Happy New Year from St. Augustine

The Caribbean Soul is still in St. Augustine. We are just about ready to move further south, as the weather is cooling here and we continue to search for those illusive tropical days. Leading up to New Year's Eve, we've been busy with chores. John changed the engine oil and all the filters. Sorry I didn't snap a picture of him squeezed into one of the lazerettes covered with yucky oil, but I was busy sorting through our winter clothes. What we discovered is that we packed too many sweaters and we don't have much storage space. Although it has been cold on and off, you really can't wear more than one or two sweaters at a time.

After John got cleaned up from the oil change, we packed up 8 or 9 sweaters and hiked in to the St. Francis House which is a shelter for the homeless in St. Augustine to make a donation. Then we ventured out to the Walmart. For those of you who really dislike Walmarts, you might like to skip this part. We discovered a city bus that would transport us directly to the front door of Walmart for $1 each. Inside we resupplied such vital items as citronella candles, deodorant, engine oil, oranges and fresh meat. The same little city bus brought us back near the Municipal Marina where our dinghy was docked. Oh yes--we've also purchased new charts and guides for the Bahamas, which we found at the well stocked 1st Mate Ships Store here at the Marina.

Last night (New Year's Eve) a friend from Beaufort, NC --Bruce--came over for dinner and later joined us in downtown St. Augustine. What fun it was to spend some time with Bruce and get his thoughts about sailing these waters. The New Year's revelers were out in force last night. At midnight, fireworks went off all over the place and lots of boats in the harbor sounded their horns. We got back to Caribbean Soul just at the stroke of midnight, so we got to see and hear it all! Yay--2009!

Thanks to our fabulous land support (Mom/Jean Ferguson), we have gotten the Christmas cards many of you have sent with all your news and pictures. Maybe you can see your cards/pictures here below. Thank you all --it's my favorite part of Christmas!

Here are some St. Augustine birds who came to visit. They seem to be ruddy turnstones in their winter plumage. The bird book says they prefer rocky tidal shores, so the Caribbean Soul must look like a big ol' rock of some sort.

Happy New Year!