Sunday May 29, 2011

81°19.332’ W

29°53.145’ N

Rivers Edge Marina

St. Augustine, Florida

at Fort



Lighting the cannon





Today is day two…….to play tourist! The six of us hopped on the trolley this morning and rode to the Castillo de San Marcos. When the Spanish had settled here they built a number of forts (8) that were destroyed over the next 150 years by fire, conflict, flood and hurricanes until this one was constructed from Coquina. Coquina is quarried across the bay from where the fort was constructed. There is much pageantry at the fort with military drills in period uniforms. One large cannon is fired every few hours by uniformed solders. After the cannon demonstration the soldiers walk through out the fort posing for photos and answering any and all questions.



A view of the St. Augustine Lighthouse



From there we walked to the newly opened pirate museum. It turned out to be educational, entertaining and informative. Around the corner and up a flight of stairs we had lunch in the Old Millhouse. The food was typical tourist type, the beer was cold and there was a talented guitar player to entertain us during lunch. The building was rustic and the open balcony that we sat on was high enough to view the ocean over the top of the fort ---- 100 yards away. I had the feeling I was eating lunch in a tree house!



Plaza







Barb and I split off from our friends and walked the streets in the historic part of town before we had another trolley ride and toured a winery before walking another half mile further to the boat. With all the heat and humidity we were ready to get back to the boat and cool down and rest.



"The Old Senator"



Huen and Cricket made a spaghetti dinner for six after returning from town ---which was much appreciated. I added a couple of bottles of wine to help the cause. I don’t think Barb or I would have had the energy to return into the heat and walk to a restaurant!