Saint Augustine – Part One

My mood has past and the sun is shining in our world once again. We love St. Augustine.

St Augustine Florida claim to fame is they are the oldest city in the USA. This year, St. Augustine celebrates 450 years as a city. If you are here for any length of time, more than 30 minutes, you will know this. It is everywhere! The year 1565 will be embedded into your mind forever. Every other business is The Oldest (fill in the blank) in America. We both laughed when we were on trip advisor looking for a place to eat lunch and came across a restaurant whose claim was St. Augustine’s NEWEST restaurant. These folks have a sense of humor.

The Alcazar Hotel – Now the City Hall and Museum

The Alcazar Hotel Courtyard – Opened in 1888

We are staying at the City of Saint Augustine Municipal Marina. We are in the heart of the historic district. Besides being centrally located, the marina is top notch. On a bit of a side note, the folks here go out of their way to ensure boat owners are happy. The facilities offer the nicest laundry room and lounge we have experience to date. The docks are new and the staff is knowledgeable of things nautical. Because of currents in this area, it can be easy for a boat to get in trouble in the marina area. The staff works the dock lines for anyone coming or going to ensure safety. We are really enjoying this place. They even have a free shuttle (tips encouraged) to take the transient boaters to the grocery store, hardware store and market. We took advantage of the ride and stocked up on fresh food and fruits.

We ordered some parts for Cream Puff and spent the next few days roaming around the historic district waiting for the arrival of shipments. I think the coolest thing about St Augustine is the ability for small businesses to thrive here. There is not a single chain store or restaurant to be found in the historic area of town. The narrow streets are lined with cafes, arts and craft stores and gift shops. We later found out that the historic area has ordinances preventing chain stores, new style construction, and demolition. This is to ensure the beauty of the historic area remains unchanged. The area has more bed and breakfasts than we could count. Within a few blocks of the marina are at least 100 restaurants adding to our enjoyment here. We love locally owned and operated restaurants.

While in St. Augustine, our friends Paul and Karen caught up with us on their boat. We plan to summer together but are independently making our ways up the east coast. When they arrived, we had all of our repairs done and could spend some quality time catching up a sightseeing. We are both feeling better about life on a boat. It is a good thing.