To St. Augustine

We do like St. Augustine!  It's nice to be back.  Tomorrow we plan to spend the day in town after spending the early morning getting Latitudes' prop cleaned.  That requires a diver and he'll be here around 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Smokey has settled into her curious-cat routine on our slow motor sails down the ICW.  Here we are, watching the endless parade of waterfront houses pass us.

Apparently something in the water caught her interest (she does love to sit on the deck and view her world from outside).  Don't worry  -  see that strip of red around her neck?  That's part of her harness, securely attached to the boat.  She can't go any further than her current vantage point.

Today we passed a Naval repair facility.  Again, a pesky Navy inflatable, flashing blue lights, doing his duty to protect the ship from old people in sailboats.  Yes, I know, we could have been evil-doers, but it still is a little funny.

What a ride we got today from the currents!  Timing is everything - it just happened that we were heading in the same direction as the current most of the day, getting a speed boost of almost 50% at times. On the ICW, it really works well when we pass an inlet to the sea at low tide, or the midway point between two inlets at high tide. We made great time, arriving in  St. Augustine about 2 1/2 hours earlier than I anticipated.  You can see evidence of the current against this red nun (a red buoy).

We are nicely moored for the next two days, looking forward to St. Augustine.