April 13, Day 292 – In St. Augustine

Today was the first official day of the MTOA rendezvous. The first session was a general welcome where they explained everything that would take place over the next few days. We had a short presentation by a professor at Flagler College explaining the history of St. Augustine. Within the next couple of years St. Augustine will be celebrating its 450th anniversary.

At the second session Linda attended the engine room for mates and, if nothing else, found out a bunch of questions to ask the captain. Gerry went to the DSC radio seminar and learned we needed to spend a bunch of money. In other words, we need an additional radio as ours in not compatible with some of the available DSC options. Thanks to internet access, a new one is on the way from Defender.

In the afternoon Linda went to a session entitled “Picture You in Shells”. She made a picture frame using a variety of shells. Since she is definitely not an artsy/crafty person, this was quite an accomplishment. Gerry later tried to destroy it (by accident), but it survived the fall from the helm to the forward cabin floor.

Gerry didn’t attend an afternoon session; instead he finished installing his new speakers. We are happy to report that they are now working and seem to be superior to the old ones. Later in the afternoon we had our Coast Guard vessel safety check. We didn’t get a chance to attend happy hour (however Linda took her tortilla roll-ups to the event) as the vessel inspector was with us during that time. FYI – we passed and have our new decal.

Gerry also declared victory on the dinghy repair - air has held for 24 hours. The liquid sealant from West Marine seems to have finally done the job.

For dinner we joined some of the past and current leadership of MTOA and went to a restaurant called Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille. They had good food and it was great visiting with the MTOA members. One of the couples previously owned a Monk.

After an enjoyable evening we headed back to the boat and then soon called it a night. We have to get up early in the morning as we are part of the volunteer “beverage committee”.

Here is Elaine working on her seashell frame. She spent the winter in the Bahamas and gave me one of the sea beans she picked up (she is wearing one as a necklace). She told me how to finish it off so that it has a shiny polished look. Hopefully, I'll be able to collect some of my own in the Bahamas next winter.

Another work of art in progress ...

... and here's Linda's frame

Tonight when we got back from dinner, there were signal flags hung between our boat and Second Star. Michael had a message for everyone. It says "Ahoy Turtles". Pretty clever.