May 18-23, 2025
After a thorough review of weather, winds and tidal charts, 6:45am is our chosen time to embark. The last few days have been longer and with so many unknowns (Slow Speed Zones, etc), the plan for today is shorter. It is less stressful and provides more window for adjustment. We throw lines for our new friends on vessel “Knot Alone” and we prepare to shove off the dock. It is so calm, no assistance is necessary to make way!
Mid-day on the Matanzas River we encounter the most blatant of fisherman yet.
He was truly in the middle of the channel on a kayak! My Garmin (“Waze”) path is indicated in magenta color. You can see the path actually taken marked with black dashed line. I could not navigate into the white area on the right cuz the fisherman in my way had a buddy over there near the red “X”. We could see he had something on his line. Seriously, I had to move into shallow waters risking our boat to avoid an accident all for a fish when reeled in appeared the size of bait! Of course we cruised by at idle speed and made sure he was still afloat after passing. We are retired and not in a hurry. Maybe this bait sized fish is his dinner and that location is great fishing territory. Think positive thoughts. Deep breaths and Namaste!
Approaching St. Augustine now, we overtake a pirate ship dinner cruise vessel and chug along under the Bridge of Lions. Immediately on our left is the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument! It is the oldest masonry fort in the continental US. Best view is from the water!
Conch House Marina and Resort is home for the next several days. They have floating docks which move with the changes in the tide water.
Most marinas in areas of great tidal depth swings have floating docks. Fixed docks are worrisome for my captain. Water height changes but the dock does not move, meaning the lines tying the boat to the dock may need adjustments daily, sometimes overnight. Challenging for risk adverse and OCD types like us Nauti Nerds!
Given the orientation of the finger dock and our aft stairs, we dock bow in first.
Remember earlier this month I said stuff happens in threes? Well, here we are with #3. We are not getting any water discharged over the side thru-hull discharges but our A/C appears to be working.
The nerds deduce this is likely a pump issue and we start contacting recommended service companies in the area, which proves very difficult. Some do not answer, some do not reply to VM or text, some the call doesn’t even complete. There is a Holiday Inn Express one mile away and I reserve one night thinking our issue will resolve quickly. We finally arrange for a look-see and technician narrows it to a pump issue as well but doesn’t feel comfortable proceeding. At $135/hour and a two-hour minimum (with no guarantee of closure), we are both thinking we should take some courses! Next service comes highly recommended but they are out of the country and won’t be back for a few days. Communication is nebulous and irregular. We extend our stay here at the Conch House AND the Holiday Inn Express. As luck would have it the boat next to us is having some generator work done even though owners are not present. Another fortuitous dock conversation and this guy agrees to take a look. Meanwhile days are going by and we really wanted to be north of the 32nd parallel by June 1, the official start of hurricane season. We agree the a/c water pump needs replacing and proceed down that path, cancelling the other provider who was out of the country. Next day Alan tries the A/C and guess what, we have water discharging overboard! Conclusion is the water pump failed when overheated and after cooling down it functioned. At least now we can stay on the boat comfortably after three nights in a hotel. Nerds make lemonade though and went for a trolley ride through historical sights. Sweltering temperatures with high humidity are the conditions through all of this – of course.
All day ticket on Old Towne Trolley includes 22 stops including the fort, fountain of youth, other historical sites as well as shopping and restaurant areas.
I actually helped myself to two cups of magic potion water and will let you know if it works – LOL! A taste of history there with regular canon firings, blacksmith demonstration of nail forging and more. Graceful peacocks are everywhere. Did you know peacocks actually lose their magnificent tail feathers every fall? Over winter a new set of feathers is grown to impress the ladies when mating season starts in May. That explains why they were noisy and shaking their tail feathers. The pea hens were disinterested. One could almost hearing them say “whatever…”.
The trolley route winds through some neighborhoods and I wonder how annoyed these folks must be at the site of yet another trolley tour. Magnolia Lane is a beautiful site to behold.
Refreshment becomes necessity and we wander down a pedestrian only road. Alan has a nose for ice cream and led us directly to the Sweet Spot where he ordered Key Lime Pie ice cream. It’s delightful.
Continuing on, we find a Bavarian Pretzel shop and a quaint place to enjoy it. Ahh, the joys of being an adult and eating whatever you want, whenever unless of course your indigestion kicks in!
A visit to the St Augustine lighthouse is our venture on another day. In the humid weather a 20-25 minute walk is brutal. There is no way we are climbing 219 steps to reach the gallery for viewing the local area. It is most certainly breathtaking but so is stair-climbing! LOL
This marina has a Caribbean themed restaurant with several raised huts. These are a customer favorite and many will wait for one of these special tables to become available. Due to convenience, we have eaten multiple meals at this restaurant, all delicious!
There is also a bar on the pier with Happy Hour specials and live music.
Today we took an Uber to Enterprise for a rental car. Our boat baby needs diapers. So, it calls for a stop to West Marine. Yep, every time we refuel, baby makes a mess and we use a diaper to sop up the diesel that burps out. Then off to Walmart to help Alan on his quest to visit every Walmart LOLOL! We grab provisioning items and head back to the marina. Some Loop friends we met back in Gulf Shores are planning to arrive in St Augustine this evening and we plan to have dinner to catch up. There are always stories to share!
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