Bellatrix

St. Augustine, FL

28 October 2014

Happy Birthday to my daughter Allison!!!

St. Augustine is a beautiful town, well maintained, all of the architecture is of the period of the settlement. Even new buildings are built to look like the old ones, kind of colonial Spanish. It is very much a tourist town, many shops, art galleries, jewelry stores, and restaurants. ,I have to say it feels a bit plastic. There are many tourists here even for this time of year. We did find a bar we liked the Tradewinds Tropical Bar, a local bar with music all day and night till closing. Mostly country music but very good. 

We are on a mooring ball and went to pay for tonight at the marina office. As we walked the pier we ran into Charles. Charles was the gentleman we mentioned we met in the Dismal Swamp. Charles sold his house and car and bought a 26’ sailboat, dink and bicycle to sail to Florida. He had not boated before. We have thought about him many times wondering how he was doing. He says he is learning on the way and has had mostly good experiences. He is laying up here for a few days for a sail repair. It is good to know his is doing well.

Bella ventured out twice today by dinghy. Once to a protected beach and later in the day to the oceanside beach. Well, we did get too close to shore with the dinghy and a wave swamped the boat a little. So everyone was wet including my nice dry towel and the captain…..I told him a little salt water was good for him. :)

This is the "Love Tree", a palm growing inside a oak tree. If one dies they both die. It is said that if you share a kiss underneath you love will last forever.

Charles, the intrepid sailor. He's doing well on his trip, stopped for a sail repair.