St. Augustine, day 2

Today we did a combination of riding the tour train and getting off and on to take pictures and visit some of the sites in town. The "Red Tour Train" tickets are good for three consecutive days, cost under $20 and you can get on and off as much as you want, so it was a good deal. The Flagler college building was amazing, and I took a lot of pictures. The Tiffany stained glass in the dining room alone is valued at 30 million dollars ! All of the photos from here are in a separate slide show with a link on the left side of the page. It rained all afternoon today so we did not tour much after 3:00 so I filled our diesel jugs, Chris did some laundry, filled the water tank, had the holding tank pumped, and plotted out our waypoints for the next leg to Daytona tomorrow.

St. Augustine, Florida

• We are now at St. Augustine, Florida in the Municipal Marina and are going to stay for an extra night here as we want to explore the city and see all of the sights, as it looks like an interesting place to visit. After we take some pictures I will post more of the area. This afternoon we took the tour train to get an overview of the city so that we can explore in detail tomorrow. On Wednesday we will move further south and probaly stop around Daytona Beach.

oops

We had a nice evening and meal last night  at SeaJay`s restaurant-I chose to miss  the low country boil-same as a clambake but with shrimp and oysters because I love their Brunswick stew and also had a slice of warm pecan pie,the music was good but mellow-I do miss the Four Kings music.We left early and at almost low tide and strong current and ran into a shoal at 7 knots-whoa sudden stop-he managed to power off but it sure scared me. after that we navigated through the Navy nuke refueling base area and many bumps but no stopping.That area has no magenta line to follow on GPS so you need 2 sets of eyes to find markers.We are now safely anchored in Ft. George River north of Jacksonville and only dolphins,cranes and 2 other sailboats tonight.I can`t believe I am in Florida-shorts in the daytime the past few days but cool nights.    Chris

Jekyll Harbor

We are now at Jekyll Island , Georgia, our last stop before we get to Florida! Chris is doing some laundry and we used the courtesy car from the marina to go to the local grocery store. There is a nice restaurant/Bar here "Sea Jay's" where we will have dinner and listen to a musician who is playing tonight. We spent last night at a great anchorage at Mile 651.3 on back river behind Doboy Island lots of swinging room and room for multiple boats just off the ICW.

At Anchor, Doboy Sound Georgia.

We left Isle of Hope Marina at 06:30 this morning so that we could catch the 7 AM Skidaway Narrows bridge opening. After traveling about 50 miles today we are now anchored out in the Back River just off of the Doboy sound, Georgia. We are just north of Brunswick GA. and hope to be at Jekyl Island tommorow afternoon, and then on to Florida Sunday!

Savannah

This morning we took the city bus to Savannah and toured the city. The bus stop was only a block away from the Marnia and just a short walk. We did a lot of walking around Savannah, visited most of the shops on River street, saw a lot of great houses, Chris bought some pralines and other candies, and we got on the list for lunch at Paula Deens restaurant Lady & Sons. We then watched the Vetrans Day parade for a while and did a lot of people watching. After a great lunch we then took a trolley tour as the city is too big to see in the limited time we have. There is a public dock downtown that is free for 3 hours if you want to do a quick visit and is $1.50 a foot if you want to stay overnight.  We took so many pictures that I made a separate slide show that has a link on the left side of the page.

Isle Of Hope,Ga.

We arrived this afternoon at this marina that is right out of a storybook-it is just past the cemetery from the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil movie with tree lined streets of old cottage homes.We took the loaner car to Walmart and are relaxing before taking the bus to Savannah in the morning.Today we had many dolphins playing alongside the boat and a few eagles on posts watching the water.We chose the I.C.W. for just this reason, secluded anchorages,wildlife,strolls through small town America,dinner and conversation at  pubs with the local people.I have learned so much history of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars as we tour the towns and museums.We go just 5 to 7 miles per hour so you see so much more than in a car.100 days have gone by so fast and I wake up each day excited for what comes next. I do dream of the ocean crossing to the Abacos when we reach Lake Worth,Fla. but for now I am so glad that we chose this route.   Chris