Thunderbolt to St. Augustine--The Big Blue Sea Beckons Again

We left Thunderbolt late morning of the 18th to head out to sea for 22 hours, including one VERY long moonlit night, to enter the St. Augustine Inlet with a welcoming tide.  The sea journey was quite different from our first experience.  Not as many stars, lots of nearly full moonlight, and, alas, no dolphins flipping over our bow to entertain us during the tiring morning hours.  And we didn't have enough wind to do more than motorsail with the Jib part of the time, so we used up more fuel than before.

We liked this shrimp trawler, followed by hungry birds. Glen passed the wheel to me to take the first watch after supper, from dusk to about 10:00.  I was fine with that since there was a nearly full, bright moon silhouetting Brunelle in the lead.  We made thermoses of coffee, had snacks available, and listened to 50's music--The Platters, et al--energetically reminding us of our high school days--on Sirius Sat. radio. But Chocolate and Caffeine can only do so much, and Glen just didn't sleep; he camped out in the cockpit wrapped up in Grandma Frazier's Afghan blanket. Said he was "resting."  In fact, he would just as soon be at the helm, I think.  I did sleep, but closer to morning. 

Pekabu in the late afternoon sun



and Brunelle at sunset. I take photos on my watch.

Through the Ponce de Leon Inlet

Glen got nervous about the fuel capacity of Sevilla, and performed an inflight refueling maneuver worthy of a KC 135.  The man has nerves of steel as he lefted the 5 gallon diesel container to just the right angle to fill up a thirsty sailboat.  We had to feel confident we had the power to get through the Ponce de Leon Inlet into St. Augustine.  It was a tricky path along which Brunelle led us into shore.  This famous lighthouse is close to the St. Augustine Yacht Club which was holding its final ocean race of the season in two days--Sunday.  We were invited to compete.   More about that turn of events later.  We pushed on into the channel to Mooring ball 55 on the south side of the Bridge of Lions in the St. Augustine Municipal Harbor.  At $20.00 a day, it became our new home for the next 12 days.  We had arrived at milepost 776 on the ICW.  Time for at least one Bloody Mary and  a nice nap. 

Glen and Maureen