On the Water with As You Wish: March 20 Marineland to St. Augustine

March 20

On our second day here we originally planned to visit Marineland, and even though it was actually open, we decided that due to the virus a better option may be to go exploring on the kayaks. It’s been awhile since we’ve launched both of them. Glad we took the kayaks. We went exploring in the marshes during low tide and even with their limited draft we still repeatedly scraped the bottom on oysters. That would have been a serious “OUCH” and possible puncture in the dingy.

Oyster bed in the marshes

This morning we decided to get up early and walk over to the beach to see the sunrise over the ocean. Still pretty dark when we got there and only people out earlier than us were the surf fishermen. I’ve got to say that despite all those sayings about the beauty of a sunrise, the glorious start of another new day, yada, yada, yada, I still much prefer a good sunset with a drink in my hand to complete the day.

Who's idea was this to get up so early??

Martha's "artsy" picture - sunset through a wooden cutout on the boardwalk

Fishermen at sunrise

After returning to the boat and having some breakfast and taking showers it was time to start for St. Augustine. We figured leaving at 10 would put us there 12ish at low tide. In talking to the marina once we were underway slack current was actually at 1:45 so part way up we anchored for an hour for a leisurely lunch. We’re starting to get into places where larger tidal changes and the resulting stronger currents can really impact boat control during docking so the timing of slack current is becoming very important. It’s a weird concept but slack water usually doesn’t occur at the same time as full high or low tide. We arrived after an uneventful trip and got docked without much issue.

We’re at Marker 8 Hotel and Marina across the river from St. Augustine proper on Anastasia Island. Boutique hotel and small marina.

Nice day on the water

Another derelict boat . Such a shame. I'm sure it was stunning at one time

In our slip at Marker 8

We thought it would be better not being amongst the big crowd over at the city docks plus this is the marina our friends Jamie and Trish on “About Time” use as their home port. We’ll celebrate tomorrow when they arrive to “cross their wake”, complete their Great Loop journey and raise their new gold burgee. Things are pretty desolate here because of the COVID-19 virus. More restrictions by the hour. Currently all bars are closed so it looks like our craft brewery tours and flights are over for the time being. We lucked out and got our last sit down meal in a restaurant only because we were out early. At 5PM today restaurants either had to close or convert to pick-up orders only. We got in to O’Steens which is a small local seafood restaurant renowned for their fried shrimp. We got the fried shrimp and also some grilled mahi-mahi. Both outstanding but the fish in particular was probably the best we’ve had so far in Florida.

Historic St. Augustine lighthouse

When we lived in Jacksonville I brought my boat over here one summer to a marina called “The Conch House” on the back side of Anastasia Island so I could more easily focus on some offshore fishing. One of the things that always mesmerized me was watching the first mates on the charter boats filleting the days catch. It’s amazing what a sharp knife and a little know how can do to speed things up. We happened to walk over there, and the “Jodie Lynn” crew was hard at it just like we remembered. Catch of the day from 50 miles offshore included tuna, wahoo, king mackerel and mahi-mahi.

Catch of the day

Making quick work on a nice wahoo

Back at the marina we got a nice sunset silhouetting the St. Augustine skyline and the famous buildings built by Henry Flagler. And to finish off the day we got a picture from my brother in New Zealand where my nephew Daniel and his new bride Athene just got married. Big congratulations to them!!