator Creek - about 10 miles (or another 2 hours) south of Fernandina Beach. The wind picked up considerably so it was nice to get the anchor set and relax to wait out the impending storm and Tornado warnings. Thunder storms started around 7:00 p.m. and continued until at least midnight. After the thunderstorms, came the heavy winds. From about 1:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. the wind gusted from 25 - 35 with gusts as high as 45. At around 5:00 a.m. the snubber line on the anchor chain snapped. Steve replaced it with another one, but the wind settled down shortly after. Gotta love this cruising thing!
No comments:
Post a Comment