Cousin Virginia Middleton spends the night onboard!

Virginia Middleton took to the seagoing life just like varnish to mahogany. As she was departing in the dinghy to return to her normal life in Jacksonville she remarked, "Aaarghhh! Uncle Jason, I left you a gift on the boat. I'll give you a hint, its floating in the toilet and its not a toaster!" She'll never be the same. Sorry Lisa!

Family in town for the day

Today Uncle Mike, Aunt Lisa and Cousins Virginia and John Middleton brought their boat down to St. Augustine from their home in Jacksonville. They anchored near us out in the mooring field and we spent the day ferrying the kids from boat to boat. For the most part, the sailboat was the "Kid's boat" and Mikes boat was the "Adults boat". Both Virginia and John got to try their hand at driving the dinghy and they both did well.

At the end of the day, Jack was invited to go spend the night with John at their house in Jacksonville. Above are Jack and John with St. Augustine in the background.

Virginia has decided to go out on a limb and spend the night with Hayley on our sailboat out in the anchorage. After the Middleton boat took off to return to Jacksonville, Hayley and Virginia went into town to hang out at a 17th Century Spanish Pub. Here they are pictured drinking Sangria. After a heavy bout of drinking, they went to a pizza restaurant and then topped it off with Italian Gelato from a local shop.

Here is a picture of Mike and Lisa on their boat.

A visit to St. Augustine Lighthouse

Yesterday we hiked across the Bridge of Lions to Anastasia Island, home of the St. Augustine Lighthouse. You'll notice from the picture above that is sort of resembles the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse but has a red top. The lighthouse has been fully restored and is in great shape. Its open to the public and they allow you to climb the 219 steps right up to the light on top and enjoy the panoramic view of St. Augustine, the marshes surrounding it and the Atlantic Ocean. It was a pretty clear day and we could see the stacks of the Florida Power and Light power plant in Palatka--28 miles away!

At the base of the lighthouse is a really good maritime museum that has lots of lighthouse relics as well as some WWII history regarding the U Boat attacks on cargo ships that took place right off the beaches.

Our favorite story of the lighthouse was that in the 1930's, the lighthouse keeper's son fashioned a small parachute himself. He then strapped his cat into it and tossed it off the top of the lighthouse. The cat landed in the trees and survived.

Having fun in St. Augustine, Florida

We've been in St. Augustine, Florida for almost a week and we really don't have much motivation to move on. We REALLY like this place. We're anchored off the old city and dinghy in each day to a really nice marina that is located within walking distance to everything we need. Hayley and Jack met a really nice friend named Rachel. She is pictured with them above with her boat and her dog Whitefoot in the background. Interestingly, Rachel's grandfather is a Kings Point Alumnus. Small world. We'll be in St. Augustine at least through the end of this week. We're exploring locations to haul the boat out before too long as Maersk has given me the notice that I'll be headed back to work around October 23rd. The plan, always subject to change, is to haul out in N. Florida somewhere and launch it again when I'm back from this next voyage.
So far in St. Augustine, the family has spent most of its time touring Spanish Colonial history sites. They're all very interesting. There is even a real working pub in the location of the actual colonial pub and many of the patrons wear period costumes while drinking their grog. We went to the pub on Saturday night for a concert/singalong of old sea chantys performed by a local singing group, the Bilge Rats. It was unique entertainment.