M/V Island Hopper's Log: New Smyrna Beach, FL to St. Augustine, FL

"Island Hopper" followed a fishing boat out of the marina.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 "Island Hopper" left the dock promptly at 8:30 AM. The morning temperatures were in the high 70s to low 80s. By afternoon it was another hot and muggy 90+ day. We went on the outside, seas 2-3 feet with winds 10 - 20. It was a fairly smooth run with a few gusts of wind.

Traveling on the Ponce de Leon Inlet

We arrived around 1:00 PM at Camanchee Island, St. Augustine. FL. Captain Kevin did another great job docking in the wind. It seems the winds always begin piping when it is time to dock the boat. We are spending the night at Comanchee Cove Yacht Harbor.(http://www.camacheeisland.com/) The marina is full service, with 20 businesses located on-site. They range from a restaurant, St. Augustine Yacht Club, General Store, and many nautical supply stores. It is a beautiful marina and it is quite busy due to a fishing tournament. This afternoon we have a car and will be going into downtown St. Augustine to explore and eat dinner. St. Augustine - A Brief History St. Augustine is the oldest Permanent European settlement in the continental United States. Fifty-five years before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock, and 32 years before Jamestown, the Spanish Explorer Pedro Memendez de Aviles settled the St. Augustine area. The year was 1565. On August 28th of that year, Menendez's fleet first sighted Florida land. The settlement was named in honor of that day, the feast day for St. Augustine. Over the next 200 years the settlement survived under Spanish rule. They were attacked by Sir Frances Drake in 1586 and by Robert Searles in 1668. The Castillo de San Marcos, a coquina fort, was constructed for protection. In 1702, St. Augustine defeated an assault by South Carolina Governor James Moore, and another by General James Oglethorpe from Georgia in 1740. But in 1783 Spain lost Florida to England in a territorial exchange. For the next twenty years the British ruled the area. Florida became a territory of the United States in 1821, gaining statehood in 1845. St. Augustine's "golden era" began in the late 1880s, when Harry Flagler attempted to turn the quaint town into a vacation spot for tourists. Flagler, an oil millionaire, and his friends built elegant hotels and churches. Their interests turned further south in the early 1900s, but their structures remain behind. Exploring St. Augustine The core of any visit is a tour of the historic district, a showcase for more than 60 historic sites and attractions, plus 144 blocks of houses listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We could easily spend more than one day here, but since we have been to St. Augustine before, we decided to spend more time exploring the Carolinas.