We're back

Took a break in the blog entries after arriving at St. Augustine. So we’ll try and catch up where we left off:

Another 8am departure and another great morning. Our sailboat neighbor watched us go.

We left Palm Coast and the canal opened up into the Matanzas River. As we did the other day, we were going against the current. Here's a video of the dolphins that followed us, riding in our wake.

Not many boats out on this morning. When there are other boats, they usually pass us but we found a boat we could pass -

On the rivers eastern bank is Rattlesnake Island. I’m guessing whoever named it must of made an unfortunate discovery. At this point, we’re about 14 miles south of St. Augustine. We spotted a fort structure and later learned it's Fort Matanzas.

The fort was completed in 1742 by the Spanish to guard St. Augustine from the south and prevent the British from invading through the Matanzas inlet. http://www.nps.gov/foma/historyculture/index.htm   (btw: Matanzas is the Spanish word for slaughter. The founder of St. Augustine executed 250 French Huguenots in 1565 at the inlet.)

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Approaching the oldest city in the U.S., St. Augustine, you can see a full-sized replica of a 17th century Spanish galleon, the Andalucía. It’s similar to the galleon that St. Augustine’s founder sailed on in 1565.

The Bridge of Lions was was named as 4th among the U.S.’s top ten bridges. It was completed in 1927 and named for the 2 marble lion statues on it.

A water view of the Castillo De San Marcos National Monument. The fort was completed in 1695 http://www.nps.gov/casa/historyculture/construction.htm

We arrived at the Comachee Cove Yacht Harbor where the boat stayed docked for 2 weeks (on the far left).

A smart pelican taking advantage of a free meal from someone's catch.

These guys enjoyed watching the show.