We survived the NorEaster - spent good time in St. Augustine

 Well, we survived the NorEaster, and other than having to re-anchor in a downpour once, we did just fine.

Our anchorage, although windy  (steady at 30, with gust to 40), had reasonably calm water.  We just hung out on the boat, and to fight the chilly temperature that the storm brought, we "had" to use the oven to heat up the boat :)

Nothing better than brownies to warm up a stormy day.

We had reservations at a marina in St. Augustine, so after the winds died down a bit, we headed south.  King tides were happening,  (King tides are the highest predicted high tide cycles of the year at a given coastal location. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "higher than normal tides typically occur during a new or full moon and when the Moon is at its perigee, or during specific seasons around the country.") so we were concerned about bridge clearance on the trip.  

 We need 61.5' clearance for the mast to fit under bridges, at least that is what we measured.  We did the measurement when the mast was off the boat, and the boat was on the hard.  This trip we got to test our measurement skills.

Board reads slightly more than 62'

Tight fit, but no issues.

Deans cousin and her husband live close to St. Augustine,  It was nice to visit with them as we had not seen then in 5 years or so.   They are nice people, and were also nice enough to let us ship a ton of packages to their house in advance. They also drove the 1/2 hour to the marina to visit us, and picked us up and took us shopping for provisions, and fed us dinner, and drove again to have dinner with us again.  Super nice people.

We have started our provisioning for the 5 months we plan on being in the Bahamas.  It was nice being at a marina - as we could have WalMart do a delivery.  

We had quite a bit delivered, and bought as much if not more when during errands with Deans cousin.

Not in the NE anymore, not with this kind of vegetation

We also had time to walk around town, and stopped at the Sailors Exchange store to browse a bit as well.

Kris browsing the bins at Sailors Exchange

King tides flooded the road by the marina every afternoon

Some interesting buildings in St. Augustine

Part of Flagler college

While in St. Augustine, we were also lucky enough to be able to get together with 4 other Manta Catamaran owners,  Two we knew, the other two were new to us.   We all got together for a nice evening of pizza and conversation.

We leave tomorrow, and head south, down the ICW, with stops in Daytona Beach, Titusville, Cocoa and Vero Beach.  It will be an all motor, and no sailing, but interesting scenery.  At least it will get above 70 every day, and lows should not dip below mid 50's.