Daily stats
Start: 8:30 AM- St. Augustine spoil island
Finish: 9:30 AM - Anastasia State Park campground
Time: 1:00
Daily dist: 2.5 miles
Total dist: x miles
Companions: None
Weather: Windy from the NE mostly cloudy and high in mid 70s
Notes: A day off to rest my body and to see the town.
Start: 8:30 AM- St. Augustine spoil island
Finish: 9:30 AM - Anastasia State Park campground
Time: 1:00
Daily dist: 2.5 miles
Total dist: x miles
Companions: None
Weather: Windy from the NE mostly cloudy and high in mid 70s
Notes: A day off to rest my body and to see the town.
After six days of paddling the time for a day of rest was due. Within the next couple days range, St. Augustine proved to be the best option as a place to spend off the water. Anastasia State Park (within walking distance of town) offered all the amenities I needed in the way of a hot shower, laundry facility, a secure place to store my kayak, and a power source to charge up my batteries.
Not needing to put on a lot of miles I let myself sleep in this morning and got a slow start on the water. A simple steady paced one hour paddle down Salt Run brought me right to the Anastasia kayak and sailboat rental beach. Not knowing how exactly the park is laid out I discovered that luck was with me in that my camp sight was only a hundred yards from the beach through the woods. To move my 50 pounds of gear to my camp site I violated the rules of walking off of designated nature trails. But when a park is laid out with as little thought for pedestrians as this one is that is bound to happen. To have followed the “stay on the trails” rule my 100 yard walk with all my gear would have been a mile long walk (a half mile to the entrance and a half mile right back again).
Not needing to put on a lot of miles I let myself sleep in this morning and got a slow start on the water. A simple steady paced one hour paddle down Salt Run brought me right to the Anastasia kayak and sailboat rental beach. Not knowing how exactly the park is laid out I discovered that luck was with me in that my camp sight was only a hundred yards from the beach through the woods. To move my 50 pounds of gear to my camp site I violated the rules of walking off of designated nature trails. But when a park is laid out with as little thought for pedestrians as this one is that is bound to happen. To have followed the “stay on the trails” rule my 100 yard walk with all my gear would have been a mile long walk (a half mile to the entrance and a half mile right back again).
The Ikkuma stashed and locked behind the rental kayak cage.
Check-in time is 3:00 around here and I was way early, but after visiting with the folks that were in my assigned camp site the night before I learned that they were going to be leaving within an hour. The timing was perfect for me to return to the beach, secure my boat and return with all my camp gear. While the previous campers rolled up I took a shower and started a load of laundry (which meant a mile long round trip walk to acquire quarters). After getting cleaned up I quickly set up camp and got all my electronics plugged in to charge while I grabbed my camera and walked the two miles into town.
Having been to St. Augustine once before (about 8 years ago with my friends Neil and Heather) I knew I wanted to tour the inside of the fort around which the town was settled. After grabbing a burger and shake for lunch I took a tour of the fort complete with a cannon firing drill reenactment. After talking to one of the cannon reenactors I learned that the cannons that defended the fort could have landed a 12 pound cannon ball, with considerable accuracy, right in my campsite about two miles away. It was those cannons, all 77 of them, that helped the fort survive 15 attacks while never being taken. The drill lasted almost 15 minutes which I thought must be slowed down for effect. The fact of the matter, I learned, is that that pace was calculated to allow the fort to survive months long sieges without running out of ammunition. While the firing pace seemed slow, with 77 cannons surrounding the fort there would have been at least three going off at any given moment. With all that smoke and noise it must have been quite a sight to see.
Me with one of the cannon firing reenactors
From the fort I walked down St. George street which bisects the town with an array of restaurants, bars, and touristy shops selling “I Love Florida” T-shirts, twisty straws, and jumbo pencils in some of the oldest buildings in North America. With the day already drawing to a close I hustled back to Anastasia and walked up to the beach to catch what was my first view of the open Atlantic coast since I arrived in Miami way back in late February. Paddling up the Intracoastal, as I’ve done, does offer sheltered water, easy camping, and more to look at, but it keeps me far enough away from the coast that I just don’t get to see it.
Looking north from Anastasia State Park Beach
The wind blew fairly strong today and is predicted to stay up over the next two days so even on the inside it’s going to be a bit of a slog to work my way north toward Jacksonville and then the Georgia / Florida border. I’m currently working on plans to be picked up by friends driving up to the East Coast Kayak Symposium in Charleston later this week. So as long as I end up in a place where they can get to me there will be no need to kill myself making big miles against persistent head winds. We’ll see how the week plays out.
Sand Dune at Anastasia
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