day 3 at st. augustine found us not doing anything in the morning except for boat projects - cleaning and other things for me and engine oil change for tom. we had a briefing that afternoon at 3:00 p.m. at the black fly restaurant. tom and i opted to take the bicycles because the venue was across the bridge of lions to anastasia island - easily walkable but faster by bicycle and we had consuelo's timing to consider. in the end, we ended up walking the bikes on the pedestrian lane - too many people walking for us to ride and then there was a bridge opening on top of that. at the last minute, as the bridge was closing, we decided to jump the bikes across the pedestrian barrier and hit the road to coast down the other half of the bridge and that went perfectly for tom but not so good for me. the first issue was getting up on the bike in a dress (oops) and the second was that my gears were somehow messed up so i would pedal and nothing happened, which was fine since i was just coasting and the brakes were working anyway, however, the third issue was that my hat flew off! grrr..... i stopped the bike and put it on the kickstand, jumped the barrier, ran up the bridge, jumped the barrier, picked up my hat, jumped the barrier (you get the picture), ran back to where my bike was, jumped the barrier... in the meantime, cars were speeding by. i eyeballed one driver and she stopped and allowed me to get going without too much stress and i geronimo'd down the hill but once across, tom was nowhere to be found - at least i couldn't see him - and i didn't know where i was going so i had to stop again, take off my backpack, find my phone and call him. it turned out he was just right across the street! he had no idea what had happened to me! by the time we got to the briefing venue, i was hot and sweaty. a little later, i was freezing to death in the airconditioning. we did not stay for dinner as we didn't want to get caught on our bicycles in the dark. we biked back across the bridge on the pedestrian lane. that biking on the car lane was just nerve wracking! that evening, we had a very pleasant dinner at o.c. white's restaurant right across from the marina with another couple from the fleet. we were invited to another boat for "jello shots" and some other stuff i have never even heard of! but then again, everyone knows that, for the most part, i don't drink. i did check it out later after dinner but the boat was so crowded and everyone looked so wasted, my curiosity simply wasn't enough to make me bother. i had my drinking days back in college - these days, at my age, i need to hang on to what grey cells i have left anyway.
on day 4, tom and i met up with a local friend, linda, who very graciously picked us up and played chauffeur - west marine, winn dixie, publix, and tom's bank. we had a very pleasant lunch of fish and chips together at the barley republic. it was nice to get caught up with each other. at 4:00 p.m., we had a reception to attend at the A1A aleworks with the st. augustine cruisers net people and they had captain jack sparrow and some pirate lady for entertainment to give us a little history of st. augustine. i looked out the second story window and the seas were building up. it did not bode well for leaving the next day and we did not stay for dinner. later that evening, as we were walking consuelo, we met up with some rally members on the dock whose boats were out on the north mooring field. by this time, it had gotten pretty nasty out and these guys were stranded. there had been a launch shuttle to pick them up and take them back to their boats but the last one was at 6:00 p.m. and most of them thought that they would stay out longer and then take their dinghies back to their boats instead. that would have worked if any of their dinghies had any substance to them, i.e. BIG tubes for a dry ride and a little more horsepower like what we have on TADHANA. they ended up camping overnight on the other boats instead. like i said to tom, i have no sympathy. we were all told from the beginning that the south mooring field was more protected. as a cruiser, you ALWAYS have to be aware of the weather. we saw it coming from the day before and i, for one, would go nuts knowing that TADHANA was out there all alone bouncing around on a mooring ball - i would have stayed on the boat or better yet, opted to move before it got bad. i am glad that some of the others were charitable enough to take in the stranded (party on!) but i had to work that night and there was no room at THIS inn. it was pretty nasty wind and seas, but around midnight, the nature of the bouncing in our slip was such that it got tom out of bed and dressed and outside - he put on a couple more lines and fenders and we knew we weren't going anywhere the next day.
day 5: in the light of day, the conditions looked even worse with the waves crashing over the dock and boats bouncing around in their slips. the water got blown in and at high tide, flooded some of the streets. the ramp from the floating dock to shore was nearly horizontal. plenty of drama going on in getting the stranded back to their boats and some into a slip at the marina. i stayed out of it completely and just heard stories second hand from tom and some of the others who like to kibbitz. then there was drama amongst the leaders as well about whether to stay or to go. ummm.... did i mention that we were not going anywhere that day? but we are all adults here and people can get themselves informed and then make their own decisions and, of course, not expect to be rescued when they got themselves into trouble, right? just my objective opinion here and believe me, i have plenty, most of which are probably better off left unsaid.
the night before, our bimini was rattling around up on the bridge and i mentioned this to tom and he said that it would be okay - it only rattled all night long. the next morning, i mentioned the bimini again and tom said, yes, we should probably put it away. i said that he was going to need help up there doing that and he said no, not necessary. a few minutes later, he knocked on the window behind me and said he was going to need help. sigh...
tom did another run to west marine thanks to linda while i stayed on the boat. someone had to - it was still blowing like crazy! he came home with some apparently famous friend chicken wings from the publix for lunch.
regarding the drama, i guess it had been building up a while to this climax - a lot of it having to do with a case of testosterone poisoning. ever notice the missing bar on the Y chromosome? haha. that's my theory anyway. in any case, it unsettled some people. who wants to see conflict among the leaders anyway? it is understood that we are all different and that we each get to the same end point via a different path, some more gracefully than others. poor tom got caught in the middle of it. he ended up leaving his phone on the boat and we just went into town for a nice long walk with consuelo around flagler college and one of the churches before going home to face his phone and email. i tried to work but we had a lot of people coming in and out of our boat that evening. sigh.... "hell is other people" said jean-paul sartre, the french existentialist, in his play, "no exit." truly!
the winds calmed down that night so the plan was to leave for new smyrna the next day.
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