Insufferable

Last night there were three boats anchored in the Ft. George River in a tiny but beautiful spot within feet of a restored Plantation / now State Park. All of us jumped in a dink and visited for a while, walking the grounds and chatting with the Park Ranger. Most touching for me was a solo walk back through the woods to the remnants of the slave cabins. Someone asked what I had found and all I could think to answer was, "Ghosts". It was an incredibly sad place. As evening fell we all gathered on the resident Cat for dinner, drinks, and stories. The two other crews have been out for three years and know each other well. Deb and I were welcomed newcomers.

McCormick Bridge - my namesake!

This evening finds us hanging on a mooring ball in St. Augustine, FL; and insufferably pleased with ourselves. The trip here from the Ft. George River was much easier than that of the day before. An early morning departure had tide and currents mostly working in our favor with only a few spots where depth was an issue. Crossing the St. Johns River and the inlet here in St. Augustine held a few sporting minutes with swift currents pushing Kintala sideways. Unfortunately only one of the boats from last night is here as well. Our friends on their big Hunter left a few minutes before us, turned the corner back onto the ICW, managed a couple of hundred yards of progress, and then drifted to a halt with a trashed tranny. We stopped to help but there wasn’t much we could do. They got a tow but we haven’t heard the prognosis on their tranny. They are likely sidetracked for several weeks. The Wester-Beast’s RPM surge is back as well. Whatever the problem it takes several hours of run time before it shows up; which doesn’t help in the troubleshooting department. At least this time, when we filled up the fuel tank, diesel didn’t come spewing out of the vent; so our efforts the other morning weren’t completely wasted. Serious maintenance issues are a constant problem out here in the cruising world. (One blog I follow, a cruising guru and circumnavigator, has been struggling for months with a serious engine problem. He is finally throwing in the towel, bought a used RV, and he and his family are off on a new adventure.)

Directly off Kintala’s bow lies Ellida, home of our friend John from Carlyle. He isn’the on the boat right now, being back in the Midwest for the holidays. It was still kind of fun to find her here and we sent John a picture. Our plan is to be in St. Augustine for a bit. We have Internet friends here we haven’t met yet and are looking forward to spending a few days with them. We also plan to spend some time exploring St. Augustine. I’ve always liked this town and, ever since we first started thinking about cruising, have harbored the dream of being right here, just like this. And now we are … like I said, insufferably pleased.

Really bad exposure sorry, but see what a couple million will buy you?

This one is for my grandkids

 

Hmmm...we have the same view off our porch that this multi-million dollar house does

 

We're clearly not in Kansas anymore Todo