St. Augustine, FL and then in route to Palm Beach

Saturday, November 11, 2006

029-53.580 N
081-17.580 W

Ahoy from St. Augustine, FLORIDA!!!!!

Yee haa...we made it to Florida!  Yesterday morning we left from halfway between Charleston and Savanah, SC and we pulled into St. Augustine, FL this morning.  In ICW miles we went from 515 to 775.  In my math that's 260 ICW statute miles which we did in basically 1 day.  Wow, that's moving!  The land curves at lot along here and the ICW S's through here and we were able to draw a straight line.  That saved almost 100 miles and we didn't have to drive continuously.  We basically had no winds for the morning and afternoon, motor-sailed for a few evening hours and then motored into 5-15 kts on the nose for the rest of the evening. It got a bit bumpy when the winds picked up, but all in all it was a great trip.  We pulled into St. Augustine at around 11 Saturday morning.

St. Augustine on Veterans Day weekend is a very popular destination.  We enjoyed Castillo de San Marcos and tried to extricate our selves from the tourist shopping sections which seem to dominate the area.  Flagler college and the surrounding area has some beautiful architecture and a lot of high-end shopping just in case you need some more shopping. 

Tomorrow we're headed to the Ponce de Leon inlet which is about 55 miles from here.  That's about 10 miles south of Daytona, so we're making good time.  The goal is to be in Ft. Lauderdale by Thursday when a strong cold front is due to come through.

-- Geoff & Sue

For the Cruiser:

We can't recommend the Conch House Marina as their prices are certainly on the high side.  Dockage is $2.25/ft and power is $14/30A!  How much for power?  After seeing that on the bill I went back and tried to figure out what I could possibly turn on to run up that kind of bill, but there was no way to do it.  The Municipal Marina's rate is $1.95/ft and a much more reasonable $5/30A.  They're also a lot closer to the bridge which takes you to the old city.  Unfortunately they were full.

The anchorages are extremely rocky with large power boats blowing through the ICW and throwing up huge wakes.  We watched the whole anchorage roll gunnel to gunnel as boat after boat went by.  Perhaps it's due to this being a long weekend, but I doubt it.

For a very good meal at very reasonable prices we recommend O'Steal's, which is on the main drag before you get the bridge.  They have lots of seafood at $8-12/plate and very friendly staff.  Just don't expect a leisurely meal.  They know how to move people through.

Log ID: 918