St Augustine to New Smyrna Beach

How can you spend time in St Augustine and not throw in a couple of photos of Flagler College and other Spanish settler-influenced architecture in the downtown area? So here are some examples:

First, a couple of photos of Flagler College 

The architecture of another prominent building in the center of downtown, the Casa Monaco Hotel,  also displays a strong Spanish influence.

St Augustine comes alive at Christmas with millions of small white lights and lots of festivities. At the holidays it's jammed with tourists. But in early November, it was still mighty quiet which was a pleasant change for us! This is the main tourist street in town on a weekday morning - not a soul around.

On Avilas Street, the oldest street in the nation, many shop fronts were already decorated for Christmas, despite the fact the Thanksgiving was still a couple of weeks away.  It was sunny with temperatures in the 70s, but this place had bows and wreaths and sleds hanging from the balconies :-)

On another note, Jim had been thinking for some time of getting one or more tattoos. After talking to a few people in town about who had done the tattoos he admired the most, he decided to get a couple himself. He now has the symbol of the Tao on his inner wrist and a compass wreathed with "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" on his bicep. Pretty cool!

This year we took a slip rather than a mooring ball at the St Augustine Municipal Marina. The current is too wicked there to anchor safely. The first time we visited St Augustine we stayed a month on a mooring ball and the hull got scratched up badly from the barnacles on the ball. With tide shifts of 180 degrees every 6 hours, and sometimes wind blowing in one direction with a current running hard in another, the boat can end up hitting the mooring ball repeatedly. Not only is it hard to sleep at night with the ball banging the hull, but you can end up with some pretty nasty scratches in the paint because of the barnacles. So this time we opted to keep the boat at the dock.

Below is a photo of a gorgeous old motor launch at the fuel dock with the Bridge of Lions and beautiful clouds behind it.

Right across the dock from us was a tourist pirate ship. I wish I had photos of the crew, many whom looked for all the world like real pirates, even out of costume. No peglegs, but long scraggly hair, beards, some missing teeth and clothes that have seen better days. All engaged in high pirate drama when the passengers showed up. Quite a show.
One quiet morning I took this photo of an egret swinging on one of the pirate ship dock lines.

Last photos of St Augustine - this is a relatively new monument in the central park in town commemorating the work and sacrifices of those in St Augustine who fought to establish the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

We left St Augustine to motor south on the ICW in cooler, drizzly weather. I have a jacket with a hood which came in handy.  Jim had tucked away his wool hat and gloves and couldn't find them, so he borrowed my silly red hat... Sorta made him look like Willy Nelson.

In several spots on the ICW the dredgers are out in force trying to keep the waterway navigable after hurricane season.  This is a terrible photo of a dredger quite far away, but I put in in to show how huge they are - sometimes 80 feet long at least.

I've been tackling the varnish on days when we're stopped somewhere and the weather cooperates - not too cold, not too hot, dry for several hours at least, not too windy, and with no industrial plants nearby to blow particles of god knows what onto fresh, drying varnish. So far I've done a couple of coats on the rub rails, hand rails, and the companionway (below). It's a never-ending and pretty laborious process - taping everything off, sanding everything down, using a heat gun to completely remove the old varnish if it's damaged beyond repair - but it's weirdly satisfying to do this work. When the varnish goes on properly, it looks great!

By the time we got to New Smyrna Beach, the weather turned warm and sunny again with gorgeous sunsets and cloud formations.  When the weather is good, every meal takes place in the cockpit. Here's Jim at breakfast - this is a truly wonderful part of living on a boat!

In New Smyrna Beach there is a place called The Hub, where local artists display their work, and actually work in tiny studios on site. One guy makes "art" that is basically satirical - like this painting of a Starbucks called "Girl with A Pearl Earring with Latte Foam"... 

 ...or this one of Edward Hopper's city diner where the customers have all gone across the street to the Starbucks.

In contrast, other galleries in town were exhibiting award-winning art, including the quilted textile hangings of Bobbi Baugh whose collection titled " HOME is What You Remember" included the following:

We went to our favorite restaurant in New Smyrna Beach "The Riverpark Terrace" for a wonderful  Thanksgiving dinner in the garden...

 

Right after Thanksgiving New Smyrna Beach shifted gears for the holidays and Jim didn't miss a beat!

The Main Street was transformed into a holiday fair with music, gift stalls, dance performances by local kids and lots of people (and puppy!) watching.

Yesterday we walked to the beach and stopped for a couple of beers at Tony and Joes, which is right beside my favorite lifeguard station.  A bunch of really old guys who were really good musicians played outdoors on the patio while we watched waves rolling in for a few surfers. Lots of people drive onto the beach and get together for tailgate parties.

Tomorrow we will continue south, stopping at Titusville to spend a day at the Kennedy Space Center, which I've never visited. Wifi may be slower until we get to Vero Beach, so I'll shoot this post out today.