St. Augustine for Christmas

 Kim really wanted to spend Christmas in St. Augustine, so we reserved a mooring ball for a week from December 20th to the 27th. When we arrived, we had beautiful settled weather. That did not last long. 

The second day we were in St. Augustine a strong northern came in with winds around 30 knots and much colder temperatures. The good news it only lasted one day, but it was a day that we could not safely get of of the boat to get to shore in the dinghy. 

We had wind out of the worst possible direction. It was coming right in the inlet off of the Atlantic ocean. We had white caps and swell in the mooring field. 

The following day was a totally different picture. We had no wind and calm conditions. We even took the dingy across the bay to Vilano Beach. It felt good to get the dinghy up to full speed and up on a plane. That was the easiest place to get provisions. 

It is amazing how much more comfortable it was. 

Vilano Beach and the S. Augustine inlet beyond

Vilano Beach looking north

The forecast for the 23rd through Christmas looked very bad. The winds were going to be coming from a better direction than a couple of days earlier, but we were expecting lows at night below freezing and highs around 40 degrees. We had one more day before the second front would arrive, so we took a walk around town.

We started the walk with a tour of the Castillo de San Marcos. 

We toured the fort last May, but it was very hot. This time it was much more comfortable.

The view of the harbor from the fort. SHIFT is the third boat from this end.

This is Flagler College

The inside of the dome was awesome.

Kim in front of a Christmas Tree

This is the old St. Augustine Town Hall

The cold arrived as predicted on December 23rd. We did all that we could to say warm. We were very cozy under covers in bed and under blankets on the main couches in the salon. It was a bit warmer out on the water than in town and we never saw below freezing temperatures. It was cold, but we did just fine. On Christmas day we went to shore to go to church after taking a much needed hot shower. 

The Basilica of St. Augustine

We then took a walk through the old city. The older building were built right along the streets. This building was built in the 1600's during the Spanish period. 

Kim decided to stay at the marina on the 26th and do laundry and not go for a walk. I had an area of the city I wanted to learn more about. Did you know that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's began in St. Augustine, Florida? I didn't. There is an area just south of the old city called Lincolnville. This area was settled by emancipated slaves in the 1860's, Many of the churches that were established in the area became the meeting places for planning early demonstrations at the beginning of the movement that lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Many of the old churches are still there and are being restored. 

This is an AME Church that Martin Luther King Jr. came to and spoke.

This old church is being completely restored. 

Being a Catholic, I was surprised by the history of the Black Catholics. The local Sisters of St. Joseph convent had three nuns arrested in 1913 for educating young black students. 

 I found this day to be both educational and emotional. That is why we don't erase history, we learn about it and learn from it. 

Well, that is about it for St. Augustine. We were now very ready to get further south and warmer weather. The way I figured it, we were 4 days from Vero Beach. That has been the objective from the beginning of this trip. In my next entry, I will write about the final move south.