We got there early Saturday and stopped for breakfast at the Manatee Café before scoping out the park. We decided to change and go ocean kayaking first since there was plenty of daylight left! There was a place there for you to rent kayaks, canoes, and catamarans (which we really want to try one day!) The people were super cool and very knowledgeable. We hauled our gear down to the shore and took off. This was our gorgeous view below:
The way the park is laid out, it's along a channel that runs parallel to the ocean. The water was more choppy that we are used to but we were excited to be experiencing something different so we trekked on! We passed the St. Augustine Lighthouse and kept going towards a lunch spot we looked up that was right on the water.
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| Clay & the yachts surrounding the restaurant |
I could not stop laughing because we looked SO tiny compared to these huge boats! We decided to try and go as far as we could manage towards the inlet. We were almost to the end of the channel where you can see Castillo de San Marcos and The Great Cross but the waves were picking up pretty bad and it was getting hard to maneuver! We ended up turning around before risking tipping overboard and we headed back to the yacht-filled lunch spot. This was our first time kayaking to lunch!
We snuck our way through the yachts and found a small boat dock right up front towards the restaurant. I was trying to take pictures & watch out for boats and I must admit we looked pretty funny on our brightly colored kayaks. We looked even funnier trying to roll off onto the dock...which seemed SO much higher when you were trying to balance and not make a fool of yourself!
We took apart our paddles and shoved them down into Clay's compartment, chained and locked up our kayaks, and dried off a little before having lunch. We took a few steps back and snapped this shot below, which still makes me laugh.
Then once we were seated outside, we got this photo below, which is one of my favorites. I absolutely love the contrast of our kayaks with all of the HUGE white boats.
One day we will have both...I hope!
The Conch House was such a great spot to enjoy the afternoon. It totally reminded us of our honeymoon in the Dominican! We enjoyed oysters (our fave!) and split a lunch entree. YUM.
By the time we were finished, we contemplated stopping by the lighthouse before we set up camp but were afraid that we wouldn't be back with much light left. We skipped it and hauled it back to the park. WHEW...it was a lot harder after a meal! Our cute set-up is seen below.
After setting up camp, we showered and headed out for a walking ghost tour and dinner. We love finding Groupons or Living Social deals for the ghost tours - they are always entertaining.
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| our lovely guide! |
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| Castillo de San Marcos |
After our tour & dinner, we came back and enjoyed a fire for quite some time.
I forgot how much I loved doing that.
Sunday morning, we got up and ate brunch at Café 11. it.was.amazing. They were slammed packed and I was most likely shoving my face with Praline French Toast that I failed to snap any pictures. sorry.
Then we did a super touristy thing...went to The Fountain of Youth. It is pretty crazy that this site that was discovered is literally in the middle of a neighborhood. The staff is insanely cheesy and makes for an entertaining trip for sure.
Here we go...so this spring is a sulfur spring and you can smell it before you even walk in the door.
Thankfully this was the size cup they handed out instead of a full glass! It was absolutely disgusting. I had to hold my nose and swallow as fast as possible. The taste would not come out of our mouths for hours...seriously. Then on top of that, we were burping up sulfur FOR THE REST OF THE DAY but we did it. I know - TMI. And it's worked.
See? Even Clay is acting younger below & I bet you can't tell I'll be 30 in 2 weeks!
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| The Great Cross |
What an awesome couple of days in St. Augustine. This is another contender for our retirement city.
Who wants to join us?
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