Monday, August 2, 2010 - St Augustine, FL

We devoted the entire day to enjoying St Augustine and boarded the trolley before 10 am. Our first stop, The Fountain of Youth, included some very interesting archaeological and cultural history. We tried the sulfur-smelling water from the spring, listened to the presentations in the planetarium and the “Discovery Globe” and wandered around the grounds where a couple of peacocks showed off for us.









Included in our trolley package was a “guided” tour of the jail, a walk through one of the museums and a tour of the Oldest School House. Alas, we spent so much time at The Fountain of Youth, we had to skip the School House tour and a planned stop at the winery. We were able to catch the last trolley ride across the bridge over to the beach and lighthouse but we couldn’t get off the trolley to really see anything without having to call a taxi for a ride back. It’s a good thing they give you three days to see the town!



The trolley shuttle dropped us off at the fort and we took a few minutes to walk around the perimeter. By then it was getting close to 6 pm, so we headed back out to the boat, changed into our swimsuits and visited the beach by dinghy. We easily could have spent another day enjoying St. Augustine, but we still had some laundry and some “online” business we wanted to take care of before leaving the area.

Sunday, August 1, 2010 - St Augustine, FL

We were very eager to begin our day and make our way to St. Augustine. Many people had mentioned this little town to us as a place we should try to spend some time. At 7:30 am we brought up the anchor, left Ft Matanzas and cruised the 16 miles to St. Augustine. We arrived at the St Augustine Municipal Marina at 10 am where we fueled up and replenished our water supply. By 11:15 am, we had made our passage through the Bridge of Lions and chosen our anchoring spot in front of Castillo de San Marcos, the fort built in the mid 1500’s to fortify the settlement.





Ponce de Leon, in 1513, was the first European to set foot on the North American continent. If you remember your grade school history, Columbus discovered the New World, but the westernmost point of his journey was in the islands of the Caribbean. Ponce de Leon claimed the territory for Spain and named it La Florida. It was in this marshy area that Ponce de Leon thought he had found the Fountain of Youth.

The first town in the United States, St Augustine, was founded by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565. It has a vibrant tourist industry and celebrates its Spanish heritage. We signed up for the trolley tour which allows the visitors to hop on and off the trolley route for three days. Since it was already 3:30 in the afternoon, we opted to ride the complete 70-minute trolley tour to get our bearings and an overall feeling about where we would spend our time tomorrow. We saw magnificent architecture preserved in the many churches, old hotels and other buildings. We saw the 208-foot cross that was erected on the site of the first Catholic mass offered in North America and we admired Magnolia Avenue which is considered to be one of the ten most beautiful streets in the world by National Geographic Magazine. After our ride, we relaxed with a cocktail at an English pub off George Street.

Saturday, July 31, 2010 - Fort Matanzas

We were up even earlier today and on our way at 6:25 am. The temperature was 82°F and there wasn’t a puff of wind. The water surface was like glass so the reflections of the surrounding homes and landscape were quite beautiful. We cruised through some very popular fishing areas and even saw a couple of entrepreneurs out on their own boats selling bait, drinks, food, etc.



At 9 am, we tied up to the city dock in New Smyrna Beach and set out in search of the Saturday morning Farmers’ Market we read about in our guidebook. We were rewarded with a short walk, a great market, a nice downtown area and a lot of friendly folks. In fact, we spent an hour and a half enjoying the area.





Back aboard Blue Heron, we continued along the ICW on what we thought might have been the hottest day yet. The afternoon air temperature was 98°F but the heat index must have been close to 110°F! We traveled 60 nautical miles and anchored at 7 pm near Ft Matanzas where we actually had a nice evening breeze that helped to cool things off.

Friday, July 30, 2010 - Mosquito Lagoon

We left our anchorage at Melbourne Causeway at 7:30 am and sailed out into another hot day. The skies were clear and it was already 81°F. During the course of the 52 nautical miles we covered today we came through Titusville, Cape Canaveral and the town of Cocoa. At one point during the late afternoon, we noticed the temperature reading in the cockpit was 108°F!

At 4:45 pm, we found a nice anchorage in the middle of Mosquito Lagoon. Fortunately for us, there was a pretty good breeze blowing while we were there and we were not bothered by any of the nasty little creatures.

Sunset Over Mosquito Lagoon

Thursday, July 29, 2010 – Melbourne, Florida

Our first full day traveling! We pulled up the hook at 8 am and motored up the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) passing through Ft. Pierce and Vero Beach. At 6:30 pm, after traveling 67 statute miles (58 nautical miles), we anchored on the south side of the Melbourne Causeway Bridge. The evening sea breeze had freshened up to about 15 knots out of the ESE, so our hope was to catch as much cool air as possible before sunset when the wind usually calmed back down. We weren’t expecting any significant thunderstorm activity but, all the same, put out two anchors to help us sleep better. The breeze actually did not let up until early Friday morning so we had a little bumpier night than we had anticipated.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 – Jensen Beach, Florida

Celebrating our Third Wedding Anniversary and our Last Night with the Holts in San Diego, June 30

After spending nearly a week in San Diego (June 26–30), twelve days in Iowa visiting family (July 1-12), three days in Indiantown, Florida, preparing Blue Heron for launch (July 13-15), three days visiting Maureen’s brother and family in Boca Raton, Florida (July 16–18), and ten days in Stuart, Florida (July 19-28), we are on the move again.
















Our time in Stuart was spent taking care of several miscellaneous chores related to putting our “house in order” before we embarked on the last leg of “The Loop.” We were also able to spend five days with our youngest son, Kelle, whom we picked up at the Orlando airport on Tuesday, July 20th. He spent the next five days with us “hanging out,” enjoying the sunshine and doing a bit of studying for the MCAT exam he is scheduled to take on August 19th. While in Stuart, we had some extensive canvas work done and now have coverings for all of the window openings. The coverings will make a significant difference in keeping the inside of the boat cooler during the hot, humid days of summer.








We officially left Stuart on the afternoon of July 28th and traveled ten miles to anchor near Jensen Beach by the small island and sandbar where we had gone exploring with Kelle a couple of days ago. We set the hook at 3:30 pm, finished a couple of chores on the boat and then took the dinghy over to the nearby sandbar where we watched the crabs scamper around and picked up a beautiful small “olive” shell. We celebrated our getting underway by grilling steaks and potatoes for our evening meal. It was a lovely ending to a great day.