Mellow

We took our time leaving Palm Harbor Marina Friday morning after doing one last load of laundry and wanting to catch the tidal current. We only had 25 miles to go, and never in any hurry.  We started out in the south mooring field at St. Augustine on number 31 right next to Bill and Patty on "Conched Out Too".  It didn't take long to realize the south mooring field did not offer any south wind protection, which was predicted through the entire weekend.
We headed to shore via dinghy to go check in.  The tide had already turned around and made the south mooring field even choppier.  Kind of felt like we were in Dinner Key again. On our way to shore we realized "Tides In" was there in the south mooring field also.  We said our hello's and agreed to meet up for the great happy hour Steve discovered.
By the time the rest of the gang got to shore we had checked in, but then noticed how calm the north mooring field was in comparison.  It was blocked more from the winds by the Lions Bridge.  We decided to ask to move.  We were able to, but "Conched Out Too" was not because of their deeper draft.  So we told the rest of them we would catch up with them at happy hour after we moved the boat to mooring ball 23 in the north field.
We found our way to Pizza Alley without any problem.  Finding the gang in the restaurant was another story.  Understood why it was called Pizza Alley.  It literally went for an entire city block. The drinks were two for one and you got a free slice of cheese pizza during happy hour.  The two of us had two beers each and a slice of pizza each for $8.00! Cheapest happy hour for us ever!
Pam and Steve from "Tides In" are responsible and headed back to the boat.  The other four of us found the next bar with neat character and a great old blues singer named "Downtown Charlie Brown", but not very many people and kind of expensive beers, especially compared to the last place.  After a couple we moved on, though hated to leave the music.  We figured we better have dinner so we went to A1A Brewing Company, where we have been several times and is associated with one of our favorites in Chattanooga.  Dinner was great and got a free slice of key lime cheesecake thanks to that Gordon Biersch reward card. Had that on there for years. Finally found a dessert I wanted.  I was nice enough to share though.
Saturday morning we got all four of our bicycles to shore.  Patty came with us to pedal to the grocery store.  Bill went to a boating store that closed at noon to get a part he thinks he needs to fix his dinghy, although it has not acted up recently. Once we got back and got the groceries put away, restocking the new refrigerator, we grabbed some lunch on board. The afternoon was spent meandering town, including a stop at a bicycle shop that was a dealer for the electric bikes we want to get like Bill and Patty's.  They didn't have exactly what we wanted, but we need to order them as soon as we are stopped long enough somewhere.  Spokes are continually breaking on our current bikes so much that the wheels are wharping.  We are waiting for them to just collapse one of these times we are riding them.
Bill and Patty left to go to "Tides In" for happy hour.  We opted to bike across the Lions Bridge to a Mellow Mushroom we have never been to.  Out of habit we just sat down and ordered cheese bread without looking at the menu.  Once we did open the menu we found that this location had a unique appetizer that we would have tried instead. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. We did have a unique pizza that included Boar's Head pepperoni, our favorite brand of deli meat. It was good.
Once we returned to the other side of the bridge we could hear some good live folk rock music, so we enjoyed listening to that for a while before returning to the boat.

"The Second Noelle" in the north mooring field taken through a window at the Irish Pub.

Sunday morning we toured the replica Spanish Galleon ships docked at the city marina here, one being the Nao Victoria, which was the first ship to sail around the world, and the El Galeon commemorating St. Augustines 450th anniversary. After that Bill and Patty joined us to wander town again, starting with a good recommended lunch at the Spanish Bakery.  Probably our cheapest lunch out in a long time. Always good to go with recommendations.  By evening we headed over the bridge again to Mellow Mushroom to enjoy those Drunken Funguys.  We ended up making dinner out of two orders of those.
By the time Ray got all bicycles back on their respective boats and the dinghy raised it was after 9:00 a.m. by time we departed this morning.  An uneventful day except for the sad good byes said to Bill and Patty.  They should just be see you laters, though we don't know when or where we will catch them again. Stay tuned.
By the time we finally got the current with us, we thought it would push us more than it did "up" the St. Johns River.  You see, it flows north, so although we would be going south, it would be up river.  Since we weren't getting that push we expected, we opted to cross the St. Johns River and go just slightly out of our way to a free dock at Sisters Creek that someone just told us about at Palm Harbor Marina.  We were the only one's here until "Together" pulled in with Mitch and Mary on board.  We were glad to help grab their lines in this ripping current.  Of course you cannot complain when it is free, but they could use some more cleats.
Tomorrow's plan is to travel up the St. Johns River to downtown Jacksonville and take advantage of more free docks until we find out when and if we might be getting a boat delivery job from Marathon, Florida to Brunswick, Georgia.  Once we know when we will be renting a car back to Marathon we will pull into a marina to leave the boat for about a week.  Again, stay tuned.