The Catfish of the San Sabastian St. Augustine

We spent about a week on the docks at St. Augustine Marine Center before hauling out. We were able to exploring the town a bit. Whenever we returned to Mystic after a night out, we were greeted by a crazy site; CATFISH; huge schools of catfish. They appeared to be attracted to the light on the stern of a neighboring boat. It was fascinating to watch them as they scrambled over each other, trying to get closer to the light!

We thought this was so cool and looked forward to watching them. One night, we came home and found our dock illuminated with blue lights. The catfish absolutely loved it. It was like Christmas in June! It's hard to imagine that catfish would entertain us, but watching them was right up there with sighting manatees and alligators along the ICW. 

Hurricane Season Haul Out in St. Augustine

Today is a big day! Haul out is at 8:00 am here at St. Augustine Marine Center. We finish unloading Mystic of all our personal items then moved over to the haul out slip. There were two workers waiting for us. One was a young man who caught our bow line. He tied it off as I ran for the stern line. We remained on board Mystic while the hoist raised us above the slip wall. We stepped off and get our first look at her hull, surprised to see it is cleaner than expected. After a good scrubbing, we followed as Mystic was carried to her resting place in the south end of the yard just past a row of catamarans. The hoist operator was good at his job; careful and gentle. The crew placed Mystic on stands and blocks. We'd paid a whopping $400 for four hurricane straps to be added. It's a lot of money but it's something that you don't need until you need it! We decided take the financial hit and have peace of mind!

Our empty slip looks lonely

Raise her just a little

In the Cradle ready for bottom cleaning

Scraping barnacles off the bottom

Reaching to get every inch

Barnacled bottom, but not so bad

Prop needs cleaning too

Zinc holding up well

Barnacles spreading everywhere

Mystic on the move

Rolling over the puddles

Making her way around the boats

Slow and Steady

Ready for Blocks and Stands

Mystic's resting spot

Tucked in with neighbor boats

We have additional cleaning to do and Dave still needs to strap down the kayaks, boom and solar panel before we leave. We ran to the store to pick up straps and some toilet bowl cleaner to clean Mystic's mustache and hull dirt. We've heard that it works well which it did, however, it was quite caustic and we would never use it again. When we returned an hour later we were alarmed to see fire ants crawling up the starboard side; a long trail of tiny feet, marching one by one, up and then down. Why the heck are they trying to board our boat? We called the Yard Manager, Mark Robinson, and asked if we could put ant powder out to stop the attack. He gives us his permission. We are glad that we noticed this assault. Returning to a boat filled with fire ants would be a huge issue!!!

Dave cleaning her hull

Boom and Kayaks strapped down

Custom hatch cover to protect the teak

Solar panel strapped down

Our decision to haul Mystic out for the summer is an easy one. We've been cruising for 10 months, it's time for a break and time for us to figure some things out! We left Minnesota last fall with a garage remodel that was 80% complete. We plan to side the garage while we are home. I'm pretty sure our neighbors are tired of looking at an unfinished, house-wrapped garage. Dave has two shows coming up, one in Boston and one in Santa Monica and he's finally ready to look seriously into hip replacement surgery. Our summer will be busy and will pass quickly! In the fall, we plan to return to St. Augustine, revisit with friends, then head south again. We'd like to cruise the Keys and the Bahamas before heading North to 'cross our wake' on the Great Loop.

Our garage ready for siding

Mystic is settled safely at St. Augustine Marine Center. Mark Robinson sent us photos of the Hurricane straps holding her snug to her land berth. We will miss our simple lifestyle and our friends. But like many Loopers, it's just a detour on a journey of a lifetime! We'll be back!

Mystic strapped down

St. Augustine Mini-Reunion

Mystic is settled in along the face of a long dock at St. Augustine Marine Center. We have a lot to do to get her ready for a long summer rest. First we begin scrubbing the deck, then we remove the sails and boom. We have to get all our personal items as well as everything perishable off the boat. The problem is, what do we do with all of our stuff as we organize the pile to go home. For today, we will clean, pack and pile everything that is going with us to Minnesota. Tomorrow we will pick up a rental car and begin to get things off the boat and out of the way.

Foresail folded and ready for storage.
Kayaks out of the way for deck scrubbing

Sails are off

Dave wrapping up the main for storage

Mystic at St. Augustine Marine Center

I started cleaning below, moving everything out of the bow so I could get into all the nooks and crannies. I like to clean every surface each time we put Mystic on the hard for extended periods of time. Once the bow was sparkling, I moved everything back and began working on the head and main cabin. During the day we noticed a number of Customs & Border Patrol boats, as well as sheriff boats pass us by. After seeing half a dozen or so come and go, we began to wonder what all the excitement was. Turns out, there is a training center right next door; this spot is definitely a safe place to leave Mystic.

We needed more cleaning supplies so we unloaded the bikes and headed into Publix. Of course, as soon as we were ready to head back, the afternoon rains arrived. My friend, Wayne Barbour, had texted me earlier to let me know that he would be bartending at Hurricane Patty's. It is located on the way back to Mystic so we figured it made the perfect place to get out of the rain. We spent the afternoon chatting with Wayne, catching up and drinking Duke's Brown Ale. Tonight, we will meet up with Wayne, his gal Teri, and Al and Lora Feldman for a brewery tour. Wayne gave us a ride back to St. Augustine Marine Center with the promise to pick us up later.

http://www.hurricane-pattys.com/

We had a great time in St. Augustine at our mini-reunion! We laughed a LOT! Our tour included A1A Alehouse, Prohibition Kitchen and Trade Winds where we listened to a great rock band, "Those Guys". It seemed like the years just melted away; we picked up where we left off a hundred years ago and had a wonderful night. We can't wait to get back in the fall for more fun!

Prohibition Kitchen

Prohibition Kitchen

Prohibition Pretzel & Beer

Al & Lora Robarge Feldman

Teri & Wayne Barbour

Beth & Dave "Team Rogers"

We spent Wednesday moving piles of our belongings from Mystic to the dock. Dave picked up our rental, a Dodge Charger, at 4:00. We quickly moved the dock pile into the car. Sandy and Pat, a lovely cruising couple docked near us aboard s/v Hope stopped by with ice cold fruit flavored beer from the Bahamas. We chatted about cruising and enjoyed the refreshing treat.

Main Cabin sail storage

Dock Pile

Dock Pile Growing

Mystic Preparing for haul out

As we worked, I could hear what sounded like a child screaming. I mentioned it to Dave who said it was just a parrot sitting outside a boat nearby. Of course I had to go investigate. I grabbed my camera and followed the squawking. I'm not sure what this birds name is but he kept calling me "Pretty Girl". He enjoyed making cat calls too! From afar he sounded unhappy but it was obvious that he was in his glory, sitting on the stanchion at the stern of his masters sailboat at St. Augustine Marine Center on a beautiful day in June.

       

       

We had a long busy day in which we made a lot of progress. Tonight, we will drive to Jacksonville to see friends; Tiffany, Luke and Logan. A woodfire pizza joint, with microbrew on tap, was calling to us all. June has been a busy month, filled with wonderful new experiences, hard work, stress and joy! We are ready for tomorrow's hau lout and excited for a summer in Minnesota!

3,400 miles into the Great Loop