Integrity Cruise

Day 332 - Palm Coast to St. Augustine, FL

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Day 332 - Friday, March 24th: After the cold front moved through last night, this morning was refreshingly cool and crisp. We were really wondering if we were traveling north too fast for the spring weather. Who knows?

We got underway in a breezy, cool and cloudy morning. It was pleasant enough all day as the clouds cleared and the temperature refused to get warmer. Little did we know that we were in for near-record lows for the next several days.

We pulled into the St. Augustine Municipal Marina in (you guessed it) St. Augustine. We were amazed to see about eight other Looper boats in the marina. It was a big marina, with a large anchorage just outside the harbor. Find Integrity here:

We had met many of them before and knew some more by emails. There was Lola Marie, Ahzmyrah, Proctor Anne, River Quest, Kismet, Molly B and of course Summertime and us, to name some of them.

St. Augustine has a trolley-train system that provides a tour of the old city. You can buy a three-day pass and get on and off anywhere along the loop. We took the loop tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a great way to se the city. The start of the loop is near The Old Wax Museum. Here is Michael Johnson standing next to our friend Roxanne:

The first stop on the trolley ride is "The Fountain of Youth." It was a real tourist trap. We didn't go in. Sorry for the fuzzy picture:

Outside the walled part of the city, some of the streets are very pretty:

Inside the walled part, the streets are very narrow and paved with old bricks (probably cobblestones originally). Aviles Street is a good example:

In the old part of town, most of the buildings are made from "cochina," a concrete-like material that is dug out of the ocean. This one, however, was made from "tabby," which is made with oyster shells. These buildings are really old - built in the 1600s:

St. Augustine was under siege for many of the early years. The original Spanish settlers built a clever system of walls with a fort at the entrance to the harbor:

The fort has a very intricate layout and was easily defended:

This barrier wall is about 20 feet high:

The fort walls were made from cochina also:

To please the tourists, the staff is in period costume:

Flags marking the checkered history of the fort hang inside:

Of course there are cannons around. This picture of a little girl checking out one of them was precious!

One of the most famous spots in St. Augustine is the "Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse in the Country." We walked back after the tour to get this picture:

Back on the boat, we relaxed and got ready for a Looper supper.

We joined about fourteen other Loopers for supper at "Habana Village Café" (yes, "Habana"), and soon became the noisiest table in the restaurant. Thank goodness we were in our own banquet room! Here's the group from one end of the big table:

And from the other end, friends Sara and Gary from Proctor Ann beamed:

Oh! The food was very good, too!

Position tonight: N29 53.519 W081 18.561

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