March 12-16, 2023 St Augustine and the Schneiders

 3-12 Sunday There were 3 small cabin cruisers anchored together near us. C Dory was the make.  Looked like they could be fun.  Will research them.  We moved to St Augustine and were on a mooring ball at the Municipal Marina by about 1:00, north of the drawbridge.  We got out lines and fenders to take the boat to the fuel dock, which is south of the drawbridge.  We made it through the Bridge of Lions on the 1:30 opening (on the half hour).  At the fuel dock, besides getting fuel, we had a pump out for our 2 heads, got rid of garbage and paid for our mooring ball.  And we made the 2:30 opening of the bridge to return to our mooring ball.  

This is a map of the mooring field.  There are 2 fields, north and south of the Bridge of Lions.  Each marker is a mooring ball and they are numbered.  The marina docks are on the south and west side of the bridge.  It is right in the heart of downtown St Augustine.  They have a dinghy dock for us to go to shore.  The magenta line running north and south is the traffic lane on the water.  We contact the marina by radio when we are close.  They assign us a mooring ball to tie to.  So it is nice to have a map to help you find your ball before you enter with your boat.

We had the shuttle boat pick us up at 4:00 to spend some time with our friends at their condo.  Gene and Colleen Schneider, from Sturgis, SD, have a condo here.  

I stayed in town to go to church at the Basilica at 5:00.  Colleen and Dave headed to the condo and she picked me up after mass.  

We had a fun night with pizza, beer and cards.

Gene and Dave, Mary and Colleen

3-13 Colleen made us fantastic breakfast burritos.  Later in the day, we had corned beef and cabbage for an early St Patrick’s day feast.  We decided to stay another day.  We were waiting for our parts for the water maker to arrive.  
Dave started checking on our package and realized he didn’t receive a tracking number.  So he called Cruise RO.  This is a small 3 man business.  He found out their parts man went to the ER after taking our order and it was never sent.  They will now send them 2 day air at no extra cost.  
3-14 We left Schneider’s at noon to have lunch and catch the 2:00 shuttle back to our boat.  We had things we could do on our boat while waiting for the parts.  We were able to make water with not much oil leakage.  We had whiting fish for dinner that Gene had given us.  He catches them on the beach across the street from their condo.

3-15 We planned to take the dinghy across the inlet to Vilano Beach to a public dock and walk about 4 blocks to Publix.  We wait until we’re close to leaving for the Bahamas to pick up our produce and dairy products.  But, it was cold and windy.  Plus Dave’s phone wasn’t cooperating.  It’s getting too old or updates and data storage.  So Schneider’s picked us up again for another night.  And our package was supposed to arrive today.  
Before leaving the marina, we saw 4 people from Brunswick on the dock.  We were’t the only ones leaving late in the season for the Bahamas.  
Dave and Gene went to the Verizon store first, but the line was way too long.  So they went to Walmart to get Dave a new phone.  
Colleen and I went to Publix for our provisions. After dinner, we enjoyed a nice evening outside by there gas fireplace.
And the package arrived!

3-16 We packed up the groceries and were back at the marina for the 12:00 shuttle.  We even caught the 12:30 bridge opening to head south on the ICW.  We only went 2 hours south to Matanza’s inlet.  I’ve always wanted to take the free tour of the fort at this anchorage, but they were full for the day.  I guess it will have to be another time.