As I write this addition to the blog, I'm at my daughter and son-in-law's (Jenn & Greg) home in Newport News, VA preparing for a Thanksgiving family reunion. This is such an abrupt change in setting for us, but one we'll thoroughly enjoy.
Following the last entry, we left Cumberland Island and traveled south to the St. John's River where we turned west for a couple of miles to the dock of a friend of a friend. While we'd never met these folks before, they came highly recommended from our friends on Tarwathie, Dick and Libby. Larry and Terri do some cruising down in the Keys and were interested in our experiences, so we took them up on the offer to stop by. We had a great visit and will look forward to future meetings with them...perhaps in Marathon next spring. The vista from their deck offered views of ships traveling up and down the St. John's. In the evening, the dolphins came by. We couldn't see them, but we could hear them coming up for air right near the boat.
From there we traveled the last 35 miles or so to St. Augustine and our boat repair. The Camache Cove Yacht Harbor treated us well as did Bo Bohanan at First Mate. Bo and his assistant spent hours exploring all the possible issues with our engine. The final outcome is that we're getting a new engine installed. While the engine hours were not real high, the piston rings and valves were worn enough to require either an overhaul or a replacement. We opted for the replacement, since we'd have to do it at some point before we quit cruising. With this work done now, we shouldn't need this level of work again while we're on the boat.
So while we were in St. Augustine, we decided to do some more touring here. We stop for a bit every time we pass by and are never disappointed Bo offered us tickets on the tourist train which provided us with a history of this first permanent European settlement. A couple of bits of history were of particular interest to us. First, the first Europeon settlement was actually in Pensacola where Sandra was born. Unfortunately the settlement only lasted a year, so it never made the history books. The other tidbit we learned was the fact that one of my ancestors, Sir Francis Drake, came by while the Spanish were still in charge. He attacked with canons and leveled the town, burning it to the ground. They rebuilt, however, so all was not lost. We also learned about Flagler's influence on the town in the late 1800s when he created a winter tourist destination for the wealthy. He also built a hospital, developed the railroad down the east coast of the state and also built homes for workers and more wealthy transplants.
So after a bit of touring, we rented a car and drove north back to where this fall's trip began in Virginia. This was a rather interesting experience as well. The trip south took us nearly four weeks. This return took us one day. We'd drive by sings for different towns and rivers noting how many days ago we'd passed this area heading south. This pace was so different. And we saw so much more at the slower pace. We were reminded of how little we learn about the country when we drive on the interstate highways. Although we'd driven south several times, when traveling down the ICW by boat, we really got to look at the territory for the first time. So there's something to be said for the slow pace of travel by boat.
As mentioned at the beginning of the entry, we're back in Virginia for a family reunion. We'll be back to the slow pace of traveling south once we check out our boat's new engine and leave St. Augustine around the end of the Month. Until then, happy Thanksgiving one and all!
Captain Bob
Carpe Diem
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