Saint Augustine

The last blog was from Brunswick. We left there on Saturday and went outside to St. Mary's inlet just north of the Georgia Florida border. A broad reach most of the way with just the jib up and making good time. We left Brunswick on the ebb and entered St Mary's on the flood - I do not usually time it that well. The Fernnandina Beach Marina is big and well organized although their internet was down - hence no blog from there. Quite a few large gin palaces and a few cruisers.

Sunday we took the inside route to the St. Johns River because it was a short distance and going outside would have meant back tracking and a lot more distance also the wind was slight. We arrived at the Morningstar Marina at Mayport in time for lunch at Singleton's Seafood Shack which was outstanding. Spent a good bit of Monday morning trying to fill a propane bottle and discovered A they won't fill bottles that are more than 12 years old and B the valve on my good bottle would not accept propane so I had to buy a new (steel) tank - bummer.

I was going to go outside to St Augustine but I chickened out and we came down the waterway instead. There were three reasons: the wind had been strong all night although it was much less by morning and I thought a combination of big waves and low wind outside would be both uncomfortable and not conducive to productive sailing. We left at 10:00 AM on a flood tide which meant the first three hours were with a strong current. Lastly The St Augustine inlet is not the easiest and I was concerned it would be difficult in big North Easterly seas. Anyway we got here at 1500 after a very uneventful trip. St Augustine has a wonderful stone fort (the oldest masonry fort in the continental US). Great design, it never changed hands under fire despite 15 attempts (mostly by the British). St. Augustine itself is a bit of a disappointment very touristy. Dinner at the ale house last night was very good. We are at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina right next to the Bridge of Lions. It has blown a gale all night and the Marina is quite exposed - a bumpy night.