Groundhog Day

St. Augustine   

This morning's conditions were perfect for an interesting sunrise photo. Heavy cloud cover and a rise in humidity accentuated the beam of the St. Augustine Lighthouse. A week into our stay here, I've become pretty good at timing the 30 second interval of its flash pattern. The lighthouse is automated, with an electric motor turning the lens around the bulb, creating the flash. A photo cell turns the light on and off. 

The realization soon came that it was Groundhog Day. Although I received no official word from the local groundhog representative, I'm betting the heavy clouds prevented the rodent from seeing a shadow. That bodes well for us in the near future. The wind had picked up so Barry and I decided we'd just spend the day onboard. I did get my stretching done before I settled in with a book. Yesterday while doing laundry I picked up a book that I'd heard of from the book exchange and began reading. In the two hours waiting for our clothes to be done, I got captivated and found I couldn't put the book down. In a bit of good news, we heard this afternoon of our schedule for some service down in the Fort Lauderdale area. We've had an issue for several years now that no mechanic in Deltaville or Solomons has been able to solve. A factory recommended tech works in Florida and we've been waiting in St. Augustine for him to fit us into his schedule. Looks like we'll be leaving here on Wednesday to finally start making our way further south. Barry and I did some planning for that and then I went back to the pilothouse and read as we moved through our usual closing day sequence. The 6:00 bridge opening was against a gray and overcast sky. The wind had created a little chop on Mantanzas Bay. Our track on the anchor watch shows the circular nature of our days. I finished Before We Were Yours right after dinner and felt pretty accomplished. Tomorrow we hope we can get back into town for a walk. I'll also pull another title from my onboard library.