St. Augustine to Dayton Beach, FL

Tuesday, Nov 30
St. Augustine, FL

We woke to 70F and blue skies.  I had forgotten my sunglasses at Glenlyon and so left early (8am) to take the dinghy to their boat.  Good thing we left early as they were getting ready to go into town themselves.   They invited us to a St. Marys Basin reunion for tonight and asked us to spread the word to the other boaters to be there at 5pm.  Bring heavy appetizers so that we don't have to cook later. 

Today we want to wash clothes and left early to get access to the 4 washers and dryer before others got going.  Good thing that we did as after our clothes were in the dryers, Faune of S/V Iolite was there by 915am, Jeanne and Ken of Sail Away by 10 and Stuart of S/V Long Gone was there by 11am.  There was quite a back up for the dryers as it takes twice as long to dry clothes as it does to wash them.  While the clothes were drying, I and others took advantage of the free wifi and boy was it fast.  Faster than Lakeland Communitiy College even with others on it.  I downloaded the updates for my computer and more audio books which take up a lot of data.

In the afternoon while Katie stayed in the marina lounge, Phil and I rode bikes to the Sailors Exchange on 222 King St.  Quite a place and I found rolls of Sunbrella and Ultrasuede.  It turns out that the pale grey ultrasuede our friends, the Zimmerman's, gave us is not enough to do the front and sides of the cushions.  I found some red ultrasuede so bought 5 yards to do the front of the cushions, will use the pale grey for the sides and bought some white phifertex for the backs.  We will have the fabric shipped to Colin Mills so that if there is a place that we will be staying put for a few weeks, he could ship it to us and I could sew the covers on the boat.  Thanks to Marie Salibra for providing the street address.  Afterward, we went to George's Diner for a late lunch.  Phil had liver and onions and I had a Cesare Salad with chicken.  It's a beautiful diner silver with red accents.  By the time we got back at 3pm Katie was cold (A/C in lounge) and it was breezy and cooler outside. She was ready to be back on the boat!  We decided to stay another day so while Phil took Katie back to Changes, I paid for the extra day and took and very nice shower.  This shower has teak mats to stand on which feels very good and is pretty. 

Phil picked me up at the dinghy dock about 4pm and the ride back to the boat was not nice.  It was wavy and water was coming over the bow so we called S/V Glenlyon and declined for the reunion event.  By 5pm, the waves were less and we decided to go, but was waylaid by Abel of S/V Bye Bye Birdie.  He asked me to repair his bimini which I'll do for him tomorrow.  So by 530pm Phil and I were on our way (Katie didn't want to risk any waves and wetness and stayed back to read).  I decided to take my sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella salad with balsalmic vinegarette dressing.  I'm so glad that we decided to go as we had a great time!!  Most of the women were down below and the guys were talking in the enclosed cockpit.  I would estimate that there were 16-20 people on board.  How great to have that many people visiting at once.  On Changes  5-6 below is about all we can manage. Phil said that we could have 10 down below before we have all our crap (as he calls it) on board.  We got home by 9pm and were to bed about 10pm.

Wednesday, December 1
St. Augustine, FL

Last night the cold front roared through.  It had been warm when we went to bed so the hatches were open but at 337am I was closing the forehatch and putting in the solid companionway hatch.  Boy did the winds blow and Changes danced around.  Finally I got back to sleep.  When we woke it was 58F outside @ 815am and 68F inside.  I put on some layers but the NW winds in the anchorage were coming off land, so the waves weren't bad for Phil  taking Katie and me in so we could take the Sunshine Bus into Barnes and Noble so I could get Katie a Nook for Christmas.  She has been reading mine and also wanted one so we'll both be happy.  We walked to Flagler Auditorium and made the first bus of the day at 915am.  The bus driver was very nice and helped us to figure out where to stand for him to pick us up to go to Walmart and Food lion.  It's very reasonable at $3/person for an all day pass or $1/ride.  We bought the all day passes.    After making our purchases we took the Blue line bus to the Depot, which is at the end of a strip mall.  We had rushed to catch the first bus so missed breakfast so now where to eat lunch?  The cafe that the bus driver recommended was closed so at the far end of the plaza was Amici Italian Restaurant.  We walked and were their first customers of the day, so there was no problem with getting served and back to the Depot by 1230pm to pick up the Red line bus to take us to the marina.  Katie enjoyed her baked ziti and I enjoyed the Lasagna, but I still like the lasagna that my mom makes better.  Once we got back to Changes I chased everyone out of the cabin and started working on Abel's Bimini.  It took me 3 hours to fix it, not bad I think.  The Sailrite sewing machine works like a dream.  Abel came and picked up the bimini, and was kind enough to give me a small jar of pate and a quart jar of Beef Bourgignon that his wife, Monique, made and canned.  Abel said she was a cook in a restaurant, so we can't wait to try them! and thank you so much.

We had a quick supper of left over Sweet Potato and kidney bean stew.  It was a little better as I had added the rice to the pan a couple days ago and also added some mesquite seasoning to it.  We still have enough left over for another meal though and the recipe said it was to serve 4-6!  After supper, we met Liz Limeaux on the corner of King St and San Marcos Ave.  We worked together this summer when I helped the Mentor Team and it was great to see her!!  We went to Coronado (I think) hotel bar for drinks.  Liz really likes her new job with Community Hospice and is encouraging us to stay there and me work for them.   We still have another year of doing this before we decided what's next.  Liz is just lovely and very open to Katie and us visiting her.  We'll see if we'll be back in the spring or decide to take the gulf stream up to Charleston, SC instead. 

There is a freeze watch for tonight so have lit the kerosene lantern in the cabin and will keep it lit through the night to add warmth inside the boat.  We went to sleep about 10pm as plan to get up early for leaving tomorrow for Daytona Beach.

Thursday, Dec 2
Passage to Dayton Beach
Distance Traveled:  46.9 nm
Total Distance:  1717.83nm

When we woke this morning about 6am, it was as cold as they predicted.  It was 42F outside and 58F inside even with the lantern lit.  On go the many layers and the warm hats and gloves/mittens.  We let loose the mooring ball at 715am to sunny skies but winds NW 9-10 knots.  The winds quickly built to the mid teens with gust to 22 knots by the time Phil let out the head sail at 825am.  I started my watch at the helm at 845am and as were were going around a corner we went into an area that I had to go by the marks which was different than what was on the GPS, I hit bottom.  I put the boat into reverse and still was hitting bottom which scared me - so I'm yelled to Phil to take the wheel while I dealt with the head sail.  The wind pushed us to port which turned out to be deeper water, so we quickly got off.  I guess I panicked - oh well.  I let the head sail out again and continued back on the helm and we didn't have any further problems for the day.

At 1130am  I went down below to fix lunch.  The concensus was to turn the leftover sweet potato and kidney bean stew into soup.  It was still very cool in the cabin, so I decided to also make butter biscuits.  I added a small can of tomato sauce and some hot smoked sausage to the mix which Phil like and Katie didn't as much.  The biscuits went nicely with the soup with only 1 (mine) left.  By noon, the cabin got up to 72F with the cooking and it was 58F outside.  I joined Phil above to eat lunch and we rolled up the head sail before 130pm as the winds had lightened to 6-8 knots and we were motoring dead downwind.   We were through both the Main Street and Memorial Bridge coming into Dayton by 245pm and were anchored behind Sail Away at 3pm.  There are many boats that were coming through, so Phil kept watch above to make sure no one anchored too close. 

My parents are going on a big ship cruise to the Bahamas in 2 days leaving from Cape Canaveral, so I'm very glad that we'll be able to meet up with them in Titusville, FL tomorrow by the end of the day.  It's 46 statute miles to Titusville, so we'll be able to get there by late afternoon if we get an early start.  Tonight I'm planning making beef stew in the pressure cooker, so need to get started.  Katie washed dishes from lunch so everything is ready to go.