St. Augustine, FL Came for Two Days, Stayed for a Week! - Day 43 through 49

Day 43 through 49
11/3/15 - 11/10/15


Leaving Jacksonville it was a slow go.  We crossed the St. Johns River and immediately entered a manatee zone, where we had to travel no wake.  Then there were several bridges in close proximity, also no wake zones.  Then we came upon a six-mile residential area, no wake and we were behind a half dozen sailboats at low tide in a narrow channel, so I decided just to go with the flow and go slow.

Finally, we reached St Augustine, FL.  For the day, we averaged 9 mph versus our normal 13-14 mph.  The first thing we saw was a huge cross.  We later found out that this was the site of the first Catholic Mass said in the new world, September 8, 1565.

After docking, we walked into town and found the basilica, home of the oldest parish in the US.  Although we were not really taught this in school, or at least it was glossed over, St. Augustine is the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in the US.  I guess because it was established by the Spanish rather than the English we were not taught much about it.  The history here is fascinating.  That evening we had dinner at a nearby microbrewery where I had delicious shrimp and lobster tacos and some very good micro brews. Sharon had a goat cheese spinach salad that she said was exceptional.
The next few days we toured the city on a trolly that took us to various historical and important sites around the city.  We could hop on and off the trolley as something caught our fancy.  After the first two days we had enjoyed the city and its history so much that we decided to extend our stay for a week so we could really dig into the things to see here.

The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche is also on the site of the first Mass said in the new world.

A picture from the outside of the oldest jail

I took a few casts from our dock the first night in the marina and caught this fish that fought like crazy and jumped six or eight times before I could land him.  I later found out that it was a Ladyfish, also known as the poor man's tarpon.  I did think it was a small tarpon initially because of the way it fought.

We toured Flagler College, a private college housed in the old Ponce de Leon hotel built in the late 1800's by Henry Flagler, a founder of Standard Oil.  It was built as a winter retreat for the wealthy industrialists of the day.  It required that a reservation must be made for the full 3 month season at a cost of roughly $100,000 in today's dollars, and it must be paid up front in cash.  To be fair, it probably was the first all-inclusive resort in the country since it included all meals and entertainment.

The dining hall at Flagler College has 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows worth over $130 million.  They are covered with bullet proof plexiglass.

They also have two clocks built by Thomas Edison who also installed electricity in the hotel four years before the White House had electricity.  People were so afraid of electricity at the time that Henry Flagler had to hire staff for the hotel whose sole function was to turn the lights on and off for the guests.

We had lunch in a small Cuban restaurant on the Oldest Street in the Oldest City in the US, where we had a wonderful ceviche and black beans and rice.

We visited the Lightener Museum, a collection of collections that Mr. Lightener bought from distressed estates during the Great Depression.  It is housed in the old Alcazar Hotel, also built by Haney Flagler as a retreat for the wealthy, as opposed to the super wealthy who stayed at the Ponce de Leon across the street.  It contained what was at the time the world's largest indoor swimming pool, now a cafe.

 

There was a pirate festival this weekend, and the whole city and the marina were full of drunken pirates and wenches all weekend.

We visited the Castillo de San Marco, a fortress that was built by the Spanish in the late 1500's to protect the inlet and the city.  It was built of the local coquina stone, which is basically fossilized sea shells, and has never been taken in battle, in part due to the ability of the coquina to absorb the force of cannon balls and other assaults without cracking.  You can see the inlet in the background in the pictures below.

While at the fort we witnessed a demonstration of firing one of the cannons.

Saturday morning we caught a free shuttle to the Winn Dixie grocery and West Marine where we stocked up on some needed groceries and boat supplies.  On Saturday evening we attended Mass at the Basilica.

Sunday we planned a day off since it was supposed to be storming all day.

Monday was a work day to get ready to leave on Tuesday.  I got the boat pumped out, refilled the water tanks, checked the oil and fluids, etc.  I spent most of the rest of the day setting up marina reservations for where we would be staying until after the PDQ owners meet up on December 5th in Stuart, FL.  Sharon spent the day completing continuing education requirements on-line for renewing her nursing license, which is due this month.

St. Augustine was an unexpected pleasure to visit and I would recommend it.