23. St Augustine, Florida

We left Hogan’s Marina early in the morning and were on our way meandering through Georgia. The ICW snakes its way around back and forth and it seems that you turn back as much as you move forward. Not far out of Savannah, we passed Moon River named in honour of Johnny Mercer’s famous song Moon River. He was a Savannah native. We also passed through Hell’s Gate and Jeckyl Creek. Both aptly named because of the difficulty navigating through these passages. We made sure that we went through on a rising tide as we did not want to use Tow Boat Us again even if we do have unlimited towing.

Finally we were in Florida! Travelling along the ICW we passed beautiful homes. Everyone was getting all decked out for Christmas decorating even their boathouses as indicated above. Imagine what this would look like in the dark!

We travelled south to St. Augustine, a city that we really liked. We anchored just north of the Lion Bridge which is a temporary bascule bridge built while the original Lion Bridge is slowly being restored to its former glory. The turrets in front of the bascule bridge are part of the old bridge. They are being reinforced and recast where necessary. It is going to take at least three years before it is finished. It should look wonderful.





We arrived in St. Augustine just in time for their annual Christmas parade of boats. Sailboats, tugboats, cruisers, boats of all sizes were very festively decorated with beautiful lights. They sailed right in front of where we were anchored. We had front row seats. I experimented with taking pictures in the dark as well as of quickly moving objects.

Every night the city along the river would light up with thousands of lights just as you can see in the above picture.

St. Augustine has a very interesting history. It was founded in 1565 as a Spanish military outpost. It is the oldest continually occupied European settlement in the Unites States. Traces of the city’s Spanish heritage are reflected everywhere. After the Seven Years War (1756-63) Britain gained Florida in exchange for Cuba which the British had captured. The second Spanish period was brief and in 1821 Florida was relinquished to the United States.

Needless to say, there is a strong Spanish presence in St. Augustine. We walked around the Castillo de San Marcos, a large Spanish stone fort dating from the 17th century.


We visited the old Spanish Quarter which recreates a living history village similar to Black Creek Village in Toronto.

We were the only people in the village when we were there and we spent a lot of time talking with the various artisans represented.

The scribe really enjoys his work and he is one of the few people who can still write in the old Spanish script. He told us which bird quills were good to use and

showed Roman how to cut a quill properly. It is really an art.

A little squirrel watched while we were given some Seville oranges, limes and lemons which grow wild just as they did centuries ago. Surprisingly they did not last long. I guess that the sprays that are sprayed on the fruits today really do preserve the fruit.


The oldest wooden schoolhouse in the United States is located in the old Spanish Quarter. I bought some ink, from the Schoolhouse Store, for Katya to use with a real quill. She is very creative and might enjoy experimenting with a quill.

Next to the Spanish Quarter is the St. Photios National Greek Orthodox Shrine which is a beautiful chapel with exquisite icons. The iconographer was a very talented artist. One of the most important purchases we made is a couple of Canadian flags in the World of Flags store. We are on our second flag as the weather wrecks havoc with our flag. Our current flag is very large and has got caught in the wind generator and on the solar panels. I have spent countless hours repairing holes and stitching up the sides of the flag by hand.

St. Augustine Municipal Marina was only a short dinghy ride from where we were anchored. The Marina allows dinghy dockage, use of showers and laundry facilities for a daily fee of $10.00 plus tax. We took advantage of this and one day lead into another and we ended up spending a full week there. Above I am sitting on the wall just in front of the north side of the Lion's Bridge where we anchored.



We wandered around the city admiring the old buildings and enjoying the

walkway through the oldest part of the city. The bus system is very efficient. A series of small buses carry passengers for a $1.00 over a wide variety of routes. By bus, we went to Wal-Mart, West Marine, Publix, Dollar Tree and other stores, all on the outskirts of the city. We also went to a unique Trade Exchange where you can sell, buy, and trade or exchange boating items. We spent an afternoon going through charts, books and many aisles of boating parts. This would have been a great store to go to when Roman was building the boat. We bought a couple of waterproof charts of the Bahamas, some books for reading, and Roman found a hydraulic steering pump to have as a replacement part.

Life is full of interesting coincidences. We were sitting at an internet café in Casa Monica which is an old hotel built in the late 19th century and recently totally renovated. We had just finished sending an e-mail to our friends Ray and Irene from C-Drifters when we looked up and saw Ray and Peter from Superior Grace passing right in front of us. They had dropped anchor in the same anchorage as our boat. Needless to say, we were glad to see each other. We had a similar experience, last year, when we were sitting at a restaurant in Kingston, Ontario and looked up to see our friend Warren Goodyear walking in front of the restaurant window.

We went out to dinner and spent the evening laughing and getting caught up.

Then we went bar hopping. Laughing and dancing to a great oldies band, we had a grand time.


Come on, all together now.


Left foot, then right foot!

No, no the other left foot!

We'd like just a little bit more to drink, just a wee bit more!

We spent several days with our friends. We wandered round the old quarter and went to a concert of Christmas carols in the park by a navy band. Another day we went to the Prince of Wales Restaurant famous for its chip and fish. Ray and Irene agreed that the fish was done in the famous British fashion but the chips were lacking. However, they tasted great to me.

Then we were off again!