Rain was predicted in St Augustine on Sunday. We had planned to go to shore that day anyway so we packed up umbrellas and jackets and other supplies in the backpack and went to shore via the city pier's pump-out boat. We had a great day in town - a morning visit to the Lightner Museum, lunch at the Spanish bakery in the old part of town, then back to the Lightner to see all the things we didn't make it to in the morning, and, finally, a tour of the Castillo de San Marcos.
The Lightner is a "collection of collections," pulled together fom all over the world and displayed in the elegant old Flagler Hotel.
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| Wayne and alligator in Lichtner Museum. "I hate gators!" |
The hotel building is as entertaining as the museum. It was the height of nineteeenth century elegance in its day and featured an indoor swimming pool, a ballroom, steam baths, and exercise facilities, not to mention an elegant restaurant that lists "cheery Jello with whipped cream" among its classy dessert offerings.
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| Lightner Museum and City Hall |
Castillo de San Marcos is the fort that successfully defended St. Augustine from several invasions. A tour of it really brings home just how hard garrison life was in the 16th century.
Wayne and I always enjoy a visit to St. Augustine, which was founded in 1565 and is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States.
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| One of the fort's lookout posts out to the sea |
Even though its streets are populated by many tourist traps selling Made in China genuine stuff, a deep sense of history is resting just below the surface - the fort, living history homes to tour, and delicious foods made as they were in the days of Spanish occupation.
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| A view from the fort of the Bridge of the Lions. Our boat is on a buoy on the other side of the bridge |
The predicted rain? It never showed up and we hauled our rain gear around all day for naught. We set out Monday morning into cold and strong winds but had a good day of cruising and wound up for the night near St. Mary's, GA. We anchored near the same spot where we ran aground back in November. No sweat - now we have what's known as local knowledge and we can stay away from the shallow spots.
Tuesday morning the sun was shining and we had had a restful night so we set out with high hopes to put a big dent in the 240 miles still before us. The wind was very strong and we were heading right into it. It was really blowing when we reached St. Andrews Sound off Jekyll Island. The trip across was a DILLY as we plowed through high waves to reach a marker out in the ocean channel; then turned toward the other side of the channel into wild waves rolling us side to side. This is the first time I've been petrified with fear on the trip - frankly, a state I had expected to experience more often when Wayne proposed this adventure. My captain kept his cool, though, and eventually got us into the channel on the other side.
We decided not to challenge another rough inlet as the wind was only getting stronger. We took on 149 gallons of fuel (you don't want to hear the bill's total) and have landed in a marina in downtown Brunswick for tonight. We expect to lay over here for a few days with bad weather approaching. As we examined the charts we discovered an alternate route we could have used to avoid the worst of St. Andrews Sound. That will be our future passage if we have NE, E or SE winds as we approach this area.
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| Sunset at Brunswick |
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| Rain coming in Brunswick |
So, we've shaved another 25 miles off our total to traverse. We've made arrangements to dock the boat near Charleston; then rent a car to go pick up our car that's parked in Little River, SC. Once the weather has settled down, we have 3-4 more days of travel by boat.
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