St Augustine to West Palm Beach Florida.

After being founded in 1565 St Augustine was attacked and burned by English privateer Sir Francis Drake. Then it was plundered by English privateer Robert Searle and most of the inhabitants were killed. However it was also USA's first legally sanctioned free community of ex-slaves. However nowadays it is a holiday town selling stuff to tourists.


The picture says it all.






We have started the boat hunt and it has been pretty depressing so far, junk interspersed with dirty junk and some really dirty, worn out, rusty and rotten junk.


This picture shows rot, dirt and clutter. This not untypical of the boats we have looked at.




We have only seen 2 boats so far where the owners have made any real attempt to finish the necessary repairs and clean the boat to make it presentable.

I had had high hopes of one particular boatyard in the centre of Florida but even the boat broker was a little ashamed of the standard of the boats he had on his books. Some have been lying in the open for years with little or no attention yet the owners are asking high prices. Mind you they may owe that amount of money on the boat. Still there are plenty of boatyards to go and brokers to visit.

We were able to sit outside tonight in cool comfort which is a pleasant change from the hot and muggy nights we have endured recently.





Temperatures have been over a 100F in the shade and the “feels like figure” has been over 110F.

I had originally been thinking about getting something around 44 feet but so many people of our sort of years with 44 footers seem to be downsizing saying that it is too much boat to handle anymore so perhaps it is time to get realistic and look at something smaller.



The best bet we have seen so far is an a boat called an Endeavour 40.