Friday May 5: St. Augustine

We arrived at St. Augustine yesterday about 2 pm. It was again very windy but sunny. The municipal marina here is very nice - we're docked just south of the Bridge of Lions bridge. The current continues to never be going our way but at least we talked to a fellow MTOAer and found out it's not just the ocean tides that control the current but rivers and winds as well. It almost sounded hopeless to try to time the coming in and out of the tide so I guess we just go with the flow - literally!

As we left yesterday morning and I looked back at the entrance to our anchorage last night, it sure looks like we shouldn't have been in there! But Steve said it was a go so in we went :-) Much of the travel was now through relatively narrow channels lined with homes and VERY LONG docks. Must be lots of money in dock building around here as the tidal changes make it necessary to have docks that go way out from shore (literally hundred of feet in some places).

Even when the waterways opened wider with marshes along one or both sides, the variety of shoreline continues to amaze us. One stretch was just sand dunes (west of the waterway so not on the oceanside).

There were some fun wildlife sightings today. The eagles are back as is evidenced by the one we spotted sitting along the bank (this picture is for you, JP! Be sure to double click on the picture to see it better.) and the other we saw flying. The white tail is so distinctive when in flight. I'm not sure what a bunch of manatee are called but we saw what I first thought was a shallow sand bar only to realize it was 8 or so manatee swimming 50 yards off to the side swimming together. You can see their noses and tails mostly! There were also a pod (?) of dolphins feeding by swimming in a circle to herd the 'food fish'. Lots of splashing going on.

Once we were tied up to the dock, a bit of exploration was in order. We stopped by the Castillo de San Marcos (a fort) but didn't go in. There is cannon shooting scheduled today - I think we're close enough to hear it from here in the boat! Cemeteries here have above ground burial tombs - I assume due to area being basically at sea level. Tons of restaurants here. We found a New Orleans style seafood place for a late afternoon snack.