November 24-25

Saturday, November 24 St. Marys to Pine Island

The wind and rain were crazy off and on all night. Mike got up a few times to check things. However you would never know it this morning. The water was like glass. We had a nice sunrise too.

But before we could put the dinghy on the dinghy tow, Mike had to pump lots of water out.

I sent texts to Lyn and Debbie telling them we would be leaving today. Paperbird and Calliope were going over to Cumberland Island to anchor for a couple of days. It was bittersweet when we pulled up anchor at 08:00. We have been with Paperbird for a few weeks and met Calliope in Beaufort SC. We have had great times and will miss them, probably have separation anxiety. 🙂 Hoping we meet back up with them after the New Year for our crossing to the Bahamas.

So we left St. Marys, Georgia behind and headed out.

A couple of dolphins wanted to play beside us too.

The WestRock plant was in full swing today and there were two container ships at the loading terminal.

The Rayonier plant was busy today too.

Other things we saw today from the water:

A railway bridge; open so we don’t have to wait

A monstrous house

A very low bridge over the Nassau River; on the other side of the bridge; the ocean

Looking over at Jacksonville to the loading docks

Shipyard

A water skier

So many beautiful homes

And modern and colourful ones

We got to our anchorage at Pine Island and set the hook at 16:15

We had a lovely sunset tonight

Today we travelled 50.74 nm.

Sunday, November 25 Pine Island to Fort Matanzas

It was overcast this morning when we pulled out of the anchorage at 07:15.

We only travelled a short distance because Mike noticed on Active Captain that there was a day dock you could use at Vilano Beach and it was a 7 minute walk to the Publix grocery store. We arrived there at 09:15 and tied off. You are allowed to stay on the dock for 4 hours. A man on a catamaran was on the dock beside us and he said that he had just come down from St. Augustine. He was on a mooring ball and came down here for groceries. It is such a long walk for groceries when you are moored at St. Augustine. They have a lovely pier here. Lots of folks fishing from it too.

The pier has this bluebird to welcome you. I thought the grandkids would like it.

It was a short walk to the grocery store and so close to the ocean. Mike went in to the Publix and I headed up to take some shots of the beach.

We got our groceries and headed back to Persuasion.

Here are some more photos of Vilano Beach: It was a real tourist attraction in the 40’s and 50’s. The main drag still looks like yesteryear albeit very clean:

One of the original motels from years ago when this beach town was booming

Another older motel; had lots of guests too

Hampton Inn and Suites

Restaurants

Signs posted at the pier

We got our groceries all put away, ate lunch and shoved off the dock and headed to St. Augustine, just a short motor away. We noticed this shrimp boat out just before the mooring field north of the Bridge of Lions.

In the short time we waited for the bridge to open; we snapped a few photos:

Emerald Dragon on a mooring ball! We talked to them a bit from our boat

The Castillo de San Marcos Fort

How about the Santa on this boat?

The Schooner Freedom; St. Augustine’s tall ship

The bridge opened and we motored in for fuel

The current is crazy in here and at the fuel dock. We also asked about the availability of a mooring ball. We were put on a waiting list a few days ago. Paperbird and Calliope have reservations for a ball starting Tuesday so would have been nice to see them again. And we could spend some more time and with Emerald Dragon too. However, there were none available and our name was way down on the list. St. Augustine is the United States oldest city. We spent a few days here in 2014, took a trolley tour and roamed through buildings. It is really beautiful. If you ever get a chance to visit St. Augustine, I’m sure you’ll agree.

A shot of St. Augustine from the fuel dock

The St. Augustine Lighthouse

So, since there were no mooring balls, we let Emerald Dragon know we wouldn’t be staying around. We did think of anchoring out north of the bridge where they were moored but it seemed quite rough so kept on going.

Other sights this afternoon were:

A huge house