Strike a pose!

Since Oct 2010 when we began our full-time nomad lifestyle, St Augustine has been a faithful stop on every trip south and every trip north, except one; and that includes the 12 months in the motorhome. This time would be a longer stay in two parts and would include Thanksgiving. Yes folks, imagine that, we would not spend Thanksgiving in Vero Beach- gasp! Why you ask? Was this truly the year of shaking things up a bit and not doing the same old stops?

A couple of years ago the city of Vero Beach decided to limit the maximum size of boats on the moorings, to 50 ft. Well, that may seem smart until you realize that the mooring field has mandatory rafting and two or even three boats could be rafted together on one mooring.  Not a problem for us, but a problem for “the other TS” who we like to share Thanksgiving with. Last Nov they got a dock spot but the docks aren’t the greatest there, so this year when they said “let’s do the cruisers pot luck Thanksgiving in St Augustine”; we said sure! Ah what we do for our friends. 🙂 We reserved mooring balls well ahead because even with 90 moorings (no rafting here) they fill up.

Part I of our St Augustine stay was at Rivers Edge Marina, up the San Sebastian River which comes up the backside of downtown St Augustine.  Not a fancy marina, by any means, but within walking distance of a nearby Winn Dixie, a large fresh produce stand, an ABC Liquor store, a restaurant (Hurricane Patty’s) and a Metro Diner which serves up a yummy breakfast. And you can still walk into historic downtown easily. Yes, we did all those.

The Saturday we arrived is Nights of Lights and with flashlight in hand for the return walk, we headed to the green along with thousands of others; more humanity than we’d been bunched up with in a very long time.

23rd Nights of Lights kickoff in St Augustine- the Saturday before Thanksgiving

First the tree is lit, then all the lights are turned on- trees, buildings, bushes, you name it. This is big time lights.

The perfect selfie spot

We worked on crossing to-dos; provisioning and finding a place to store non-perishable items. We have several airtight bins that fit under the flybridge helm, along with other stuff. Once in a while that space needs to be cleaned up and rearranged. Russ gets that job and he’s working on that while I’m doing laundry. He says as I step aboard, “bad news.”  My reply, “oh we ran out of room?” Worse than that I must tell you; a rodent!!!!  The evidence: chewed-on foam pads we had stashed up there; we use them as cushioning for the tied snug dinghy. I call it a mouse but Russ thought the sizeable chew marks indicated otherwise. Was kinda funny because just that morning Russ commented about the cat he saw and that perhaps mice were around.

We put foil over various openings after scurrying sounds indicated the critter had gone out for the night. And since then, no further sign of any rodent visitor. Whew. Can’t have mice on a cat now can we?

St Augustine Part II involved a strenuous voyage of 3 miles back down the San Sebastian and over to the municipal mooring field. Our assignment of M3 brought smiles to our faces as not only is it south of the Bridge of Lions it also affords a very short dinghy ride in. And then on Tuesday, the moment we’d been anticipating! Sing along with me, “Traveling Soul is coming to town, Traveling Soul is coming to town, the other TS is finally in town!”

They caught the 12:30 opening, giving Ann and I time to shop in the afternoon.

Here comes our buddy boat!!

Assigned M7. Kudos to the marina who knowingly or not, put us fairly close together. A girl’s shopping trip was in order as was happy hour (or 2) aboard the “Bristol” Jefferson 52 (motor boats can be in Bristol condition can’t they?). Good times, great stories and primo G&Ts and V&Ts made with Ann’s homemade tonic. Not so much a drink as an experience.

Speaking of experiences, the four of us ventured out Wednesday on a 12 min walk up King Street to the St Augustine Distillery housed in a former ice plant. Besides the distillery the restored building contains the Ice Plant restaurant with bar and seating for roughly 50.

Opened in 2014; a very popular year for distilleries to open. This explosion of distilleries is astounding, with virtually none of the six or so we’ve visited over the last few years, existing in 2010 or even 2012 for that matter. Donuts, distilleries, dining. Triple D. 🙂 (however we love fresh lobster & Mahi too)

We punch in at the St Aug distillery

The distillery uses all Florida ingredients or as close to Florida as possible.

Our tour guide was an exuberant local woman who works at the distillery. These guys produce gin, vodka, rum and bourbon.

We learn about cracked ice and why size matters

We saw the usual equipment; fermentation and distillation tanks, bottling and labeling station and since bourbon is made here, lots of white oak charred barrels. To be termed bourbon the proof must be 80 or more. This bourbon is barreled at 110 proof and sold at 94.

In the gift shop another man creates Gin & Tonic and Old Fashioneds to sample. Love this free tour!

Lunch at Ice Plant- all in a bourbon state of mind. Old Fashioneds for all

Lori’s lunch at Ice Plant…. who needs dinner?

Then Thursday the reason for being here; we call it Thankful-for-Friends-Giving. This would the 4th annual St Augustine Cruisers’ Thanksgiving Potluck. Landlubbers roast turkeys and ham and the rest of us bring a side or dessert, chairs, drinks, plates and whatever else you need to have a good time!

The weather was perfect; maybe a teeny bit too much sun for some but considering rainy and windy would have ruined the day, this was ideal. The venue is completely outdoors at the City Marina, next to the mini golf with a view of the Bridge of Lions.

Ann brings the turkey hat

Mini golf behind the meat table

We met the daughter of Tom Neale.  He and his wife gave up their home and careers to move aboard their Gulfstar 47 Chez Nous in 1979. Since then, they’ve raised two daughters aboard while cruising. Tom is now editor at large for PassageMaker Magazine and columnist for BoatUS, but we first “met” him and his family while reading “All in the Same Boat”. Written in 1997 the book shares the Neale family stories of living and cruising aboard. If they could do it “back then”, we surely could too with all of today’s modern technology. This book was one of our early inspirations.

Melanie says this is the boring segment of her life right now! Compared to her growing up years, I guess it could be.

Melanie Neale in navy polo shirt.

Ann’s turkey hat was very popular and received many accolades and a walking tour!

Hey can I borrow the hat and wear it around?

We made some new friends and re-connected with ones we hadn’t seen in a while. All in all everyone had a great time and the free Bloody Mary table was a huge hit; I just wanted the olives.

Friday we’d say good-bye and spend 2-3 days traveling further south to Vero (Velcro) Beach. There, crossing preparations would continue in earnest while we waited for a calm day to head over to the Abacos. How long would we have to wait? Days? Weeks?

For some odd reason I am usually oblivious to crossing the FL/GA line. Yes, maybe the correct music would help- say “Cruise”, by…. you guessed it- Florida/Georgia Line!  But we were well into our day, as in anchored and ashore, before I realized we’d crossed the line. That’s the problem with being so mindful of Georgia.

Wed, Nov 16 found us anchored in a new place; Ft George River (no fort) at Talbot Island (fka Ft George Island- so ok must have been a fort) to go ashore and visit the Kingsley Plantation. This is the oldest still-standing plantation house in Florida, with several preserved buildings and the remains of most of the original slave quarters. Our friends Ann & Mike on Traveling Soul (aka “the other TS”) had visited and said the plantation was worth a stop; and it was!

Fort George River by Kingsley Plantation

It’s a few miles north of the St John’s River and west is Jacksonville, so I think we might have been in the outer limits of Jacksonville. The geotag on the iPhone photos indicated Jacksonville, so let’s go with that.

Talbot Island, Kingsley Plantation on the Ft George river. Old wharf ruins but hard to see

Low tide Ft George River at Kingsley Plantation

The dock was substantial and large, thanks to the tour boats that bring folks in who don’t want to drive. The self-guided tour is free and you get a phone that knows where you are and has a spiel for 8 to 10 stops of the plantation. At 2pm the ranger (nice guy but a bit stuffy) gave a tour of the Plantation House, Anna’s House and the garden.

In 1814, Zephaniah Kingsley moved to Ft George Island and established a successful plantation. He brought his wife and children. Here’s the interesting part: his wife, Anna was from Senegal, Africa and had been purchased by Kingsley as a slave. When they married, she was 13 and he 41. After 5 years she was freed. Anna actively participated in plantation management, which was kinda necessary because Zephaniah was often away at sea or off acquiring additional property in northeast Florida.

At first, Indigo was the primary cash crop but that was replaced by Sea Island Cotton, a silky long-fiber cotton. Indigo was a messy and deadly crop to process. The entire plant was used to create a mash with other liquids and the slaves stood thigh deep in the mash to stir it. Thanks to various toxins that got inhaled or would leech in thru the skin, the slaves who worked the Indigo often died after five years.

Use the entire plant to make Indigo dye

Slave quarters

Anna’s house

Mr. Ranger told us how the slaves had to whistle when they carried the food from the kitchen building to the main house. This was to show they weren’t eating any as they walked along.

The whistling way, aka breeze way, at Kingsley Plantation

The following morning we continued our journey south, crossing the St John’s River as we inched closer to St Augustine.

On ICW heading toward Sisters Creek Bridge

Does this mean we are triplets when on this creek?

I’ve lost count of the many opening bridges between Mile 0 in Norfolk and Mile 1015 in North Palm Beach that have been replaced by 65ft fixed bridges or by a taller opening version that allows most boats to pass under without needing an opening. Here’s another.

Another bascule bites the dust. Sisters Creek Bridge is nearly all dismantled

A few miles south after we crossed the St John’s River- carefully, since you may encounter container ships, crazy locals and a strong current, we came upon a place to be respected; the Atlantic Beach Bridge.  The trouble is not height, but width. The ICW is somewhat narrow here and when the flunky bridge engineer designed the bridge he made the pass through span just too darn narrow. The current has to push lots of water through less space and oh by the way the waterway takes a slight bend here. At times you could have a 6kt current here! Ideally, you’d like a moderate current in your favor or not much of one against you.

Amazing trip planner that I am, we’d be coming through with at most a one and a half knot current with us; perfect. The get-going-early boats were ahead of us and the later and slower ones were well behind. Except for a few local boats we had the ICW to ourselves. 🙂  We always engage in a conversation about this spot and how one trip (back in 2010 ?) we encountered a tug and barge at the worst possible spot.

Today, ok nothing on AIS, that’s good for starters. We’re looking ahead to see if anything is coming toward us and just as we get to the spot where we can actually see around the bend- oh crap is that a CG buoy tender headed north? Well, we have the right of way because those traveling with the current do. But Russ slows down cuz they are bigger than us, but good guys they are, they hail us on VHF and say they’ll wait for us. Oh thank you. Whew. And no AIS either.  What is it with so much “meeting up” at the worst possible spot?

Strong current flow thru Atlantic Bridge thanks to narrow pass span

That night and the next Twins hung out enjoyably anchored at Pine Island oxbow where we worked on ordering boat stuff we needed to have delivered to us at Vero Beach, watching and photographing the birds, and oh-ing and ah-ing about the sunsets.

Pine Island Oxbow. Pretty nice uh?

Heron doesn’t mean to intrude on courting Roseate Spoonbills

This is getting too personal, I gotta hide my head!

See you in St. Augustine!