St. Augustine

Marineland to St Augustine's Camachee Cove Marina - July 16-18, 2016

Miles Today: 21.2 NM

Total Miles: 203.3 NM

We considered staying a second day at Marineland Marina and taking in the aquatic displays and shows across the street.  There’s a nice beach on the Atlantic Ocean that is literally across the road and we were tempted to stay and take a kayak eco-tour at a reduced price for marina guests. The forecast called for rain and increasing winds the next two days.  Since we’ve been very fortunate to visit San Diego’s Sea World numerous times and the fantastic Monterey Bay Aquarium, south of San Francisco, we opted to move on to St. Augustine.

The day started off sunny, with a light breeze.  We had left the Indian River and entered the Mantanzas River just before Marineland – still on the Intracoastal Waterway.  One of our cruising guide resources is a software program called Active Captain.  A terrific program that provides marina reviews, info on hazards, anchorages, moorings, local knowledge, fuel locations and prices – right on the map of the waterway.  With one click, you can access a plethora of information - and a majority of it comes from other boaters.

A particular section of the ICW before St. Augustine had a lot of warnings for shoaling.  Follow the markers and not your chartplotter!  “Be sure to pass 81A, B, C, D to the west.  At low tide, stay as far west as you can.  Pay particular attention to the location of all four buoys and don't skip or miss any of them.”   They weren’t kidding.  We had to stay so far to the west, we were 25 feet from the shore and the chartplotter showed us on land!

Approaching St. Augustine and seeing the Bridge of Lions come into view was quite a moment for us.  A mere 46 years ago, we tied the knot while at Florida State University in Tallahassee.  Our honeymoon was a long weekend in Daytona Beach and St. Augustine (couldn’t be gone too long and miss classes!).  Jim had spent most of his growing up years in Jacksonville and we lived there for a few years before heading west. St. Augustine was a favorite destination on many a weekend.

As we got nearer the bridge, the rain started and the water became a bit choppy.  We also listened to a discussion between the bridge and a towboat pushing a barge with a large crane approaching the bridge from the other side.   Jim slowed; we watched the bridge open and the barge come through, along with a tour boat.

The Bridge of Lions opening.

Approaching the Bridge of Lions

Even on a cloudy day, it's an impressive bridge

Quite a thrill for us to pass under this bridge in our own boat.
We'd come a long way since we honeymooned in St. Augustine in 1970! 

We passed easily under the 24-foot clearance.  And then the rain really came down; boats sped past us; the waves got a little bigger.  We’d read many warnings about the St. Augustine Inlet – where we had to head toward the ocean and then turn hard to port (left – north) to reach our marina.  Watch the markers and beware of swift currents!  I was at the helm and Jim was navigating.  The amount of rain (our wipers weren’t keeping up), waves, current pushing and pulling, and the number of other boats racing at and past us felt like the perfect storm and we started laughing (better than completely losing it!).  Could this get any more challenging?!   As we turned away from the ocean, up the Tolomato River and under the 65 foot Usina Bridge, the rain slowed, the sun peeked out and we were treated to a rainbow.  Now, that’s the kind of ending we like!

From the Bridge of Lions to our marina....rain, wind, waves, currents.  Yeehaa.

The Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor lies just 2 miles north of historic St. Augustine. They generously provide a courtesy car for marina guests.  We cleaned ourselves up and headed into town.  How much had changed since the 1970’s?!

St. Augustine is the oldest European settlement in the contiguous U.S.  - established in 1565 by Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.  Think about that – its founding was 42 years before the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia and 55 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts.  For over 200 years, “San Agustin” served as the capital of Spanish La Florida.   In 1763, at the end of the Seven Years’ War, Spain ceded Florida to the British.  Twenty years later, in 1783, Florida was ceded back to the Spanish and remained under Spanish control until 1821, when it became part of the United States.

A must see is the Castillo de San Marcos.  Since 1672, serving under six different nation flags, the walls have never been breached - mostly due to its unusual shape, as well as being constructed of a rare limestone rocks called coquina.  A canon ball could shatter brick or cement walls, but canon balls fired at the walls of the Castillo burrowed their way into the coquina rock and stuck there.

Castillo de San Marcos.  The unusual shape was one of the reasons its wall were never breached.

And the rare coquina rock walls kept canon balls from penetrating 

Reenactments are preformed daily.  Cover your ears.

We enjoyed Saturday evening Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine. Originally constructed in 1565 and rebuilt in the 18^th century, it is the oldest church in Florida.

Beautiful altar 

Clues for Pokeman Go
can even be found at church statues

In 1513, Juan Ponce de León, Spanish explorer and conquistador,
discovered land he christened La Florida

A pair of marble lions (copies of the Medici lions) guard the Bridge since
its construction in 1925.  

Afterwards, we wandered the cobblestone streets, found a quiet Italian restaurant, enjoyed music at a nearby wine bar.  We went searching for the restaurant/bar that we had enjoyed many times with friends in the early 70’s.  Great music, nice atmosphere, even a thunderstorm and rain falling over the tropical plants on one wall. Way cool back then. Boy were we surprised when we stepped inside and discovered it was now a biker bar!  Back out slowly……show no fear.