St. Augustine at City Marina on a mooring

Typical ICW mansion

We’re gradually learning how to get out of tight spots by ourselves. This morning at Beach Marine, we were docked about 3 ft behind a huge powerboat. With the wind gusting to 17 kts pushing us into the dock we gave some thought on how to extricate Fleetwing from the situation. I decided on the classic docking manual solution which is to put a line between the aft cleat on the boat and a cleat on the dock about mid-ships and put the engine in reverse – remembering to put plenty of fenders by the aft section. As the propeller provided aft thrust, that pulled the bow out and when it reached about 45 degrees relative to the dock, forward thrust was applied and we safely left the dock – I even remembered to uncleat the line off the dock this time (a twang-less exit…)

Another typical house on the ICW

We’re getting into the high rent district. House after house along the ICW suddenly looked like mansions. As I told Ann, they look out upon the ICW and we’re the scenery! There were no cautions for depth today but we had to mind our P’s and Q’s as we negotiated the inlet for St. Augustine. The ICW takes a turn for the ocean before a hard right back to inland waters. Turn too soon and you’re on a shoal.

City is getting ready for the Pirate weekend

We opted for a mooring at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina. The new mooring field is south of the marina which results in a long dinghy ride for Hoolie relief but then there’s a nice park for dog exercise and you’re in the middle of St. Augustine which we plan on exploring Friday. We found out today that this weekend is the 3rd annual St Augustine Pirate Gathering. We heard that 3000 pirates are expected to attend! We saw one today (must have come early) dressed just like Capt Jack Sparrow, sounds like fun.