DAY FIVE -- DAYTONA BEACH TO ST. AUGUSTINE

                            DAY FIVE -- DAYTONA BEACH TO ST. AUGUSTINE 

            Got underway at 0920 and ran up the intracoastal to the Camachee Cove Marina, just north of St. Augustine, where we arrived at 1335. This was the only marina I could find where we could dock for two nights -- I forgot about this being Memorial Day weekend. We are going to spend the next two nights with friends who live nearby in Ponte Vedra in order to do some laundry, buy some groceries, and enjoy some time ashore.

            Our run was uneventful, except for running into a brief rain squall just pass Matanzas Inlet at around 1230. The wind that has been blowing from the E or SE every day so far shifted to the SW today and brought some scattered thunderstorms. We saw them coming as we approached Matanzas Inlet, so we shifted to the lower helm and were prepared. The only issue was that the cabin was pretty hot because we were late in starting the cabin AC units. 

            We saw five deer swimming across the intracoastal when we were running through a lightly developed area. They climbed out at a barely visible break in the mangroves.

             It was really cool approaching and passing downtown St. Augustine from the water. We could see the towers of the hotels that Henry Flagler built in the late 1880s (which supposedly established Spanish-inspired architecture as the standard for Florida resorts for the development boom in the early 20th century), the similar architecture of the Ponce de Leon bridge, and the remnants of the old Spanish fort. The towers of Flagler's two hotels are in the far-left side of this photo. The tower of the Cathedral Basilica is in the left center, and the big building in the center is a 1928 office building.

            We have traveled 382 miles in the last five days, and while it has been fun, there has also been an element of work. Nothing to complain about, but long days and a bit of a grind. It was part of the plan to get through Florida as quickly as possible and save our time for Georgia, the Carolinas and the Chesapeake. In the coming week we will slow down the pace. We are meeting our daughter in Savannah on the following Sunday (who will join us for three days for the ride up to Charleston), and it is only 186 miles to the Isle of Hope marina that we plan to use just south of Savannah, so we are going to cut our pace from 76 miles a day down to 23 miles a day. We'll do this in part by slowing down our cruising speed, which will let us better enjoy the low country scenery and be better prepared for the navigation challenges that are reported in the Georgia portion of the intracoastal, which has stretches with narrow channels, shoaling, and/or strong tidal currents. But the scenery in the Georgia low country is supposed to be gorgeous -- in part because this is the least developed stretch of the intracoastal.  

Janet here: Who knew deer could swim? it was fun to watch them dog paddle across the channel. I'm looking forward to a slower pace, not running such long days.

 We are staying with friends which means I get use of her laundry room! Such a treat. I love Cathy for many reasons, but right now just because she has a washer and dryer.