We elected to spend one more day here thinking we might ride the bikes on the beach again. But other activities took precedence and then we lost interest in the beach (for today). John thought he needed to clear the roof of debris and found several areas he thought should be cleaned, including the Fantastic Fan; then he got to checking the awning over the slide and found it needed to be adjusted; then the bikes needed air in their tires; and then it was lunch time.
After lunch I talked John into riding our bikes over to the lighthouse and and its museum. It was actually quite interesting. We learned about the creation of US Coast Guard and the female guards, called SPARS, especially during WWII. One story told of a Guardsman and his girl friend who were on the beach when a German U-boat bombed Jacksonville harbor. They could hear the blasts, saw planes flying over and actually saw the sub surface at St. Augustine. Another story relates that fried shrimp was invented in St. Augustine for the Coast Guard stationed here and those men spread the news of this delectable morsel. A museum docent showed us some of the particulars in building boats like they used to do back in England. They use White Oak and Live Oak. If you have ever seen a Live Oak tree, you would think it would not be good for building anything as it is very crooked and knarly. Boats, though, don't have many straight lines, they are mostly curved, so using a tree with curves was easier than trying to bend one. The view from the top was great. We got a good dose of exercise hiking up the 216 steps.
Happy hour starts at four so we wondered over to the Conch House Tiki Bar for a couple of rum drinks before heading back to the RV. And in honor of the US Coast Guard's fried shrimp, that's what we had for dinner.
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