Crew Log for December 10th, 2022
Trip Summary:
• Comanche Cove, St. Augustine to Town Moorings
• Trip Distance of 2.5 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 2,284.3 NM
• Departed at 10h15, arrived at 11h15
While we got a few useful chores done while in St. Augustine, our initial impressions of this historic city haven’t lived up to expectations. The Festival of Lights weekend is also reported to be the busiest time for tourists visiting the city. The crowds were certainly a little overwhelming at times.
We received a call from the City Dock saying we had a mooring if we still wanted it. It seemed a little silly to at least not stick around for the Festival of Lights and so we timed our exit as close to slack tide as we could. Luckily, our exit out of the Marina wasn’t as dramatic as our arrival, although the trip across the St. Augustine Inlet was “exciting”.
The inlets along the ICW are all rated as to their navigability, “A” being safe under normal conditions, “B” exercise caution and “C” to be avoided by all but the most experienced captains. We had heard that if you planned passage in or out of St. Augustine Inlet, TowBoatsUS preferred that you call them ahead of time so they could guide you in and out, rather risk having you go aground. In any case, St. Augustine Inlet was not to be approached lightly. We were extra cautious and gave ourselves lots of time and made it without any issues.
We arrived at the Bridge of Lions bascule bridge shortly before the scheduled opening and started the ICW waltz with the other boats. We radioed the City Dock once we got through for our mooring assignment, only to be told that it was on the side of the bridge that we had just come from. After an appropriate amount of moaning and pleading, they reassigned us to the southern mooring field.
In hindsight, had we taken our original mooring, we would have had a front row seat for the Festival of Lights. I am not sure however, how comfortable I would have been, moored in a dark mooring field, with a current ripping through it, while boats of all shapes and sizes careened by covered in Christmas lights. We were happy to have the Bridge of Lions as protection.
We dinghied ashore and headed to the post office to mail a Christmas parcel to my mother. Our route took us by the Night of Lights Square, Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, City Hall (former Alcazar Hotel) Lightner Museum and Flagler College. Away from the tourist shops that we found ourselves in on the first day, we started to gain a better appreciation for St. Augustine and it’s history.
Flagler College is a NCAA Division II school, located in the heart of St. Augustine. Established in 1968, it offers 33 undergraduate degrees and one masters program in liberal arts. The student population is around 2,600.
The centerpiece of Flagler college is the former Ponce de Leon Hotel, a luxury hotel built in 1888, by Henry Flagler co-founder of Standard Oil. The luxury hotel was designed in the Spanish Renaissance style. It was first building of its kind to be constructed from poured concrete and one of the first buildings to be wired for electricity. The power was supplied by Flagler’s friend, Thomas Edison.
Flagler built the hotel to attract wealthy northerners to the historic city. He also built several other luxury hotels in the area, including the Alcazar Hotel, which is now the St. Augustine City Hall. After expanding his resort empire in St. Augustine, Flagler invested in a railroad system to carry passengers and goods from New York to St. Augustine, and later to West Palm beach and the Florida Keys. Ironically, it was Flagler’s decision to expand his railway empire further south that lead to the a decline in visitors to St. Augustine.
The hotel was briefly used as a Coast Guard training center during the war. Eventually, the former hotel became part of Flagler College and underwent a massive restoration. The building was designed a National Historic Landmark in 2006. There are public tours, although visitors are allowed to explore the courtyard and main entrance, both of which highlighted the grandeur of the former hotel.
We made our way down to the Spanish section of St. Augustine to search for a place for lunch. We spotted Sangria’s a quaint little tapas restaurant with tables overlooking the street from the second floor balcony. We found a spot overlooking the courtyard in the back and enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria (of course) with our lunch / supper.
We eventually made our way through the crowds to a coffee shop to meet up with the crew from Teliki and Onalee, before heading to the waterfront for the Festival of Lights. It is interesting how people, quite literally, sail into and out of our life, as we make this adventure. It is always exciting when we reconnect in a new place and share stories of our experiences and of news from back home.
We weren’t sure what to expect with the Festival of Lights. While we were in the marina however, we started to get a sense of the lengths people went to, to decorate their boats. It is like the traditional Canadian Santa Claus parade, on the water, minus the marching bands, Shriners driving little cars and fire trucks. While the lights were impressive, there was something else that preoccupied my thoughts.
Anyone who has ever sailed or operated a boat at night will know that bright lights cause night blindness and really make it difficult to visually see where you are going. On Elizabeth M we dim the instrument displays or put them in “night mode” and use red lights. How these boats navigated their way around St. Augustine harbor, through a mooring field in a 2-3 knot current, with lights blazing all around them, is amazing.
We are glad we stayed the extra day in St. Augustine. We got to see some familiar faces, formed a better impression of this historic city and, tried to get ourselves in the holiday spirit, which is hard, being away from home. Altho, right on cue, we got a video call from the Peterborough Clan which instantly lifted crew spirits.
Teliki and Onalee had plans to head back to Canada for the holidays, so we said our “see you laters”. We had an easy day tomorrow. We were off to Palm Coast, which we knew nothing about, other than there weren’t a lot of options to anchor in this section of the ICW and they offered us a dock for US$45 per night.
But more about that, next time.
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