Getting it all caught up

So we ended up leaving the dock on the morning of the 4th of July. We sailed during the day and decided to anchor in the St. Johns River where it runs thru downtown J-ville.

They towed in 2 huge barges loaded with fireworks and we watched a great fireworks show from the boat, then slept there at anchor for the night.

As we were setting anchor, with Miss Bonnie at the tiller I heard the tone of the engine change (bad sign). When I checked it out I found that a connection in the exhaust system had blown out. It was very noisy, and releasing heat and ugly exhaust fumes below decks.

I worked up a patch from an olive can and 2 soda cans which solved the heat and noise problem a little, but the fumes were still terrible and dangerous.

We motored all day and until about 2230 (10:30pm) and I could not let anyone go below for more than a couple of minutes. Everyone had to stay on deck for the whole long day, and it was tough on them.

We got close enough to St. Augustine to see the glow from the city, and we anchored out for the rest of the night.

I was far too tired to try and pick my way into a strange harbor at night so we just went to sleep. At least we could all go down below since the engine was shut down and the fumes were not an issue for a while.

The next day (July 5th) we motored in to St. Augustine early in the morning, got a slip at the City Marina, and spent most of the day just getting well needed showers, doing a little laundry, and looking forward to dinner at the Santa Maria Restaurant which is right next to the City Marina. It was good but not great. The kids enjoyed feeding the fish thru the trap doors though. See santamariarestaurant.com

The original idea was to sail south to watch the last Space Shuttle launch. When we started hearing that there was a 76% chance of no-go due to weather we decided to just hang out in St.Augustine and enjoy it.

I removed the offending exhaust parts, did a little 4 mile round trip hike to the local muffler shop, where the guy made a PERFECT replalcement part from looking at the broken bits I had brought along. When I asked how much, expecting to really get gouged, he thought for a minute and said "$5.00 should cover it". I shoved a twenty in his hand and walked out the door. He was an Artist of the Exhaust Tube Bending Arts.

I really fell in love with St.Augustine. I see myself going back there often. I love the old feeling of the city, as well as the flavor of the ocean setting. It's also a college town so it's also a bit of a freak show, which I like too.