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Donuts to Diesel in Florida

We often stop at Marineland Marina (20 miles south of St. Augustine), however decided this year, to stay for a week & rent a car to explore the area, including visiting St. Augustine by car, rather than boat.

We got in 3 great donut shops, including our small-chain Florida favorite, Parlour Doughnuts (not shown – eaten first).

 

All wasn’t driving & donuts – we’ve been having a diesel problem lately. While I wasn’t able to find a mechanic with time to look at our problem, I was able to find one who would e-mail me back & forth with ideas to help with a diagnosis. The answer ended up being simple science – between the elevation of the engines & tanks, the return lines (diesels have both supply & return hoses) would siphon back to their tanks overnight. Although taking several days to figure out, the solution took only an hour to re-connect the return hoses to their proper fittings to the tank bottoms – it appears they had been switched at some point.

In between engine work we explored the area including the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. I walked up – Lori took the pictures.

This is a preserved piece of the original A1A within the Washington Oaks Garden State Park. My, how Florida has changed! We’ve seen the growth around Miami, Orlando & even Vero Beach, but were dumbfounded by the growth in “rural” areas such as Palm Coast, Flagler & St. Johns. Miles & miles of new developments interspaced with shopping plazas, medical offices, recreational areas & new public schools (120-million-dollar ones with huge campuses).

Marineland Marina’s neighbor is the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience (part of the University of Florida). A researcher was checking on some specimens in one of their outdoor ponds.

A bleak beach day, but still beautiful & just across the street from the marina. Florida takes its sea turtle nesting extremely seriously. With nesting season beginning next month, thousands of volunteers will cover many of the beaches every dawn looking for the telltale signs of mother sea turtles which swam in overnight, crawling up into the dunes to excavate & lay her eggs. Every nest is tracked & marked off. Areas with multiple nests in the upcoming weeks are required to keep shore lights dimmed so when the baby turtles emerge, they march to the moonlight over the water, not to shore lights. Florida’s precautions are working as last year’s turtle nest count was the largest ever recorded.

Our visitors from the north, Tom & Linda. Lori hired Linda some 22 years ago at her old company … Linda is still trying to retire.

Who in the world brags about their DMV? Well, I do! After living in CT most of my life, it is always a shock when Florida makes it all so easy. Every visit takes just a few minutes with no wait, while most tasks are on-line. Oh, all of the fees are about 1/3 of CT’s. Recently one of our 2 boat registrations got lost in the mail, so I had to call. Minutes later taken care of with a replacement in the mail the next day.

In addition to our diesel issue, we had a bit of a panic with oil analysis testing of our engine oil (common to do with marine diesels). Our testing came back showing some serious issues … our mechanic suggested a duplicate set of testing and … completely normal. Hopefully just an anomaly with the testing company.

With our stomachs & freezer fuel of donuts, we’re off again, soon to be in Georgia. The weather has been amazing & we’re hoping it continues!

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