Friday Melissa and I drove over to St. Augustine again to go on the Eco Tour holiday lights boat ride up and down the Matanzas River (Intracoastal Waterway there). I say "again" because on Saturday, the 16th we had gone there for the very same reason but the traffic was so congested that we missed our appointed time...we simply could not park or even approach the downtown marina area in time. But the good folks at Eco Tour were sympathetic and graciously put us on last Friday's 6 pm boat...no problem with the traffic or parking this time! Just to be safe, though, we got there early in the afternoon and walked up and down St. George's and King Streets, exploring stores (and drinking coffee) in misty, very chilly, windy, and overcast weather throughout the day and evening. At the city marina just south of where the main bridge crosses, we found our group and departed on time for our hour-long tour on an open motorboat seating around 12-14. Most of the other passengers were couples like us, but there was a large family at the end with three excited little kids...I found their noisiness to enhance the experience although at times I couldn't make out what the tour guide was saying. We first went south toward the southern bridge, stopped facing the famous lighthouse, turned back north, passing a "party pirate" yacht, went under the Bridge of Lions, and passed the spooky Spanish fort, on whose walls folks were casting big shadows. The guide told us that it had never fallen in battle and that this was largely because it was virtually indestructible, made from little seashells that absorbed bombardment instead of collapsing. Interesting...
We kept going further north until we reached that beautiful, 200-foot tall cross on the edge of the river. Because of the intense ground lights and the overcast sky, a giant, dark shadow of the cross was etched onto the clouds...an amazing sight. Then we headed back, with the brilliant downtown city's Christmas lighting making it almost seem to be on fire (see photo above). I really liked Eco Tours, although there are other tour companies operating out of this marina that are probably fine, too. They also have more nature-based boating excursions where the natural flora and fauna of the area are explored...
All in all, Friday's adventure was very fun, and Melissa and I enjoyed it. I got to drink lots of coffee, we ate at Scarlett O'Hara's, and went into an extraordinary art gallery off King Street near the marina. But that's St. Augustine for you: a different, memorable experience each time you go there...