Day 29 and Christmas in St. Augustine

Day 15 to Day 29

After two great weeks in St. Augustine we finally released ourselves from the mooring ball this morning and headed south.  We knew it would be a long day to get to Daytona but the anchoring options were few so we had a choice of 18 miles or 50 miles. It took a little while to get moving , we had to check out from the marina, reload the dinghy motor and get our heads back into the ICW.

We had a great time while in St. Augustine. We were able to spend a significant amount of time with Bob’s Uncle Ted and Aunt Carolyn and the kids even tried swimming in their pool, temperature 62ºF. The day before Christmas, Ted and Carolyn visited us on the boat and Ted, Bob and Finn had a great time fishing, catching whiting right off the boat. We spent several evenings including Christmas Eve with them at their house and the kids had a great Christmas morning thanks to Aunt Carolyn and Sue Fernholz! They did get stockings when they got back to the boat Christmas evening, filled with practical stuff.

Ted delivered us back to the marina, late afternoon on Christmas. We spent the next week catching up on projects including changing light bulbs on the mast. We also did a considerable amount of socializing including a great dinner with our new  friends Scott and Tina on the Sangaris and dinner and a visit with the M/Y Morning Star Family, (including two kids!) on their great trawler.

We were able to compare notes on schoolwork with the Morning Star folks who seem to face similar challenges in finding time for school while traveling. In addition, the kids played together and had a great time.  Anna and I spent a whole day studying Social Studies out and about on the town with a visit to both the Castillo De San Marco (old fort, downtown St. Augustine) and the legendary Fountain of Youth. We both tasted the water but with no effect. Ah well.  We also went out New Year’s Eve for Pizza, a walk through the old town and miniature golf. We made it back to Midwatch on time to watch the fireworks from the cock pit, followed by a visit from the Morning Star kids. It was quite a day.

The one other goal we had while in St. Augustine was a shakedown sail out in the open ocean. Although we have been living on Midwatch since early October, we had only set the main sail once and never been on the 'outside' or open ocean.  Day 28 we successfully navigated the St. Augustine inlet and had a great sail about six miles down the coast. The winds slowly increased over the three hours we were out and about and peaked somewhere around 20 to 25 knots, we buried the rail and Anna and Bob got to see the portholes awash with seawater.  I saw spouts associated with bird activity and assume it must have been a whale! We have developed a long to-do list for the next time we go off shore which hopefully will be soon!

 

 

Bob did figure out tonight (Day 29 from Rockhouse Creek, 10 miles south of Daytona) that if you are adding coordinates on Google Earth, looking for our location, you have to add a place mark to get it exactly. If you just search a lat/long position, you end up at the nearest mailing address. I’ve been placing a pin in our position each evening on Google Earth but have not figured out yet, how to add that map to the blog. Thanks for reading!

 Anna playing with the Bosun's chair, she had quite a ball!

 Anna and I assisting Bob up the mast.

 

 Anna was able to catch some fish too, thanks to Uncle Ted for the bait!

 Our Happy Boy! He loved sailing out on the Ocean on Day 28 and wasn't sick at all! Of course, I was.

Anna at the Castillo De San Marco