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You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written concent of the author.
It was only 10 miles to St. Augustine, Florida, so we had an easy run down on Monday. St. Augustine, the oldest European-established city in the United States, has a well-restored old section practically across the street from the City Marina.
Tying up at the marina we just had time to cross the street to a restaurant to meet some friends, long-term residents of the town. Tom is a history professor at Flagler College, a small but quite prestigious institution. Susan, also a teacher, has worked a lot with some of the local museums. Between the two of them Kit and I got a better tour than anyone else has ever gotten. We saw parts of the college that is not even open to the students, heard wonderful stories of the history of the region, heard how the college was established, and had things pointed out that even the professional tour guides wouldn't have known. And all this was during their lunch break between classes.
Leaving us on our own to explore, something we love to do, we spent the afternoon just poking around the old section and the old fortifications. Such was our Monday.
For Tuesday we had a lazy morning, then met Tom and Susan again for lunch between classes. Again we had a walking tour, this time pointing out more sites and sharing even more stories. By the time they had to leave for their afternoon commitments we had received probably the equivalent of a full week-long history course dedicated to St. Augustine. What a pleasure!
Not dallying we were out of the City Marina and anchored about 20 miles south at the Mantanzas River by 1700. In looking back it seemed almost like we were on one of these whirlwind If-it's-Tuesday-we-must-be-in-Belgium tours. And yet it was a most complete and satisfying introduction to St. Augustine. We will be back someday to enjoy the town at a more leisurely pace.
The Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) is a world-wide club of cruising sailors and those working towards being cruisers themselves. They have been holding their annual gam (meeting) in Melbourne, Florida, for the past several years. This weekend they are holding this year's event. As members we've attended a number of gams, presenting our slide show on our Caribbean Loop cruise at the last one. We've always attended by land. This time we were going to have the opportunity to attend by boat... a more appropriate mode, don't you think?
With the first event on Friday morning and a very long two-day trip to get there, we decided to go for it. So we boogied.
Up just before dawn so we could weigh anchor in the early morning twilight, we were well underway by sunrise. Kit would have her breakfast while I drove Volant, then help with the navigating. After lunch underway Kit would take the helm for a half-hour or so, giving me a well-needed break. Then I'd take over again and we'd continue truckin'.
Anchorages are limited along this stretch. We could take one that would have us be at anchor in the mid afternoon, or one that would get us in just after sunset. If we took the earlier one, Thursday would be a bitch of a day. If we pushed we just might make it in safely, but then we'd have an easy day on Thursday. Our captain made the call: "Let's go for it!"
All day the current was against us. So to make the milage by dark we'd have to run the engine at higher revs than we prefer. It doesn't really hurt the engine (diesels love to be worked hard), but it does burn nearly double the fuel for the same distance covered.
We watched the miles go by... and the time go by... and more miles... and more time... We had maybe ten miles to go as the sun touched the western horizon. I increased the revs some more. The sun was gone, the twilight hanging on for a little bit more. It became difficult to see the ICW markers. Fortunately some were lit with red or green lights to match their individual color, flashing in unique patterns [one might be a green light flashing once every four seconds, another a red light flashing every two and a half seconds]. By reading the charts we could pick out individual marks by their color and pattern of flashes, enabling us to proceed in spite of the darkness.
The twilight was gone by the time we reached the ICW marker where we could turn and head into the anchorage in the Mosquito Lagoon. While there was no moon out yet, our eyes had adjusted to the darkness. We could see well enough to determine that the anchorage was wide open, had room for maybe a million boats, and was occupied by only one other. In minutes we were safely anchored. Not much later we were sawing logs, being completely exhausted.
Thursday's run was a piece of cake. We set our SSCA burgee (a pennant with a unique design identifying the SSCA) for the run down, and were in the anchorage at Melbourne by the late afternoon. Sitting in the cockpit we watched other boats come in, their SSCA burgees flying, making their way in to anchor. By dark there must have been two dozen boats at anchor, all showing their SSCA burgee.
The gam was a lot of fun. We reconnected with folks we hadn't seen for years, since maybe when we were someplace like Trinidad, and connected with some new friends. Exhibitors showed off some of the latest and greatest new boating gear of particular interest to cruising sailors. A number of folks presented seminars, covering a variety of subjects from how to trouble-shoot your electrical system to how to prepare for a hurricane. It was a bit of a push to get here, but all the more satisfying for having done it on our own bottom.
For the next few days we'll be heading southward. Ft. Lauderdale is only a few days away. For all intents and purposes, our cruise of the Eastern Seaboard is now complete.
So what's next? Well, we don't really know. Kit and I are talking in terms spending the winter in Southeast Florida, doing some boat chores, cruising the Keys and doing our Learn to Sail, Learn to Cruise, Passagemaking and Taste of Cruising programs. But even that could change at any moment. When we know, we'll update our site accordingly.
I hope you've enjoyed coming along on our trip with us. If you would like to be notified of our next cruise, be sure to go to our Home Page and subscribe to our email list. Until then, we wish you all fair winds and following seas.
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