Day 149: St. A

St. Augustine Municipal Marina, FL (docked)

June 13, 2022

We were in St. Augustine about four and a half months ago and it was so cold that there was ice on the dock – this is no longer the case. It’s really, really hot and humid, which makes me even more thankful that John installed the air conditioner.

We walked just over a mile to the Sailors’ Exchange, a store filled with used boating “stuff” from giant anchors to wires today in hopes we might find the part that we need to get our windlass to work.  It’s not that we (I) don’t love staying at marinas – being able to get off Lailia and walk around without deploying our dinghy is great – but there’s a lot of flexibility with being able to drop an anchor where we want.

We were not able to find the windlass part but the folks who worked at the store let us know about a place that repairs and rebuilds electric motors.  This may be just what the windlass needs.  Tomorrow, while I am working virtually, John will head over to this shop.

 Fortuitously Bog Microbrewery was just about next door to the Sailors’ Exchange.  We needed to hydrate from our walk before heading back to the marina.

Much of Flagler College’s main campus is housed in a mid-1800’s luxury hotel.   It’s full of gorgeous architectural details including fencing that looks like it was made from the heads of medieval weapons.

The marina has provided some natural entertainment.  We’ve seen egrets fishing and a roseate spoonbill foraging in the mud.  It’s kind of cool to see the differences in how they capture their food – egrets are all about stealth with their quick darts while roseates are quickly straining through the mud. 

I was also able to watch a sea turtle swim along the shoreline this morning while thinking about the clear difference in the water here versus the water in the Bahamas.