This part of the ICW is really nice and the area around Palm Coast was particularly pretty.

Yet another barge to negotiate around in narrow the channel.

The insects must be bad here as well - net enclosed front of house. This is not uncommon all the way up the ICW.

Palm Coast - houses are not as grand but more appealing.

Wider view of the ICW in this area.

Fort Mantazas was built to keep invaders from entering and attacking St Augustine from the south. The current was fairly strong passing this inlet as well.

The marsh lands are quite extensive on the approach to St Augustine

We arrived at our mooring at 3pm with the tide just about slack, so not too much current. We were allocated Mooring #1 which is the closest to the office, dinghy dock, town and had a wonderful view of the Bridge of Lions.

We were also close to the tourist boats including the pirate ship the “Black Raven" that would go out a couple of times a day, head through the bridge, engage in a mock battle with Queen Anne’s Revenge in front of the Fort with cannons being fired then return to the dock with all the tourists singing sea shanties.

The “Freedom” took tourists out for a sail on the river and on the way back to the dock would come quite close to our boat so we were again part of the tour.

Sunrise over the river.

Calm morning in the mooring field.

Then the storms would build up and wet us in the afternoons.

This was the weather pattern for the 8 days we spent in St Augustine.

Some of the storms looked really impressive but after a short blow of 30 knots and 30mins of rain the skies would clear and the evenings were lovely.

The City owns and runs the Marina and Mooring Fields. One dock had several boat lifts which accommodated small vessels for the Coast Guard, Police, Ambulance, Sheriff and this one which is the Fire Dept.

St Augustine is one of the oldest settlements in America and Castillo de San Marcos (Fort) is the major tourist attraction.

St Augustine was established in 1565 by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles for the Spanish. It was a military base for the protection of Spain’s colonial trade and commerce.

The Castillo was commenced in 1672 and finished in 1565 although it was added to in subsequent centuries.

The building blocks are made from compressed shell material called coquina stone mined in the local area. The blocks are said to be the reason the British could not destroy the Castillo in 1740 as the stone is porous, it compresses and absorbs the cannon ball impacts rather than shattering.

Some of the lethal projectiles fired from the cannons.

This is how the British soldiers quarters would have looked like. The British occupied the Castillo (Fort St Mark) from 1763 to 1783. They must have been short people as the beds are quite small.

The Castillo de San Marcoswas designed by engineer Ignacio Daza. “The starlike outline is formed by diamond shaped projections, called bastions, on each corner of the fort. This design eliminates blind spots for the guards in the caritas (sentry boxes), at each bastion point and increases the fort’s firepower by allowing multiple cannons to fire on the same target, creating a crossfire effect.” (Self-Guided Walking Tour Pamphlet). 

Long cannons at the walls.

70 cannons were used on the fun deck varying in size and shape. The largest had a range of 3.5 miles. On Sundays they still dress up and fire the cannons a couple of times a day (a fact we didn’t know until the first Sunday we were  in St Augustine and they fired the cannons much to our great surprise.

The ‘Oldest Wooden School House’ dating to 1740

A little lane we found in the historic part of town.

Charlotte Street

Looking up and the architecture was still amazing. 

The Lightner Museum

Wood Shingle roof in the ‘Old South Style'

We haven’t seen a lot of these little guys but are pleased when we do.

Horse and Carriage rides are popular particularly after dinner along the waterfront

We stayed in St Augustine for the 4th of July Celebrations. Everywhere you looked there were American Stars & Stripes

Even the big girl put up the flags

Some of the flags being flown on the little boats were almost as big as the boat. This one also had a white duck???

The above shows our mooring #1 in aqua. The marina is to the left then the Bridge of Lions. The fireworks were set up on a barge just on the other side of the bridge, so we had front row seats.

A wonderful night on the tramp, watching the fireworks with Aussie friends Dave & Deirdre. Happy 4th of July America.