In one city block in St. Augustine's Old Town, there is a cluster of historic houses. If memory serves, the structures comprising the Dow Museum of Historic Houses date from the late 18th to the early 20th Century, thus serving as a snapshot of American residential architecture during the whole time the USA has been…
St. Augustine's historic district is historical. And very photogenic. There was a time when northern Florida and southern Georgia were the border zones of Spanish occupation to the south, pressing on the British occupation to the north. St. Augustine was a Spanish colony back in the day, and the Spanish were sitting pretty with their…
I'd recommend everyone visit St. Augustine, even if you must do it by land. The historic district is fairly compact and almost everything is within walking distance of everything else. The area is full of centuries-old buildings, many dating from the Spanish Colonial era. The structures' restoration and maintenance seem to have gone very well.…
It’s been a busy two years since we landed in Fort Lauderdale after being out of the country for 5 years. There were way too many boat jobs to list at the end of 12 years of ownership. Some of the highlights included new sails, new upholstery, new inner foresail on a furler, rebuilt espar…
Tarpon Springs is located near Florida's Gulf Coast, north of the Tampa Bay area. Historically, the town was important because the nearby Gulf waters is one of the few areas in the world where certain commercially-desirable species of sponges grow. During the 1890s fishermen from Tarpon Springs made their living by harvesting these sponges using…
One thing that strikes you negatively about the US after having traveled through several foreign countries is the absence of cheap, accessible public transportation. Except for a few of the largest coastal cities, life in the US generally means that to get anywhere, you have to go by car. Florida is no exception. And it…
Smaller projects continued while we waited for the contractors of the larger projects to complete their work. Stuart has an excellent repertoire of marine services and it seemed like we consulted almost all of them. Vic's, for example, is the place to go for repairing and refurbishing alternators, starter motors and such. Click on the…
Hot, humid, sunny marine weather – and everything else that continuous living aboard entails – can quickly wear out a boat's interior furnishings. In our case, the V-berth mattress had completely collapsed months ago, and the stern cabin's mattress was showing signs of significant wear. We spent the end of May and all of June…
By the end of May 2011 The Fox had traveled some 18,000 miles in its 10 years of life with us. It had kept us safe and comfortable but eight years of 24/7 life aboard had completely worn out the cabins' mattresses, the binding on our New Zealand wool carpets, and the upholstery on our…
Stuart is a nice town to visit by boat. Its revitalized historic downtown district with its shops, theatre and restaurants is a 10-minute walk from Sunset Bay Marina. It has public art – mostly bronze sculptures – here and there in small parks and in front of office buildings. You should get out of the…