HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!!!!! 42 YEARS AT NOON!!
St. Augustine to Palm Cove (near Jacksonville)
Before leaving St. Augustine, Amanda and Susie went next door to the farmer’s market and stocked up on lots of good things!
We said good bye to River’s Edge Marina…not the best, but nice folks.
We rolled out of River’s Edge Marina at 9:15 to ensure we made the 10 am bridge opening at the famous Bridge of Lions. With a good following current, we made it so fast, we had to wait.
Bridge of Lions… St. Augustine
Look closely at the green light on the right. This is the norm for locks, but my first on a bridge.
The forecast called for rain for several days, starting tonight, so we tried to savor the sun as much as possible by riding on the flybridge. We drove through lots of residential areas ranging from modest to extravagant homes. Ponte Vedra meets the definition of extravagant for sure. We agreed these homes were not so palatial that they seemed unrealistic to live in. They looked as though normal people probably lived in them.
Passing through the Bridge of Lions. The bridge tender offers a friendly wave. 
A little dinghy motor can pull a board, if it’s a hydrofoil. 
With the current behind us, we were flying at over 11 mph (9.7 kn)
We got to Palm Cove just before 2:30, dead low tide. I had called the marina, concerned about their skinny water channel. They had assured me we would have plenty of water with our 5’ draft boats. Steve chickened out and waited for the incoming tide. I decided to go for it to see if I could get in. The worse that could happen would be getting stuck on a shoal and have to wait for the tide to return. I saw a my depth of 4.4 feet at one point, but it was very soft so I pushed on through it and we made it without too much excitement. Palm Cove is where our friends Bill and Anette keep their boat, or as we jokingly say, our boat. In 2018, they were boat shopping at the same time as us. The boat they now own came on the market. When I saw it on the internet, I called my broker to make an appointment to see it. He made the appointment for Sunday afternoon, near Jacksonville. But Saturday, my broker called and said the boat was under contract already. Bill and Anette had bought it. It was about 4 weeks later, we found the Honey Queen in Stuart, Florida, and then bought it in December. When we went to pick it up in January, we met Bill and Anette, who were staying in the same marina. We have since talked from time to time, sharing ideas about things we do on our boats. By the way, their boat is the exact same model as ours, so they look identical. We ran into them at the marina in Ft. Myers in February, so when we told them we would be coming up the East coast in June, they insisted we come to their marina at Palm Cove. We joined them for coffee on their boat, then Anette took Amanda and Susie to the grocery. We planned dinner for the 6 of us, pooled our groceries, and had a nice evening on their boat. What a nice way to celebrate our wedding anniversary.
Happy Aniversary to ya’ll ! Your parents must have given you written permission to mary that young!
Happy Anniversary you two~~