Dagger Down

We entered the channel without difficulty, despite having heard that it can be quite treacherous at times when the seas, current and wind are not aligned. Even at first glance the city of St. Augustine seemed enchanting. We were very excited about exploring the oldest city in the US and dropped anchor just north of the inlet. Then Ben and I hit the sack as we also were tired from our 30-hour sail from Charleston. Next morning, we moved closer to the city at the Municipal Marina. Our reservation was on the south side of the Bridge of Lions, so we passed through the draw bridge. After lunch we walked around the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument and through the town’s cobbled stone streets. It was lovely town with lots of cool Spanish and English architecture. The fort was originally built of wood, but they finally wised up and built it of stone. There was so much history everywhere you looked with lots of traditions and legacies. For dinner, we dinghied into St. Augustine. Wow what a difference a day makes. Yesterday was beautiful and the dinghy ride was totally uneventful. Today the current, wind and waves assured that we took buckets of water over the bow of the dinghy as we headed to shore. I was so happy that I had the foresight to put on my waterproof pants. John, however, got drenched! We walked around town and bought a new American flag for the stern of our boat. Our old one was getting somewhat tattered, and it was disrespectful to keep flying it. After a few days of exploring, we got a weather window to head down the coast, so we set off. In the Atlantic the wind was blowing about 20 knots from the northeast and the swells were about 7 ft. We travelled at about 7.5 knots down the coast, and after a sporty 26-hour sail we entered West Palm Beach without incident. We were happy to be spending Thanksgiving anchored in Lake Worth looking at the beautiful sunset.