Around St. Augustine

Our goal is to spend the summer months on the Chesapeake Bay, and we have been working slowly that way. Traveling about 30 – 40 miles a day looking for over-nite accommodations along the way.

Leaving Ft. Pierce Florida we moved North to Sebastian Yacht Services, not your big time marina but more, like the name implies a service area. They were very helpful and priced competitively. The owner said, “We wont rip you off any more than the next guy”. If he’s going to be that open I’ll trust him. Right after that he said he was going to lunch and had to pass by the grocery store he give one of us a lift. Cynthia was elected to shop. We stayed one night and pressed on.

After Sebastian came Titusville. That is where we found the Ketch “Sea Witch” from another blog entry. Our main reason to stop in Titusville was by chance see a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. We planned our stay to coincide with the launch and luckily the weather held for it to happen. It was a short time before the rocket passed beyond our sight. We were looking at each other after the launch and then the noise of the rocket came. The rocket sound lasted what seemed like a few minutes, all with the flame out of sight. Amazing

Shortly after Liftoff

T-plus 20 seconds

T-plus 10 seconds                                                                                                                           

Titusville is the home port of, Gold Loopers, Row and Gus Ambler on “Summerland”. Their slip just happened to be right next to were we were birthed. Amblers arrived back after some weeks on the boat and before they were secure in their slip they were asking what they could do for us

Wild Flowers

lizards

Alligator (I call him Boots)

We were able to get together and we spent a morning and afternoon checking out the Merritt Island preserve and a great Mexican food lunch.

Proceeding up the coast we made over-nite stops in New Smyrna Beach, just south of Daytona, (Hey Bummer, remember finding the shotgun and radio by the campsite near New Smyrna Beach) and Palm Coast Marina, north of Daytona Beach.

From Palm Coast we traveled to St. Augustine. We figured a little extra time would be spent in St. Augustine, however I didn’t expect almost 2 weeks. St. Augustine is all history, shops, restaurants, carriage rides, and fun.

Pirate ship “Black Raven” cruises to recapture lost treasure

We had Pirate ships, Spanish Galleons, schooners, and tour boats leaving the dock behind us many times a day. All sorts of pleasure crafts, many mega yachts, coming and going.

Schooner “Freedom” taking another group out

St. Augustine Municipal is right next to “old town” and all the transportation outlets to get around town. Each day except Sunday the “Cruisers Shuttle” would pick up boaters and take them to different stores around the area. Being boaters most of the people either went to Wal-Mart, West Marine, or other chandlery shops nearby. The shuttle was free to the riders and was funded by advertisers. So the driver suggested places you might want to visit during your stay in St. Augustine. The “Cruisers Shuttle” worked great for us and the driver brought us to some places that really helped in our maintenance and repairs while at the dock.

Reenactors preparing for a drill

Musket demonstration

One of the big draws to the area is the Fort. Castillo de San Marcos was to be a sure stop. However, they don’t allow dogs in the fort, so, Cynthia went to tour first while Toots and were going for a walk or back to the boat. Toots had other ideas. She would not leave the area while Mamma was touristing. I had to almost drag her away. Finally I found some shade and we sat and waited until Cynthia toured the Castillo.

Fort outer wall and moat

While we waited Toots met many people interested in her breeding and rugged good looks. She draws a crowd where ever we go. Lately we have begun taking pictures of people and her “fan club” I should have thought of that before. She could have her own Face Book page. I will post some of her pictures in a later issue.

I did get my time to see the Castillo and remembered some of it from when I traveled the area in the early 70’s. One thing was the difference in the cannons. The Spanish made cannons from bronze and the English cast their cannons from iron. Spanish saw the weapons as art and English as just weapons. The pictures show the differences.

English cannon

Spanish Cannon

 Spanish Mortar

Intricate castings

Inside some of the rooms the walls have graffiti from soldiers that were stationed and lived at the fort.

Coquina blocks with Tabby as mortar in between

St. Augustine is very interesting and offers much for anyone that wants to visit. We will surly stop again, but not for as long. We blew the budget, but it was worth it.

Flagler College center court and bell tower                                                                Jacksonville

Fountain (sun-dial) at Flagler College

Old town street from carriage ride

Archway from the marina slips to “old town”

Pirates preparing to steal the treasure. Sword fights and swash buckling

From St. Augustine we moved North to Jacksonville Beach. Jacksonville Beach gave us an opportunity to see the Dragon Boats practice. These long boats were either fiberglass or aluminum, had a crew of 12 with 10 paddlers side by side and coxswain calling the tempo and a person on a steering oar.

Dragon Boat coming back from practice

Pink Dragon Boat named “Mamma Glams”

Fernandina was an older community that based its welfare on Shrimp. We had just missed the Shrimp festival but the town was very interesting.

Shrimp Boat at the dock

Another Shrimp boat

Cynthia has told me we will be spending more time in Fernandina on our return trip South.

Just across the Sound from Fernandina we enter Georgia, and that’s another story.

Until next time. Happy Trails

Florida Authors

While in Florida I have concentrated on Florida authors in my readings. It doesn’t hurt that some of my favorites were already from Florida anyway. But what is a Florida author?

While on one of our walks about St. Augustine we happened Anastasia Books, tucked in the corner of the building next to a Chocolate shop that was open for breakfast, lunch and diner. The owner educated me on the topic of Florida authors. “ Do you want books about Florida, books written while the author was in Florida, books by Florida natives that are fiction with Florida as a background?” All the while she was pointing out shelves of books. “The bottom rows are cookbooks because I didn’t know where else to put them. And I’ve got more fiction in the back room by authors that have moved to Florida.”

I’m used to my regulars, Dave Barry, Randy Wayne White, Carl Hiaasen, and Tim Dorsey. But this lady said “You need to look at these and have you read, A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith?”

“Ah no.”

“Well you need to. Let me see if I have a used copy. No, You will have to buy a new one.” I left with three to add to my queue of to be read books. Of course, “A Land Remembered”, which is required reading in Middle schools, after a little editing. It’s fiction but still tells the story of Florida. I will fill you in more when I’ve finished.

I also picked up “Thunder on the St. Johns” by Lee Gramling considered a “Cracker Western” and a Ken Follet book, Jackdaws, found in the used area.

While we have been in Florida I’ve read books about treasure, history, mystery and adventure, some in the same book.

While in the Ft. Myers area we were told of a great bookstore in Burnt Store not far from North Ft. Myers. Sandman Book Company turned out to be Southwest Florida’s largest independent bookshop. With shelves that specialized in Florida authors. Sandman Books even had walls made of books, with an arch and everything. Very cool. I brought back to the boat many good stories and I’ve been working my way through the piles.

Also while staying at Paradise Marina in North Ft. Myers, Dearest and myself, received a care package from our friend Hilary B. in Grand Haven. Hillary sent the latest “Reacher” book and some Robert Crais, Iris Johansen, plus a first book by author Leonie Swann, you need open your mind to a different concept for her book.

If you would like to see titles and dates of the books I’ve been reading, look for me on the Goodreads web site or app. I will keep reviewing, but not every book I read.

Looks like I’ve got the shelf full for the time being. Florida is a great state for authors.

Now that we are heading North I will be looking for other local authors. Coming up are Georgia and the Carolinas. If you have suggestions let me know and I can start looking for titles and authors in bookstores along the way.

Here is to good readings and great adventures.