Sat Feb 1 - In which we have survived the apocalypse

St Augustine Mooring Field to Palm Coast Marina
How did it get to be Feb already??????  The days just KEEP ON COMING.....

We are in no rush to get up today, as we are waiting for high tide at 11am.  So, naturally, my eyes spring open at 7:30am.  Gosh.  Darn.  It.  A perfectly good Sat morning lie in, w a s t e d.
 

It's a spooky misty day and we are the only boat out on the ICW.

 It's a mix of developed and desolate.  This is especially UN-nerving when we get to a literal derelict boat anchorage.  It's a whole anchorage of abandoned boats.  Did everyone just vanish?  Is it like the Roanoke Colony of boats?  Or do people just anchor their unwanted boats here and leave.  There were at least 10+...

I expect that, when we pass this way again in a month, we will feel nostalgic for the time when we were alone on the water.  I anticipate a LOT of boats joining us on the water in the month to come.  But right now it can sometimes feel (to an over-active imagination such as mine) that the apocalypse has happened and we are the only people still left.

We passed the old ruins of Fort Mantanzas (the smaller cousin of the St Augustine fort), and we move in to grass land that has, for the first time, some height to it in the form of small twisted shrubs and trees.  

If you aren't sure if you should go for a dock or a house, why not both?!  A HouseDock:

Palm Coast Marina is nothing fancy, but super friendly, with the marina manager, Ro, making us feel at home.  It's an area full of bike/hike trails so we jumped at the chance to use the folding bikes who haven't see action in awhile.  We had a nice 8 mile ride without seeing other people - it's an area very full of time shares and other condo-type buildings but devoid of life.  Maybe it gets hopping in the hot months.  The 'notable' attraction is the Euopoean Village, which is a mixed use development intended to mimic a Euopean plaza.  A for effort, but having recently seen many a Euopean Village we felt it was amazingly average.  As Claire would say.

Panoramic of the European Village

Home for dinner and to watch an episode of Belowdeck - a reality TV show Rick's brother, Matt, says is like our life.  I really can't get in to the whole reality TV trend - I've got enough on my plate with my own reality shit, but we are open to trying anything....  Although, right away I can tell you, the swanky yacht life it depicts looks just like our life, only the EXACT OPPOSITE...