Fixin' to Leave St. Augustine

St. Augustine claims to be the oldest European city in the United States and I believe it: nowhere will you find so dense a concentration of ambulatory old people! I suspect a number of the original inhabitants still walk the streets, frequent the shops and search their purses for coupons in the grocery store 'express' check out lanes. Actually, it's a wonderful place. Founded in 1565, much of the old city remains and there are many nice restaurants, interesting shops and people. There's even a Woman's Exchange. I took Pat there but the models available for exhange were not in very good condition and none could sail.

Our time here has been divided between working on our 28 item 'todo' list, eating out and visiting relatives and friends. The 'todo' list is down to 26 items (do one add two) but we are making significant progress. The biggest problem to address has been our generator. It ran beautifully but we couldn't get it to run our refrigeration system. After numerous attempts on our own and a precipitious descent into "reefer madness", we gave up and called in a professional. Two and 1/2 hours and two hundred dollars later--success! And just in time: my brother, Ken, arrives today and now we can have cold beer (a requirement for his signing on)! We also addressed a troublesome leak where the stern cap rail joins the hull, patched up a bad place on the teak deck, and refitted the windlass. Now that my brother is joining us we expect to make terrific progress on the many repairs and upgrades needed. Varnishing, scrubbing the decks (I think 'swabbing' may be the more appropriate term), and wire brushing the anchor chain make up a fun filled agenda. There's nothing like cleaning the bilge to make those idle hours all the more rewarding! If you are thinking of joining us and fear we'll run out of boat work, do not be dismayed, there's plenty to go around.

In addition to working on the boat, we had the great pleasure of having dinner with my cousin Ellen and her husband, Bob; visiting our friends, June and Terry Rainwater; and swinging by Orlando for a brief but enjoyable visit with my cousin Mike and his wife, Katherine. Terry introduced me to the intricacies of shuffleboard. Having retired several years ago, he has had time to hone his skill in this deceptively challenging and much maligned sport with its 'hides', 'drifts' and 'clearing shots'. We owe special thanks to our new friend, Bill, of Momento Mori, fellow Bahamas-bound cruiser, who kept an eye on our boat while we were gone.

We plan to finish as much work on the boat as possible over the next several days, then head south to the Ft. Lauderdale area. The wind is out of the south through today but should turn favorable tomorrow. On the other hand, there's a Blues Festival here Friday and I could be talked into staying put until then.