But yesterday - 4/6/18 - we were in St. Augustine on one of our favorite mooring balls, in spite of the spat getting to the mooring ball.
We were, I was, later than usual getting up having stayed up until wee hours reading my book, The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. I love her writing. And enjoy reading authors from other cultures as that gives me a small window into those lives and traditions...sometimes. I finished the book today and totally enjoyed it. I particular enjoy how her narrative is not chronological and is offered from several different character's perspective.
We brought our bikes off the boat so we could do some riding with Sheldon. We three started together but we lost each other early on. David and I reconnected called Sheldon to say we were on our way toward "the Great Cross." The cross is a towering one, 208', on a point of land northwest of the fort. Beyond the fact of Christian symbol I don't know its significance in St. Augustine history. It is impressive and in beautiful, quiet and very green gardens.
We road through narrow streets and small-ish houses with lots of greenery - flowers and trees. Well. Some large-ish homes, too, with magnificent old trees covered with Spanish moss and manicured lawns.
We went into sections of town I'd not discovered before. All the way to the Ponce deLeon archeological part. It is where it is thought that the first Spaniards landed and home of an Indian tribe...and a (THE) source of the Fountain of Youth where water can still be had in small plastic cup from the spring for free. Pretty mineral strong water.
It was a pretty lightweight exhibit, environment, park. The peafowl were a highlight, probably a dozen in view, all wandering, lounging, eating, calling raucously. We saw one baby being fed by a mom. Only the males, the peacocks, have this beautiful coloring and fan tail. This one was just hanging out, resting on the lawn. There was also one snow white one.
This pixie entrance was in one of the coquina and oyster shell walls that that surround the site which was an archeological site for many years, no longer active. There are larger gates at several places along the walls. These short, maybe 3' tall, entrances are sort of in the "guard" house.
Here is the pixie gate in its host structure.
David and I left together, he to meet Sheldon at the Sailors' Exchange consignment store, me to see if the Episcopal Thrift store was still open. David was successful and bought a hatch frame he'd been looking for. The thrift store was closed long before I got there. I missed it again. Grumble. I may have to buy a plane ticket to come back later this spring.
I choose to not join the men at the Sailors' Exchange instead sitting in the Lightner Museum garden and read above book.
We joined ranks again and went to the site specific installations of Flagler College art students. Talk about lightweight!!! Really disappointing given other art student installations and site specific pieces I seen in recent past. Appreciating it was a first effort, by the college department and by the individual students but, really, what was the context? What were the prompts? What was the instruction? What was the, was there any, thinking behind each installation? All but one piece, a film loop of female stars, looked as if very limited thought and time was invested.
However, the art walk evening event throughout downtown WAS worth the effort. Several galleries had wonderful work. Such fun and inspiration to leisurely look at work, large and small, comfortable and challenging, and talk with David and others about what we each were seeing, what drew our interest. There was a beautiful bracelet in one gallery - open ended, silver but not brightly polished, with a raised line of copper running around it. A triangular opal at one end, purple tourmaline at the other end. Reminded me of the "snake" bracelets from ancient Egyptian cultures. Loved it and I don't even wear bracelets except for one that I don't wear on the boat for fear of losing it overboard. Totally out of my price range at $450. Sigh.
Flagler College is, architecturally, stunning...old buildings and new buildings. This used to be a hotel. Inside this "gate" which is gated is a courtyard with fountain and manicured pathways and benches for sitting and listening/watching.
We went to the Plum Gallery that we'd discovered on our last visit. I like much of the work. Met the owner who told us there were about regular artists she showed (her stable of artists, stable, really???) regularly and about every quarter she rotates 3 or 4 new artists in to show their work. I bought earrings there that I hope I like as much now that I have them as I did in buying them. I wanted a present for myself and I couldn't afford the Bora Yasar bracelet.
These horses have delighted me on several occasions. They come in lots of sizes from 6" to 6' and in many colors. Their legs are sticks. Their manes and tails, telephone wire...the multicolored kind. The paper mache' of this light one is covered with road maps.
Post art walk we went to dinner at the Chinese buffet we discovered on our way south and bought groceries...re-provisioning for several days away from food resources.
A fun day with lots of variety with our friend.
4/7/18 Up at a reasonable time, coffee, heard the bridge horn alerting boaters and cars to "opening," looked at each other "Not going to make the 8:30 bridge," he said. "We can do it. There are 7 boats waiting to go through and we're really close to the bridge," I said. And we did. We were out the gate in less than 5 minutes, taking our place in the queue to get through to leave town. Much faster than a herd of turtles.
As we approached the buoys for going outside or going through the ICW we thought "outside" and there were other boats going in that direction and the weather was looking pretty good. Oops! "David our dinghy is not prepared to go outside." We were towing it. It needs to be on the davits to go in the ocean. U-turn and into the ICW.
All went well....until....we ran aground. Silly mistake...lack of attention...wrong glasses leading to mistaking an anchorage symbol on the chart with a green navigational aid. I heard "Oh shit!" from the captain, felt/heard him stop the accelerator, held on and felt a furump and we stopped going forward. Sandbar. Back up. Off. Go forward. On again. Back up and retrace our route getting here and back in the channel.
We put up a sail. Alright. On our way and with sail support. Pretty easy day, as best I remember.
Getting into the St. John River at Jacksonville we met this big gal. We let her pass. Didn't quibble for one second. "You take it, big girl."
As we turned the corner into Sister Creek and the Jim King Park free dock I noticed another Nauticat on the very full dock. Fordyce is here.
With help from him and another boat captain we docked on the "other" side of the dock, a first for us but plenty of water and space. An oil change for Grace and dinner with Fordyce, some tentative plans for tomorrow and time for bed.
A quote from The Lowland: "....awash with gratitude of his advancing years, for timeless splendor of the earth, and for the opportunity to behold them." I am, too.
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