MS here.
Thanks to GB, all of cyberspace is now current with much of what has kept us away from bloggerfying. I now find myself with an awesome combination of semi-connectivity, mostly-sufficient battery power, and random narrow windows of opportunity (!!) to actually write a thing or two. I will use the approach that Zen Buddhism teaches us: Start Where You Are.
I'll insert details willy-nilly. Which also keeps to the Zen code of conduct.
Where we are, right here, right now, on Thanksgiving Day 2013, is on an affordable buoy in the southern mooring field of the municipal marina of St. Augustine, Florida. We arrived on November 25, ahead of some some windy weather. A cold front - about the third in the past 6 days - dropped in on us yesterday which made for some lumpy water. Nevertheless we are safe and sound in the shelter of St. Augustine's river, well away from the incoming seas at St. Augustine's inlet. This morning, the air is chilly and in the 50s (F), but we have some sun breaks and once GB used our Honda gasoline generator to push our battery power above 13.25 volts, our recently-rebuilt, inboard Espar diesel heater ignited and is now warming up the cabin like a champ. In short: not a bad Thanksgiving morning at all.
This is our second time in St. Augustine; we visited here once before for 8 days in February, 2012, on our way from a wintertime visit to the Bahamas, via West Palm Beach and ultimately to the boat yard up the St. Johns River in Green Cove Springs, Florida. We enjoyed St. Augustine in 2012, and we intend to spend more time here enjoying it now.
The St. Augustine Municipal Marina is a good one. It has 2 mooring fields straddling 
its marina, one on either side of the historic Bridge of the Lions bascule bridge, right in the heart of the city's historic district. If you take a mooring buoy in the northern (San Marcos) mooring field, you find your boat in the shadow of the restored 16th-Century Spanish fort, Fuerte San Marcos. This is a hyper-cool experience we have found in only one other port: Portobello, Panama. Unlike Panama's ruins, St. Augustine's fort is in very good shape and on weekends the fort's volunteers give the visitors cannon-firing demonstrations. It is a must-see for anyone traveling by boat on the US East Coast.
There are lots of other sights to see hereabouts. We expect to revisit some of our favorites (like, the Gator Farm), and visit the other places we missed the first time through here. We'll be parked here for at least the next 2 weeks, as the local weather gurus have opined that the weather is so severely bad along the US East Coast, it has gone into gee-we've-never-seen-this-before-in-November territory. We plan to take it slow and easy in our travels this winter. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
m
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