Our next stop is St. Augustine. The oldest city in North America. We plan to stay three nights on a mooring ball in the south field. We are looking forward to a few days to explore this incredible city.
Fort Castillo de Sans Marco sits on the edge of St. Augustine's shoreline. From the water, the Fort looks, for the most part, fairly typical for a masonry Fort. The beauty of Castillo is truly seen from above. The footprint of this 327 year old fort is beautiful. We learn that it took 23 years to build this impressive structure and it is the oldest masonry fort in the United States that has never been captured by force. We joined a presentation being given on the upper level of the Fort and were entertained with stories of how pirates approached Castillo de Sans Marco on many occasions trying to overtake the city. Once, pirates set their ships in the bay to wait out the citizens, hoping to starve the inhabitants by not allowing any provisions ships to enter. Once weakened and unable to defend the city, the pirates planned to make their move on the Fort. Fortunately for St. Augustine, the pirates too ran out of provisions during this time and were unable to make their serge upon the Fort. Castillo de Sans Marco is made of "coquina" which is a mixture of local sea shells and limestone and in areas where the walls are eroding, you can clearly see the bits of shells that have held strong to this day.
We also took a walk through the old town and had lunch at Prohibition Kitchen. There is something magical about walking through these old, beautifully kept historical towns. Prohibition Kitchen prints their menu on articles about prohibition so even during lunch we can absorb a little more history. Side note, the food was incredible. The salad I had will go down in the top five salads I have ever had. I'll have to try to recreate it. We also got in a round of mini putt during our stay. I was the only one that left the course without a hole in one. We put many miles on our feet enjoying all the shops and sights near the port of St. Augustine.
Not everything about St. Augustine is blissful. In fact, one of the most peculiar things about St. Augustine is the wind and currents. While on a mooring ball, similar to an anchor, the bow of the boat will face into the wind. The pressure of the lines on the front cleats would usually keep the scope of the line tight. It is windy in St. Augustine, like a whistling wind that should have all of us in the mooring field facing the same way - directly into the wind. This is not the case. The mooring balls of the catamarans closest to us are between their hulls and tight towards the stern of their boats. It makes no logical sense looking at it. A few of the boat owners were out on their bows looking over the edge to see if their lines were getting caught up in anything. Our mooring ball was completely taut and perpendicular to the bow of our boat. It may be hard to picture, but it was also hard to believe when we were witnessing it. How could the current have a stronger pull than the push of this howling wind. The waves in the mooring field didn't make a ton of sense either.
This video is of how strong the current is against the dinghy tied to the back of Holy Cow while we were on the mooring ball.
When we arrived in St. Augustine and were safely tied to our mooring ball, Jaxon and Brooklyn got busy with the task of putting down the dinghy. I decided to help with the process because of the wind. We successfully had the dinghy down and tied to the port side of Holy Cow, but unbeknownst to us, the end of one of the lines from the dinghy had slipped into the water. When Gord was ready to take the dogs to shore, he tried to untie the dinghy only to find out, the loose end wasn't loose. The ridiculous current had taken the end of the line and wrapped it around the starboard prop. Despite the many clever contraptions Gord came up with to unwind the rope, the line held tight. The water here is incredibly murky, and with the current, unless you have proper equipment (we don't) swimming four feet under the boat to loosen a line isn't possible. How frustrating! So when Gord leaves to take the dogs to shore, he also finds a diver willing to unwind the line. The diver came the next day while we were at the Fort, and when we met up with him to ask how it went, he said the line had wrapped itself around the prop three times, and because of the current, the tail end of the line had tucked itself snuggly in on the last rotation. He said it took him less than three breaths to remedy the situation. He said it was such a simple and quick fix that he almost hated to charge us for the service. Gord laughed, stated of course he could feel free not to charge us, but the emphasis on the diver's comment is on the "almost." So the average cost of our mooring ball increased over the three nights stay when factoring in the diving charge, but no harm done, except to our pocketbooks.
After our three nights in St. Augustine, we make the 8:30am opening of The Bridge of the Lions and set our course to Fernandina Beach Marina. We have been on the hook (or mooring ball as the case may be) for five nights. Our house batteries are in great shape. We don't really need to plug in to shore power, but it's not a bad idea at this point to top them up fully. We also could use some fresh water in our tanks. Holy Cow needs a good wash down from sitting in the mooring field, so when we arrive in Fernandina, we will get out some soap and brushes and give her a thorough scrub down.
For those of you that have requested details on our daily travels - you can find it there under the "Voyage Log" button.
It's huge a step back in time visiting historical mansions, cabins and forts. One thing they all seem to have in common is Lilliput beds.