Pat and Cindy's Great Loop Adventure

Sunday, May 22, we departed St. Augustine and headed to Fernandina Beach, Florida. This beach town suffered considerable damage in 2016 from Hurricane Matthew. Happy to report the marina has been dredged and is back in business. The Amelia Island Welcome Center is just across the street from the marina.

Per our book, Fernandina Beach is one of the top ten distinctive destinations by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The author also says a “must visit” here is “The Palace Saloon” – Florida’s oldest saloon. The building was constructed in 1878 and originally a shoe store, as at that time the Fernandina docks were the busiest docks in the south welcoming ships from all over the world. When selling shoes to sailors didn’t work out, the owner switched from selling shoes to selling booze. Sounds like our beloved “Bourbon Boys.”

We anchored out for the night on Little Tiger Island, across the Amelia River from downtown Fernandina Beach.

Our Nebo stats for Sunday, May 22: 8 hours travel; 56.5 kmiles (nautical miles); and averaged 7.2 knots. Long day for Captain Pat!

Here are photos from our journey to Fernandina Beach.

Saturday, May 21, we walked to downtown St. Augustine from Rivers Edge Marina. Our last visit to St. Augustine was 18 years ago to celebrate my 50th birthday. There is so much to see and do in this town. As the dockmaster Paul commented “it’s the oldest U.S. city so you will see the oldest of everything – oldest church, house, school, jail . . .” We appreciated how easy it is to walk around the cobblestone and brick streets, take in the sites, and enjoy the architecture.

We walked past San Sebastian Winery and Whetstone Chocolate Factory – both offer tours but we settled for chocolate pretzels and fudge. (We just had the best pizza across the street at Carmello’s.) We continued down King Street to the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church, Casa Monica Hotel (where we celebrated my 50th birthday weekend) and the Lightner Museum.

We took in some more sites – the two biggest highlights being the fort and the Catholic Basilica. Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the United States. Construction began in 1672, 107 years after the city’s founding by Spanish Admiral and conquistador Pedro Menendez de Aviles, when Florida was part of the Spanish empire.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1970. Its congregation, established in 1565, is the oldest Christian congregation in the contiguous United States. The Cathedral will be featured in a separate blog. We want to recognize and pay tribute to all the Catholic churches we visit along the Loop.

As aforementioned, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the U.S. and the 2nd oldest continuously inhabited city of European origin in the U.S. after San Juan, Puerto Rico (founded in 1521.) Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded the city September 8, 1565 and became Florida’s first governor.

The city was named “San Agustin” as Pedro’s ships first sighted land in Florida 11 days earlier on August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine.

Sister cities of St. Augustine are: Aviles, Spain; Cartagena, Colombia; Menorca, Spain; and Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic.

A bit of trivia: Tom Petty owned a house on Crescent Beach and was a frequent diner at Sonny’s Barbecue. He would sign dollar bills which were placed around the cash register. His house had a sign out front “Buy American.” Rumor has it he lost the house to his wife in his divorce. (Petty was originally from Gainesville, Florida.)

There is so much to do in St. Augustine! The Fountain of Youth; haunted pub crawls; distilleries and breweries; shipwreck and pirate museums; eco tours and more.

Here are more photos from our afternoon visit:

We just completed our first week on the Great Loop. We stayed in two marinas – Ft. Pierce and Rivers Edge in St. Augustine. Rivers Edge was a no-frills marina but clean and fun, with great people and a happening restaurant on site – Hurricane Patty’s! Friday night we had our first meal off the boat in six days at Hurricane Patty’s. Great music and seafood.

The Nebo app lets you know what AGLCA boats are at the marina – and nearby. We met a great family staying on “The Wright Choice” – the Wrights.

We also met the couple on the Crimson Tug and even ran into them shopping at Winn Dixie! The sailboat next to us had a lovely couple who helped us dock and depart.

The sailboats in this marina dwarfed us, they were so huge. Most just sail in the ocean because of bridge limitations on the ICW.

Captain Patrick loves nothing more than taking his dinghy for a ride – he did it twice. Once with me and once without. With me on the boat it doesn’t “plane” as well. Need to lose weight I guess. -:)

And – I was so excited to discover this marina had kitties as well! Meet Melvin! – my Dad and brother Gary’s middle name. Good luck for sure. Here’s Melvin and his cohort Cruiser. Cruiser is not so friendly, and goes after all the dogs walking.

And here is me, the night of our dinner out! On the dock by Sunshine.

Here’s a photo of our last morning in St. Augustine – Patrick eating his usual Sunday morning breakfast – waffles and Coburn Road Maple syrup – yum!

We experienced our first ‘friends’ visit on the Great Loop Saturday, May 21. Deb and Lou Bartolucci moved to St. Augustine from Ft. Lauderdale about four years ago. Deb and Pat worked together many years for the masonry association and Lou is a specialist mason and former instructor of apprentices.

They came to the marina with their new pup, Charlotte (a beautiful Golden Retriever with a lot of personality!) They drove us to their home and on the way we stopped at an animal rescue, that has bison, ostriches, emus, and more. The ostriches were waiting for Deb – she’s a regular visitor with handouts!

Deb and Lou have a beautiful home – lots of land, deer, trees, flowers and gorgeous outdoor entertainment areas. Here’s their most recent addition:

Deb is an animal lover like me – so appreciated spending time with her furry family! What a great visit – thank you, Deb and Lou!

Friday, May 20, we made our first ‘shopping’ excursion in St. Augustine, Florida. From Rivers Edge Marina we walked to Winn Dixie and to West Marine (of course, we had to go to West Marine.) Captain Pat has been wanting to safety certify Sunshine with the Coast Guard. The last inspection was in 2016. As luck would have it, the Coast Guard auxiliary had a table set up in the West Marine store.

We met Vessel Examiner Alphonso “Butch” Albano, who agreed to visit Sunshine at the marina for an inspection. Butch came to our boat and Sunshine passed with flying colors!

Thank you, Butch, we so enjoyed your visit and stories, and we learned a lot too.

Many of you know we spend summers at Rattlesnake Island on Lake Winnepesaukee. Patrick’s family has had a place there since he was a child. So imagine our surprise when yesterday afternoon we realized we were docked at Rattlesnake Island – in Florida!

Tuesday morning -May 17 – we left Melbourne and made it to New Smyrna. Leaving Melbourne (Brevard County) we receive a text from an AGLCA “harbor host” asking if we need any help. The AGLCA (American Great Loopers Cruisers’ Association) is a great group to know and offers a lot of support.

We anchored in a quiet cove in New Smyrna, surrounded by sailboats. Woke up Wednesday morning to a welcoming sound – a dog barking! Funny the things you can appreciate in the quiet solitude.

We went to the bow of the boat and watched the Space X Starlink launch. The other boaters did the same. Thank you, Uncle Bill, for the reminder!

Wednesday Captain Pat made great time. We followed a couple of boats – Indigo and Lucky Dancer – to Fort Matanzas. This is a national monument – a 1740 Spanish fort – surrounded by 100 acres of salt marsh and barrier islands along the Matanzas River on the northern Atlantic coast of Florida.

Today we head to Rivers Edge Marina in downtown St. Augustine. We have reservations through Sunday.

Here’s our Nebo stats from the previous two days:

Tuesday, May 17 – 8 hours, 58.4 miles, 7.3 knots – average speed

Wednesday, May 18 – 7 hours, 47.9 miles, 7.1 knots – average speed

Here are some photos from our last two days of travel:

We left Ft. Pierce this morning. We met fellow boaters (first time to exchange our boat contact cards!) from Stuart, Florida – Cheryl and Alan. Thanks to Alan for taking this photo and texting to us.

Today we journeyed 6.5 hours, 45.2 nautical miles, averaging 7.0 knots. Every day when we stop we get a report from Nebo. Nebo is a nautical phone app that anyone can access to track boats. Sunshine is registered on the app. We have family and friends who are tracking us (anyone is welcome to.) This evening we received a text from Pat’s sister, Kathleen, telling us to slow down! She tracked us at 8 knots. Not to worry, Kathleen! We followed a Canadian boat, Domingo, all the way to Melbourne. We were safe! -:)

It was a perfect day to be on the water. We saw too many dolphins to count, and another eagle nest on a mile marker!

We are referencing this great book that tells us day by day the number of miles to our next destination. It is the Great Loopers Companion Guide. Thanks to David and Vicki – we used your Amazon gift card to purchase, and it has proven to be so helpful! Here are excerpt pages – if you magnify you will see the detail it provides – marina and anchorage suggestions, mileage, restaurants, stores, etc.

Tonight we are anchored in Melbourne, just after the Melbourne bridge. Captain Patrick made a “snubber” to help us be more secure when anchored. The snubber adds a shock absorber between the boat and the anchor. Thanks to our friend Dario Meyer who helped Patrick put the snubber together. It makes a huge difference.

Here’s some pics of the snubber.

Here are some more pics from today and tonight.

Still cannot believe we are doing the Great Loop!

In 2009, Katherine, Andrew and Becky (daughter, son, and daughter-in-law) gave us for Christmas a book about the Great Loop. See below their wishes for us to follow our dream!

We are finally making this happen! This morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise in North Palm Beach, then journeyed through Jupiter and Hobe Sound.

Today we traveled 43 nautical miles over six hours, averaging 7.0 knots. We settled into the Ft. Pierce Municipal Marina around 2:30 p.m.

Tomorrow we head to Melbourne, where we will anchor out. Tuesday we head to Titusville; Wednesday to New Smyrna; Thursday to Palm Coast, and Friday, we hope to be in St. Augustine, where we will spend the weekend. We haven’t been to St. Augustine since 2004, when we celebrated my 50th birthday there.

Here are some photos from our stay in Ft. Pierce.

After many false starts, we finally departed! Special thanks to our neighbor, Jim Trub, for the photo! As we headed out our canal, we came upon a good friend, Patty Eckert, and her grandson, who also bid us good by. We will miss everyone but know we will be back soon.

Big shoutout to our mechanic, Frank – we couldn’t have done this without you. Our neighbors will miss seeing your truck in our driveway. -:)

Today we traveled 33.9 miles at an average speed of 6.9 knots (1.15 mph per knot) for a five hour journey – Boca Raton to North Palm Beach. We are anchored for the night. Tomorrow we head to Ft. Pierce.

Also – thanks to Doug Roberts (a Great Looper, married to my cousin Theresa) who became Patrick’s “Active Captain!” and my inspiration for this blog. Doug was instrumental with the navigation tools and supplied us with Great Loop information and many maps.

Here are more photos from our first day.

The good news is the generator pump should be here Friday. After installed we test it and hopefully are ready to depart mid-May. We will keep you posted!