We fell asleep instantly after our busy day but were awakened around 10 pm by sudden strong winds. A line of squalls was passing with a very large thunderstorm just to the north on radar. The wind was wild, gusting to 40’s several times. We got ready to start the motor and were watching the other boats and worrying about Fishes. The strong winds lasted about 20 minutes. No one’s anchor dragged. We were in a fairly narrow anchorage so if someone had dragged, it would have been frightening. We never got any lightning and the bulk of the storm passed north of us and a lesser storm south of us. It was colder behind the squall line.
We went back to sleep but were more restless. We awakened early to depart at first light for St. Augustine. We had 11 bridges on our journey. They were all either fixed or signal bridges so we did not have to slow down to wait for a timed opening.
It was a nice quiet journey once we got through Daytona where there are four bridges in a little over a mile. Many of the bridges were under repair and several only opened one span but we had no problems. The boat traffic was not bad for a lovely spring Saturday.
We got a current switch in the Mantanzas River in the early afternoon and were able to go 7 knots. We arrived in St. Augustine earlier than we expected to and were able to get a mooring there.
We still had some daylight so we launched Fat Tuesday and headed to town. People were out and about and it was fun watching them. There were a lot of pirates in town. Little dogs were riding in special strollers. We ended up at the Colonial Oak and listened to a band there for a while. The singer Jess Zimmerman had a great voice and a great crowd presence. She sang a mix of rock and country tunes. The oak looked magnificent.
It is so easy to access the city from the municipal marina. It is a great place to visit by boat. Tomorrow we head to Fernandina Beach.