Yellow Boat: 05/01/'08 Warm & Sunny in Florida

How long have we been in St. Augustine? Well long enough for this garden to be planted and bloom.

Our third month dockside at Oyster Creek Marina in St Augustine was spent just enjoying the area and our friends. The repairs were done so we just relaxed, and relaxed!!

Enjoying breakfast at Theo's.

Walking off breakfast, we passed by this great cactus garden as well as this bright showing.

One of this months bright spots was when friends aboard Gypsy returned from the Bahamas. They attempted to join us and dock at our marina. Due to unusually low tides they kept running aground and were unable to make it dockside. Bob used our dinghy to spin her around and off the sandbar. If you recall he had a little experience doing this on our way down!

Another boat trying to make it to dockside with a little assistance from bystanders pulling on their lines...

...and Bob pushing with the dink.

This giant heron decided to take advantage of the unusually low tides that made new creek bottom available for hunting.

We decided the best way to deal with such low tides was to pass the time together swapping sea stories with good food.

This pirate makes sure everyone has a good time at Hurricane Patty's or else!! We complied.

More good times!

It's LUAU NIGHT at Oyster Creek Marina. Oyster Creek lived up to it's name with raw or grilled oysters for all. Thanks Guys!!

Sandy, Ovida & Steph in bright colors and leis. Sandy's showing off her pirate jewelry for the occasion. Even Sandy's dog, Bandit, got all duded up in his pirate attire.

We had a little "Jurrasic Park" at Oyster Creek.

Taking a stroll with friends we cross the Bridge of Lions

This is a view of St Augustine from the bridge.

It's hard to believe that this is a temporary bridge while the original Bridge of Lions is being repaired. It looks like a big erector set project.

It has a lift section for the commercial traffic and boats too tall to pass under.
Hakuna Matata has to request a bridge opening as did this tug & barge.

Once across the bridge we walked the sidewalks of A1A to the Lighthouse.
219 steps to climb to the top but what a view.

This is Salt Run, one of the anchorages in the area

The rampant garden is at English Landing
where Kim and Leon docked Gypsy.

Two very entertaining parrots live there. They make a lot of sounds you might associate with a parrot. Being cat lovers, our favorite was their imitation of a cat meowing. The first time we heard it we thought it really was a cat. The funniest part is that after meowing they call "Here Kitty, Kitty" making it perfect for an unsuspecting visitor go help look for the distressed kitty. Very Funny :-)

The parrots aren't the only birds with character on the docks. There's a little Mockingbird that ended up on the docks after falling out of a nest somewhere. He was hand fed till he was able to fly about. Now he roams from boat to boat begging for food. It takes a lot of hands to feed a young bird, so everyone willingly helps him out while at the same time trying to get him to do his own food hunting. The baby mocking bird is called "Pong" and may fly onto your boat or hand at any time looking for dinner.

Bits of apple are a favorite.

He thinks he has found a new food source.
Seems to be getting pretty good at pecking his own food instead of being hand fed.
Hopefully he will be singing for a long time in St Augustine.

These flowers were a surprise as we walked the boardwalk to the beach.

so was this tortoise.

Bob finds a spot to sit and read while I wander about collecting shells & taking pictures.

I'm not the only one searching the shore.

These pelicans remind me of some of the fighter ships in Star Wars. They flew up and down the beach always drawing your attention with their antics.

Some birds just stood around enjoying the surf.

Many other people had the same idea.

I do believe the kids always seem to be having the best time of all.

But even their stay at the beach has to come to an end.

Yes we used a car to get to the beach. We rented the car for a trip to our property in Bel Haven, North Carolina. It's up a creek with a great view.

Everyone there was glad to see us.

After our return to the boat, Charlotte and Guy, from our NC neighborhood came for a visit.
We enjoyed their stay and another chance to roam about in St Augustine.

These coy fish are in a garden in the center behind the Lightner Museum.

This is my sister, Dee and her fiance, Al who also came from NC to see us.
Seems the Yellow Boat is a St Augustine attraction

We weren't always afoot in St Augustine.
We did do a few short boat trips.

This was aboard Janey's Loft with Captain Margaret.
Notice Hakuna Matata in background...pretty yellow boat!

Bob inflated our kayak for a splashing good time.

And this is us following Island Lady's dinghy
up the San Sebastian River in Hakuna Matata's dinghy.
Not too far from this spot is the San Sebastian Winery where you can tour & enjoy wine tasting.
Love their wine. www.sansebastianwinery.com

Another Yellow Boat
and one not not yellow at all.

We were not the only ones cruising the river.

There's lot of mullet jumping and dolphins are a regular in the area,
just cruising by or fishing for dinner.

We've been dockside so long that the bottom of the boat needed a professional cleaning job, especially the prop. So it's back into the water time.

All the new vegetation in the water and the use of the fresh water hose brought a not so routine visitor to the dock. This was our first encounter with a manatee and it was one of the most endearing animal we've met. The whole dock turned out to greet this fellow.

The next day we had a family of 3 visit the dock. The male was huge and the female was very protective of the young one.

Take a look at those toenails or is it flipper nails?

It's not a beautiful face,
but it's a lovable one!

New Moon or Full Moon and the right winds make unusually low tides.
This boater used the opportunity to clean the bottom a little.
Why not...it's right there, no diver needed and no haul out fees.