Continuing South

Good morning dear friends and family - I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded  by loved ones and yummy food.  Paul and I are very thankful for YOU - so thanks so much for being such great friends and so supportive.

We arrived in St. Augustine on Wednesday afternoon and decided to stay for 3 nights.  Upon arrival, we "fed the bitch" and settled into our slip.  It is now Saturday morning and we are on our way south. Our goal today is to reach Titusville (near Cape Canaveral), which would be a total of 100 miles - so we left just before sunrise and so far, so good.  The tides are with us and we're making good time.

St. Augustine is a really cool city.  Last year, we stayed one Sunday night in mid-December and it was FREEZING - about 30 degrees - so it was great to be back in fairer temperatures and also have more time to explore the area.  We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at the Casa Monica Hotel which is a cool historic hotel right in the heart of downtown - they had a lovely buffet and we enjoyed it very much.  We ate early, then walked around the city - we visited the Castillo de San Marcos - a really cool fort built in the 1600's by the Spanish and now managed by the National Park Service.  Here are some photos:

Captain Paul on the gun deck with St. Augustine inlet behind him.

The detail on the cannons were amazing - designed and built by the Spanish.  As the years went on and they ran out of money, the designs got much simpler - the basic black style that you're used to seeing in a cannon!

The entire fort is made of Coquina (pronounced Coe Kee Nah) which is solid packed sand and sea shells.  The top of the walls were 9' feet thick and the base was 18' feet thick - making the fort virtually impossible to knock down with cannon balls.

The view from the Gun Deck of the InterCoastal Waterway.

We spent the afternoon relaxing on the boat - it was very windy on Thursday - we napped, read, watched TV, etc - just what we needed!  On Friday, we were very productive - we went food shopping, did laundry, and also did some more sightseeing.  St. Augustine is the oldest American city - established in 1565 by the Spanish - and also a big playground for Henry Flagler - thus incredible architecture.

This historic Presbyterian Church was incredible - sorry for the sideways view - turn right please!

Another view from the side - the detail is incredible.

Unfortunately we arrived 15 minutes after they closed the inside for tours - the stained glass was amazing.  Turn right please!

Flagler College is right in the heart of town - this historic building once was a hotel back in the day. 

Inside looking up at the dome.

The mosaic detail on the outside was so cool.

The St. Augustine Municipal Marina has nice facilities and we met some really nice people while there. 

They have a pirate ship - The Black Raven - that goes out several times a day - this was taken from the bow of Master Plan as she passed through the Bridge of Lions.

Before the next boat arrived, a father with 3 sons were fishing in a small boat right next to our dock - they were catching Sheepshead fish one after the other - he was very nice and posed for me! 

Our other neighbors were a very nice family from Orlando - "Boomer" the watch dog - was keeping guard on the top deck!

This sign cracked me up for a few reasons - first the name of the Pub - the Giggling Gator is super silly and then I love it when they Open and Close.  Again, sorry for the sideways view - please tilt your head to the right!

We bid farewell to St. Augustine early this morning and caught a lovely sunrise soon after we left the marina..

There is a rocket launch scheduled this morning at 10:02 AM at Cape Canaveral; we anticipate we'll be about 60-70 miles north of it at that point, so will hopefully be able to see it as we're cruising along. 

So thanks again for following along - we appreciate your love and support and will be in touch again soon!  Lots of love, Jen & Paul

Today's Quote:

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

~ William Arthur Ward