Coasting in St Augustine

Well just another day in St Augustine. We wanted to go to Daytona for today and Saturday but there is no room at the Halifax Marina there. There is a strong cold front coming in tomorrow actually delayed till tomorrow night so we will move along to a Marina In Palm Coast. I want to be tied up to a dock for strong frontal passages. Once we get further into Florida with less current and smaller tides it won’t be an issue but when you have 8 foot tides and equally strong currents coupled with opposing wind from frontal passages I want to be tied up and not swinging on the hook where I might or other boats might break loose in the middle of the night. I constantly remind my self that I’m not a “grey beard” sailor but a “pleasure boater”.

So we thought we would explore the city by BUS today on the famous Sunshine Bus Service here in St Augustine. Unfortunately most routes run on a 2 hour cycle so be sure to find things to do to occupy the interim time. We took the Blue Line bus from the Flagler Auditorium to a shopping center that has both a West Marine and a Winn Dixie grocery store. They also had a Checkers fast food place for lunch.

At West Marine I finally bought a folding bike for Karen. I didn’t think we would need it but my aching knee has convinced me differently. We paid for it and then asked them to hold it till the bus came back. We had lunch at Checkers then did some light shopping at the Winn Dixie. Ohhh discovery discovery – they had some Kalik beer from the Bahamas. I had to have an early six pack and it is cheaper here than in the Bahamas!!

Then it was back to wait for the Bus which showed up about on time. I kidded the driver that I had his “competition” when I loaded the bike onboard.

Back to the boat to enjoy the remainder of the afternoon and enjoy the wind and current in sync for awhile. That will all change later when they oppose and all the boats start swinging any which way. Last night there were a couple of calls of folks though boats had broken loose but actually only one small one had the rest just danced like they were loose. I hate it when I’m sideways to my anchor or pushing forward on it. Fortunately we don’t “dance” on the anchor but the full keeled IPs do. They need a lot of space when swinging to a single hook.

Tomorrow we will leave early and check into the Palm Coast Marina around noon – only 30 miles. Great place for Karen to practice riding here new bike and a sheltered spot to wait out this coming frontal passage.

Tonight all eyes will be on the SE!! Space shuttle should launch at 7:55 PM EST. Hopefully we will see the plume but too far to feel the launch though.

It has been a nice day so far with none of the predicted showers and looking forward to Grilled chicken from the grill tonight.

Sorry – no interesting pictures taken today because of all the stuff we were hauling – bike, groceries, oh and Dunkin Donuts!!