Q's End: Licence to Travel: St. Augustine, FL

(Friday April 15 - Dist: 53.0 mi; Avg Speed: 9.0 mph; TTT: 5:55 hrs)

St. Augustine is the oldest city in America, if you do not count the American Indians. The old downtown is restored or kept beautifully. The architecture is amazing with a strong Spanish influence followed by British architecture. The streets are extremely narrow and the buildings are right on the edge of the streets. Most are one way streets because two cars could never pass.

The marina is right in the heart of old St. Augustine. This is the view from the Ale House across the street; great blue cheese chips for an appetizer with their micro brewery beer that they serve.

The Marina is very well managed, especially for a city run facility. There is lots of staff which is a necessity because of the swift currents that rip through the marina. It is as challenging as docking at Hoppies on the Mississippi River. My docking was even more challenging, almost impossible because of a computer error. Whomever accepted our reservation entered 21 feet as our boat length instead of the 41. We were assigned a smaller dock that is only 35 feet long and 15' wide. Well even with the fast current and the afternoon wind I squeezed our 14.5 foot beam into the 15' slip. Only after did they realize their mistake. Oh well, a much finer effort than I displayed in Stuart where the wind and current caught me by surprise.

We have been walking the town and taking the tour trolley to pick up some of the history; a really interesting place. It is a good thing too, because my dinghy repair is waiting on a replacement tube from Mexico. It was stuck in a warehouse at the US border on Friday so it may not get here until next Monday or Tuesday.

We did rent a car on the weekend and visited the World Golf Hall of Fame on Sunday with our friends from Bade Boomer. It was very interesting. It is hard to believe that there is so much money invested into this tourist site. It is very well done; we spent a good half day there and enjoyed our whole time.

Well we have to go out and find Todd and Paula-Sue from Ocean Breeze; they have finally caught up to us again. I am sure that we will be able to share some stories over a nice adult beverage. I'll add a few more random photos for your enjoyment.