St. Augustine Splendor

Ten days since my last posting...240 hours of high jinx and drama on the high seas!!!  We officially ran aground...stuck in the muck as we prefer to say.  John had tried to put on our fenders and our salty tiller decided to make her own decisions.  We have hit bottom before and our motor smoked and spat us off.  Not this time.  The mud was so thick and black you could hear it sucking and sniggering victory!  The feeling of the boat gradually tilting was bizarre.  The kids thought it was great fun and called it tilt-a-world. An hour later, an old-timer in a coon hat came to pay us a visit.  Said his name was brownie, a cajun creole with a smile for life.  He offered us a ride ashore which we declined until the boat finally settled when the tide reached it's lowest.  Before that mudflat happened however, Seatow showed up and plucked us off faster than Blake and Dante could scream YEEEEHAWWW!

We experienced our first outside passage as a family...over 100 miles in the ocean.  It was breathtaking and terrifying at the same time.  Although I was harnessed to the cockpit, during the hour of the wolf I sat rigid...refusing to look over my shoulder, convinced some shadowy figure wished to toss me into the inky black above or below...

Ten miles further out, our new found friends aboard their vessel Liberty, sailed on through the night.  It was a comfort to know that we were making the passage together.   They are leaving St. Augustine this afternoon and we feel rather glum about it.  Their ten year old son, Josh, had become great friends with Blake.  It's hard to be constantly letting people in only to release them so quickly from the bonds of friendship.  It is the ebb and flow, the bringing and the taking of the tide that is our new paradigm...The inner heart remains safe from this, however, and we cherish all of our new friends knowing we will stay in touch and perhaps meet again as we travel this amazing world!

St Augustine has so much to offer as a safe harbor where we can hopefully build up our sailing kitty and do some work on the Vindhler.  The oldest city in the US, it's full of ancient forts and historic houses dating back hundreds of years...come and visit us....or at least send a card!

Bondellio's
Vessel Vindhler
General Delivery
St. Augustine, Fl.
32084