Fort Matanzas

Yesterday, last night and this morning were a blessed and peaceful re-entry into life on the hook.  The St. John’s River was very quiet with no commercial traffic except for a lonely tug with no one to pull.  The ICW was busy with cruisers and small fishing boats, but not too bad.  There were seven other cruisers anchored with us last night at Pine Island.  During the night, it was so quiet we could hear the waves crashing on the Atlantic shore – at least a mile away.  At sunset and sunrise we heard lots of shooting.  Most of it was far enough away that it did not bother us.  I imagine the ducks found it quite a nuisance.  This morning, however, when we were about to prepare a second round of coffee, we heard shots much closer.  Up on deck we discovered, less than half a mile away, a man was shooting from his little aluminum boat, but not skyward.  We could see the water fly up just before we heard the report of the shot.  He had duck decoys out so we suspect a gator took his quarry, or maybe he was a frustrated hunter.  Then we heard him yelling in an accent along the lines of Shelby Stanga on Ax Men, punctuated by similar explicatives.  It suddenly seemed like a good time to pull up anchor and be on our way.  Coffee could wait.

We arrived at the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine for their 10 am opening, after passing a rough and uninviting St. Augustine inlet.  We had the anchor set and engine off at Fort Matanzas at 12:46 pm.  Plenty of time to look for internet, update the blog, get some rest, make a nice dinner and prepare for a much longer day tomorrow.  But first we had to sit on deck and watch dolphins swim around Hold Fast.  We expect more anchoring company tonight, but it was nice to be here early and have first pick at a spot.  We do not expect the same luxury tomorrow. 

Here are some pictures to help you vicariously join our journey.

Love to all,

Dena

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{GMST}29|43.034|N|081|14.495|W|Anchored Fort Matanzas|{GEND}

Catching up while the turkey smokes:

Backing out of the slip at OYCM.  Lucky Dog wonders if Dena will return, as his short order cook.

Hold Fast departing OYCM, Roosevelt and RR bridges in the background. We are still putting away lines and fenders.

Sunset at Pine Island.