Next stop – St. Augustine! Its claim to fame is being the oldest city in America and known for the Spanish colonial architecture and cobblestone streets. We took a Trolley Tour – but not your typical trolley tour. We hooked up with Lloyd and his Trolley Tour. Lloyd actually lives on a boat in the marina and has lived in St. Augustine most of his life. He was quite a character, but so very knowledgeable! He drove us around with some other people and talked about the various parts of the city and its history. The highlights were: the Lighthouse, the Bridge of Lions, Aviles Street (lots of artsy shops and small restaurants), Flagler College, Fountain of Youth, and the National Shrine of our Lady of La Leche. Pete and I had dinner then Lloyd picked us up and took us back to the marina. We were the only ones in his Trolley Car so he decided to have some fun on the way home. He started blasting music as we wound our way up, down, and along the very narrow one way streets. He played great music but when he played “Dancing Queen”, people walking along the road and sides would turn around and start dancing and singing along! It was a lot of fun! If you go to St. Augustine, you definitely need to hire Lloyd!
On Saturday we headed to Jacksonville. We rode right by the downtown area and spotted the Stadium and the hotel we stayed at for Kevin and Stephanie’s wedding. We arrived at Port 32 Marina and caught up with a few loopers, Charlie and Heather from Camelot and Sandy from Proost. We met Ray and Shelly – Icons and Gold Loopers. Doug and Alison/Ripple came in for a quick stop and we enjoyed dinner with them before they continued north to cross their Wake. Kim and Rob – fellow pilot and friends who now live in Florida, came over and took us to lunch. Pete and I celebrated 48 years of marriage by sharing memorable times in our lives. The next day we headed south on the St. John’s River known as Old Florida. This is one of the unique side trips that you can take along the Loop. We traveled south, stopped to anchor, and took our dinghy into the Silver Glen Springs area. You are supposed to go slow and watch for manatees. We didn’t see any manatees but there were a lot of turtles and a lot of people! We anchored that night in a beautiful and peaceful cove. The next day we headed to the neat little town of Sanford! They had a unique Jailhouse Restaurant (we ate there). They had a fun German Restaurant (we ate there) and were entertained by a small German Band playing lots of Polkas (which this Northeast Ohio/Cleveland Girl was familiar with) and having everyone raise their glass and shout,”Hoy-Hoy-Hoy!” The next day we started heading back up the St. John’s and stopped at Hontoon Marina. Arnold and Connie joined us and we took the ferry to the Hontoon State Park and hiked around. And Pete finally saw his Alligator!!
Tuesday we arrived at Epping Yacht Club Marina as guests of Kim and Rob. Dinner and Cards topped the great night with friends.
We arrived back at Port 32 and Hakuna Matata/Sylvain and Marie showed up. We hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving time on the Panhandle. We had fun catching up, going out to dinner, being hosted by them for dinner with Lady Betz/Joe and Betsy who just crossed their Wake! We made plans to visit them when we travel through Canada. They are so fun and gracious.
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