14 Jun 13

It is a short run (only 22 N-m) to St. Augustine Marina and there is no point in arriving there much before high water slack at 13:51, so we lazed around the boat in the morning and finally got off the dock at about 09:40. Interesting run up the ICW with a couple of light showers. Lots of turns and dodging shoals in the two riverine channels between Palm Coast and St. Augustine, but we did just fine and never even got close to the bottom. This is a beautiful stretch of water. After we got into St. Augustine and had a quick shower, we met up with Bill and Becky, who had driven up from Orlando to see us for the weekend. They are staying at a lovely B&B about 4 minutes walk from the boat. We had a stroll thru old St. Augustine and eventually settled at The Columbia, a famous Cuban restaurant at the corner of St. George and Hypolita streets for a fine seafood and tapas dinner.

15 Jun 13

After breakfast on the boat, we met Bill and Becky and took a tour around town on the Ripley’s bus. Afterward, we toured the catholic basilica and went for lunch at Meehan’s Irish Pub. In the afternoon, we had a tour of the Ximenez-Fatio House, built in the late 1700s and run as a boarding house until after WWI. Then, back to Bill and Becky’s hotel room for cocktails. While there, we watched a wedding party taking post-wedding photos and getting ready for the reception party; the bride and groom were staying at the same B&B. After changing out of her wedding dress, the bride came down in a short (above the knee) version of the wedding dress, apparently for the reception. As they walked past Bill and Becky’s room on their way out, her attendant/friend lifted up the back of the dress (we thought to smooth it out or check for a flaw), totally exposing the bride’s thong clad bum - very nice, I thought, but Terri and Becky were shocked. Seconds later, after a quick word between the bride and her attendant, the bride reached up under her dress and slipped the thong off completely. Even I was shocked at this point in time; poor Bill missed the whole thing. I wonder whatever happened to the thong. Eventually, we made it to O.C. White’s for seafood dinner.

16 Jun 13

We met Bill and Becky for brunch at La Herencia (Cuban cafe) and then waved them goodbye as they headed back to Orlando and a Father’s Day dinner with their daughter and grandkids. Terri and I toured the Lightner Museum (formerly the Alcazar Hotel, built by Henry Flagler), then the Flagler College (formerly the Flagler Hotel), also built by Henry Flagler, who was a partner of John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil. Both were unbelievable edifices built to entertain the rich and famous for the season in the temperate Florida winters. Terri and I then had Sangria (in Sangria’s) and then had another glass of wine at Sara’s Crepery, where we sat in a small, shaded patio and listened to James and Sylvia Kalal play beautiful flamenco music on two guitars