Stay Over in St. Augustine FL

Dec 3 thru Dec 6

—Blogpost written by Bob

Maggie arrived at the marina at 6 PM last night after a full day of travel.  We had a late dinner at O.C Whites, a nearby restaurant (which we highly recommend).  We will be in St. Augustine until December 7 when we proceed with our trip south on the ICW.  This is the last blogpost from St. Augustine for this season.

Tuesday, December 3

The temperature was 32 degrees F at 7 AM this morning! (Yes, we are still in Florida.) The first thing I did in the morning was to turn on our propane fireplace full blast (all 12,000 Btu’s) for about an hour. 

Our old Force-10 fireplace has no fan that circulates
the warm air. I have contemplated changing it
out with the newer Newport model that does
have this feature. In the meantime, I just
use a nearby cabin fan to help
circulate the warm air.

I erroneously thought that once we got to Florida, we would be in warmth and we have been up until today. (A warming trend is in the local weather forecast--it can't come soon enough for me.)

High on our agenda for the day was getting our propane tank re-certified and refilled. I called many propane companies after doing a google search and one company that offered re-certification said that they only did it on tanks that were less than 10 years old (this is pointless) and one company in Jacksonville (about an hour away) did it sometimes, depending on manpower availability.  Other companies either didn't perform re-certifications and didn't know anyone who did.  Consequently, I purchased a new 10-pound aluminum tank from West Marine--it will be here on Thursday ($230+).  I will keep the old (aluminum) tank and get it re-certified in Annapolis when we get home.  (This is just one of the many things that drive you crazy when traveling along the ICW.)

St. George's Street in St. Augustine is
a very busy pedestrian-only 
shopping area.

We filled up our 5-gallon water jug again at the marina office and carted it back to the boat in the dinghy.  We had a little mishap getting it back up onto the boat.  Maggie just about went overboard with the full 5-gallon jug.  We laughed about this later.

We went out for lunch at Pizza Time, our favorite pizza restaurant in St. Augustine.  Later in the afternoon, we ran into Ken and Nancy Lang on s/v Hafli, cruising friends of ours, when they stopped by on their dinghy.

We basked in the afternoon sun with an outside temperature reaching 57 degrees and more like 75 degrees inside our cockpit enclosure.

Wednesday, December 4

I expected a little more from this week's warming trend than the 39 degrees registered this morning.  Again today, I ran the propane fireplace for heat an hour or so in the morning.  We lounged around on the boat until about 11 AM when we rode the dinghy into the marina to fill up our portable 5-gallon water jug. (Later I emptied it into one of our fresh water tanks.)

We, then, drove into the marina for showers.  After our showers we went to South-A-Philly for a delicious cheesesteak (for me) and a tuna salad hoagie (for Maggie).  After lunch we walked around town and did some shopping before returning to the boat.  We went to an interesting art gallery on 111-C Aviles, in the oldest section of St. Augustine. 

Colorful shops and restaurants
on Avilies Street.

A romantic alley seating outside
a little nearby restaurant.

The outside temperature was 67 degrees in the afternoon but that's still cool for Florida!  We did two loads of laundry in the late-afternoon.  Just for information there are two mooring fields, one not of the bridge and the other south of the bridge.  Moorings cost approximately $25 per night for a non-resident of St. John's county.  (Prices for a resident of St. John's county are slightly lower.)

Lola basking in the
early afternoon sun.

Our last trip back to the boat for the day
with the sun just starting to set.

Thursday, December 5

This morning's outside temperature was a bit warmer (45 degrees F) but it still feels damp and cold to my old bones.

One of the familiar sounds that we occasionally hear while here in St. Augustine is the sound of the train on a nearby railroad, known as the Florida East Coast Railway.  The rails were built originally to carry passengers between New York to Florida but now they connect the major ports in Florida to the rest of the country and transport a wide variety of goods.  Another prominent sound that we occasionally hear is that of a loud horn signaling the imminent opening of the Bridge of the Lions.  About mid-morning, the sounds of dinghy motors prevail above most other nearby sounds.  Our mooring is far enough away from land that we seldom hear car and truck traffic sounds but I'm sure there is some in the background.

About noon we got a phone call from West Marine that our new propane tank arrived at the nearby store.  We arranged for an Uber ride to West Marine and then, to Ace Hardware to fill it with propane, and then, back to the marina.  Of course, to add some drama to all of this, Ace Hardware had trouble venting the tank because they needed a stubby screw driver to get to the bleed screw.  (C'mon, this is a hardware store, right?)

Before we took the dinghy back to the boat, we did a little shopping in town and had a coffee at a cute little coffee shop just off of King Street.

This little Santa Claus continuously climbs up
and down the little red ladder with a
string of Christmas lights.

We purchased a pink flamingo Christmas ornament to add to our decorations on the boat.

The pink flamingo Christmas ornament is
sufficiently gaudy and representative
of our Christmas time in Florida.

We've been thinking about staying in the U.S. until after New Year's Day, possibly slowing down a little and visiting some new places.  I have to re-work our travel plan again!

Friday, December 6

Finally, it didn't feel like we were freezing last night--it was a more comfortable 51 degrees F outside early this morning.  By the middle of the afternoon, the outside temperature rose to 74 degrees!  (Now, that's more like it!)

This was our last day in St. Augustine and grocery shopping was on top of our agenda for the day--these groceries must last us until we get to Vero Beach on Thursday, December 12, six days from now.  (Incidentally, the Uber driver that brought us back from the grocery store lives full time in a 14-foot long camper in her retirement and she follows the seasons between Rhode Island and Florida.)

This was an unusual perspective inside
Pizza Time, with lights and mirrors.

A very pretty tug type trawler in St. Augustine.
This was an 1985-vintage Lord Nelson
and only 74 were made.  (This 
tug has beautiful lines!)

A friendly egret and his shadow on
the dinghy dock in St. Augustine.

It seems like every season of ours has a food theme--this year's is pasta salad.  Every one we make gets better than the last one.  Also, we have made dramatic improvements to quiche this season--Maggie now uses heavy cream and Gruyere cheese.

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To complete our day, we took our trash into the marina, turned in our shower room cards, and got another 5-gallon jug of fresh water.  We loaded the outboard motor onto its storage bracket on the stern and we're ready to leave.

Tomorrow, we continue our trek southward on the ICW...


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