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| You know you have arrived in St. Augustine, FL when you pass through the Bridge of Lions. Lion statues stand on each side of the bridge at water's edge. It was recently rebuilt using $82 million to replace the low clearance opening bridge to keep the local history and town character. Most replacement bridges on the ICW are built with the standard 65' clearance but this one is an exception. On Tuesday we picked up a mooring on the south side of the bridge at the Municipal Marina. |
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| Wednesday we learned about St. Augustine on a trolley tour of the town and then visited the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Keeper's House. It is across the Bridge of Lions on Anastasia Island. We climbed to the top for a view from the top. |
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| Looking west from the top of the Lighthouse towards the ICW you can see Priority tethered to a mooring ball among many other boats. The winds have changed from the north to come from the south so our weather has gotten warmer both during the day and at night. This is the first time we have slept at night without blankets since leaving home in October. Day time is comfortable with short sleeves. We are feeling like we are in Florida now! |
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| We enjoyed walking back into town from the Lighthouse to visit Castillo (Castle) de San Marcos National Monument which is a fort built by the Spanish in 1672 to protect their empire in America. It is rich in history and unique in design. It was a fortress to protect both soldiers and the community during attacks. We learned that the villagers hurried inside the walls for protection but left their livestock (chickens, cows, pigs,etc.) down in the dry 40' wide moat area to be safe from the attacking enemy. Animals were never allowed inside the fort to keep it clean and disease free. |
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| It was a real treat to meet up with cruising friends from Canada while in St. Augustine. We first met Marie and John (on the left) on board Hunky Dory and David and Kathy on board Gael Na Mara in the Dismal Swamp and Elizabeth City, NC. They are also traveling the ICW south for the first time on their sailboats. We will leave St. Augustine on Thursday as it is getting ready to light up the holiday season this weekend. |
