We've done a lot of sight-seeing and exploring. Here are Luke & I, standing in front of the St. Augustine Municipal Marina. They have done a lot in the last 6 months - converted a miserable anchorage spot to a great mooring field. The old anchorage area had derelict boats, questionable live-aboards, and lots of stuff on the bottom to foul an anchor. Mixed with strong tidal currents changing every six hours, this was a pretty interesting anchorage. Oh, and add the cruisers who know nothing about the logistics of anchoring. The new arrangement has over 200 safe mooring balls, spaces suitable for various length boats, complementary launch service (boat service to and from our boat to the marina), a place to keep our dinghy if we take it to shore, and free pump-out (instead of too many folks just pumping their waste tanks directly into the ICW waters). All for $20 a night- great! oh, and it's right in the middle of old St. Augustine!
We took the tour of St. Augustine's oldest house, the Gonzalez-Alvarez House. http://www.staugustinehistoricalsociety.org/oldhouse.html Now, this isn't the first house built in St. Augustine; it's the oldest one still in existance. Nice gardens, large house. At the time the home was built, there was no glass for windows. Netting in the window openings and smoke pots helped keep the mosquitoes in bay (they say...). But another little problem was the rodent and other creatures that entered the home via the windows. So.... a swinging shelf was hung in the dining areas to store the food, in hopes that the sudden swinging would startle the animals and they would leave. Oh, to have lived a few hundred years ago...
On New's Year Day we toured the Castillo de San Marcos http://www.nps.gov/casa/historyculture/index.htm
This is really interesting history if you're interested.
The fort has stood under 5 flags, but was never taken in battle.
Startled the hell out of me.
Lisa, Mat, and Simon went with us. Here's out little cutie Simon, counting cannon balls.
The fort is along the water front, of course. The herons and egrets fish there in the shallows. Here is one of the Great White egrets, just taking flight as we approached to closely.
This Little White Egret has just caught a fish - it was interesting to see him struggle to get it in the right position to gulp it down.
We have finally accepted that Smokey is a cat and we let her roam fairly freely on the boat unless we are under way or the wind is howling and the boat is rocking (she doesn't want out then, anyway). But - as a safety precaution, we put her glamour collar on her, along with a personalized pet tag, just in case she jumps ship (especially at a dock). The back has our boat name and phone numbers. She's gotten to be a lazy little love bunny.
Today we visited the Lightner Museum http://www.lightnermuseum.org/ . This is an amazing museum, all of the artwork, statues, and collectables owned by one man. He bought the museum to house his collections. The entrance has a beautiful koi pond, with the largest koi I've ever seen (well fed rascals)
Here is a view from the 4th floor - the bottom floor used to be the largest swimming pool in FL. There is a small deli there now, complete with a live pianist playing classical music.
How about this for a little rocking chair for the baby?
The Lightner Museum was originally built as the Alcazar Hotel, by Henry Flagler, the man who brought the railroad to FL. His more famous hotel was the Flagler Hotel (now Flagler Collage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagler_College). The collage sits across the street from the Lighner.
Enough sight-seeing for now. Tomorrow we will probably go do shopping and errands in the strip malls, compliments of Lisa and her truck. St. Augustine is truly a wonderful place to visit - we recommend it!
1 comment:
Glad to see you're having so much fun and finally enjoying some MUCH warmer temps. We are just in heaven down here too - 84 yesterday and 78 today! We are contemplating a trip to the Everglades either this week or next week. Have you been there? If so, which entrance do you recommend?
Post a Comment