Dec 2 - 3: to St. Augustine

     It's hard to believe we are into December already!  We are currently sitting in St. Augustine harbor, in South Anchorage # 2, to be exact, beyond the Southern mooring field, which is quite extensive.  We left Fernandina Beach early on Tuesday morning, along with several other boats, and headed down the waterway for a long but uneventful trip.  Florida's portion of the ICW is really straight.  It was easy to cover fifty miles, but the scenic opportunities were few.  One side was literally house & dock after dock after dock while the other side was swamp.  We kept looking for 'gators or manatees but if they were there, they were hiding.  We did see a wood stork, another new-to-us bird.  We anchored about four-thirty just to the side of the ICW, about five miles before St. Augustine.

The dock side of the Northern Florida ICW.

The Swamp side.

     We've heard a lot about this city:  it's historic, it's beautiful, it's a must-see.  It is all of that - settled in the 1500s, occupied continuously since then, it became a US territory in 1821 -  and it is also quite filled with cruisers, and there wasn't a mooring to be had.  We didn't want to spring for a slip at the dock, so we anchored North of the Bridge of Lions and took the dinghy in to the marina, paying a small fee for dockage and access to the showers.  We had lunch in a small sidewalk cafe that offered Cuban fare (very good!) and spent several hours walking around town and window shopping. We even walked across the Bridge to see what the other side had to offer.  A strong NE wind started up late afternoon and we decided to move the boat from the North side to the South side of the Bridge, hoping for a more calm night on the hook.  It is definitely more calm on this side, though it is farther to the dinghy dock than from where we were this morning.  We motored back ashore for the showers and came back to settle in for the night after a good supper of leftover chicken pie.  The winds are supposed to stay strong through the weekend.  Should make the next couple of days interesting.

The fort at St. Augustine

One of many little brick streets.

St. Augustine Lighthouse