We have spent the last week on a mooring ball in St. Augustine. When we passed through on our way south in 2008, we had a great time, and wanted to stay longer this time around.

We arrived on Monday afternoon, checked in with the dockmaster and relaxed for the evening. On Tuesday, we cleaned up the boat and prepared for a visit from our friends Larry and Lena. Scott found Larry two years ago, on an online trawler forum. He and his wife, Lena, have been living aboard and cruising on Hobo, another 42′ Krogen. They have a paravane system that Scott wanted for Sea Life, so he flew down to Jacksonville, Fl. and drew up plans to install our paravanes based on Larry and Lena’s. He hit it off with them, and has kept in touch over the last two years.

Scott met them onshore, and brought them to the boat by dingy. We spend several hours visiting, and exchanging boat information. We also picked their brains for cruising tips, as they have spent years circumnavigating the globe, visiting 46 countries! After our visit, Scott and I walked through town, and stopped for happy hour at the White Lion…1.25 draft beer!

On Wednesday we rented a car, and had another day of errands and store stops. While we had a car, Scott wanted to locate Sailors Exchange. A marine thrift store that he’d heard was in the area. We searched online, and came up with an address that led us to an industrial location, full of stuff piled everywhere

Scott poked around a bit, and then we found out that this was a warehouse for the actual store, which was just a few miles away….so off we went. The store was unbelievable. Before we even got inside. Scott spent time in the vast amount of stuff they had outside in the parking lot

We made our way inside, to sensory overload for any mariner or boater. Scott had a hard time taking it all in. We wandered through the place for quite awhile. I couldn’t believe all the things they had in there…even a reading room!

After our field trip to Sailors Exchange, we pulled up to a load/unload spot in front of the marina, loaded all of our stuff into a dock cart, wheeled the dock cart to our dingy and loaded it in, took the dock cart back, took things to the boat and unloaded, put groceries away, dingyed back to the dock and car, and returned rental car…..whew! We shared a grouper dinner and drinks at OC Whites, right near the marina, and then headed back to the boat for the evening.

Thursday was boat day. We stayed onboard and worked on various jobs and projects. On Friday we stayed onboard again, due to a strong cold front that passed through, bringing steady 25 knots through the mooring field all day. The howling of the wind, and the constant chop of the water became really unnerving, but we reminded ourselves that this front was keeping Joaquin at bay. We’d rather be tolerate this, than dealing with 130 mph winds; we watched a six hour miniseries.

On Saturday, we met my friend, Kevin, for lunch. He’d met us in Fernandina Beach, and had time to drive down from Jacksonville again, which was great! We had lunch, drinks and fun conversation, and then he headed back north, to retrieve his dogs from day care, before they were locked in for the night. Thanks so much for taking time to meet us twice, Kev!

Scott and I continued to wander around St. George Street, and ended the day with pizza from Pizza Time. If you are in a 50 mile drive of this place….GO! The pizza is amazing! They make their own sauce, and are very generous with the fresh toppings. Along with a slice of white and a slice of margarita, we also tried eggplant and lasagna!

Yesterday we met Larry and Lena again, for lunch in town. We shared burgers and a few hours of conversation, before they headed home. Thanks to them as well, for  making the drive to visit us!

We went back to the boat, so I could do a load of laundry and hang it out to dry. Then we headed of for a walk across the Bridge of Lions, and to the Conch House. We’d seen an ad for it in one of the local magazines, and it looked interesting to us. After leaving the boat, and getting to shore, we realized we’d left our phones onboard, with the directions on how to get there. So, we went back to the 1980’s, and just figured it out as we went!

The Conch House has great atmosphere, their website doesn’t do it justice. They have a restaurant, dock bar, hotel and marina. A lot of attention to detail was put into it, and the place has a great feel.

It was Reggae Sunday, which is what drew us there. They had good drink specials, and the beer was cold (for those of you who know me, that’s a big deal)! We spent a few hours listening to the music, watching the crowd and wandering around admiring the details.

Before it got dark, we walked back to town and went back to Pizza Time for more pizza! We had a few slices for dinner, followed by some gelato, and then ordered a whole pizza to take back to the boat with us. It’ll make for yummy lunches, while we make our way farther south this week! The thing weighed a ton. It was too big to fit in the box, so some of the crust was folded over! We walked it back to the marina, took our dingy back to the boat, and prepared to head south in the morning.

Here are the photos of our week in St. Augustine. Boaters will enjoy the additional pictures of Sailors Exchange.

“Shells Sink, Dreams Float. Life’s Good On Our Boat!”