July 2, 2012

 OK.  I have a little catching up to do.  Let's go back to last weekend.  We checked out of our hotel Sat. morning and moved onto the boat.  It was, to be honest, a VERY hot and somewhat miserable weekend.  Temps were mid 90's here and with crazy humidity and a hot boat not in the water yet and no more hotel pool, it was a bit stifling.  So we took a break from some cleaning and went to the beach and also went to the historic downtown of St. Augustine.  We are really liking this city.  It is very pretty with lots of cool old buildings and history. Plus everyone has been super friendly here.
Saturday was also Jack's birthday so we found a super yummy pizza place to try out for his birthday.

 This is one of the cool old buildings that is now part of Flagler College.

Notice the sign behind, the oldest wood schoolhouse in USA.  We have noticed lots of buildings here that have claims to being the oldest whatever in the US.  So apparently this is a really OLD town.

The beach was heavenly because it is cooler and had a great breeze!

So finally, Monday arrived and it was time to move the boat into the water.  We were excited and nervous.  The move went well, but when we got it in, the sad news was that our port engine would not start.  We had a couple of stressful hours trying to get it figured out but luckily we did get it figured out and it was not a huge expensive thing, just a corroded wire on the starter, so we got it started and got to go out for our ride over to the marina where we will be staying.

We made it to the Camachee Cove Marina around noon and were very excited.  The boat is so much cooler here now that it is in the water and there is usually a nice breeze here too.  Bonus is the pool too!  The kids go to the pool at least a few times a day.  The kids are also loving all of the crabs, lizards, birds, frogs, etc to see all around us.  So overall, things are improving a ton.  We are cooler; we have a fridge and stove and can start eating normal foods again (crackers and muffins and snacks were getting really boring); and our boat is clean and lots of big yucky projects are done.  We still find new projects everyday of course, and we do still need to learn how to sail this boat, but things are coming along and we are having a little time to start enjoying ourselves. 

So, this is something we are learning more about.  The tides.  These were taken at the dock right by our boat at high tide and low tide.  I was surprised by how much the water levels really change.  I think it even dropped more after I took the picture on the right and the water was about gone on the right side of that dock. That is pretty wild I think.  And I learned that the tides are higher and lower with a full or a new moon (which it is full now). And currents and weather affect the tides too.  It will be interesting to watch it more.  More terms for me too- slack tide (the right time we had to move the boat when the current has paused/calmed before it starts moving the other direction).  Fascinating stuff huh?