Riding the St. Augustine Wave

Another dawn breaking over the Atlantic. This morning PJ joined me and Cali for a sunrise stroll along the sand. A peaceful, colorful start to a sunny Florida day. There were some decent waves leftover from the stormy days earlier in the week and the wind had turned to a hard offshore breeze. I put on my new wetsuit top and paddled out for the best surf I’ve had since getting my new hip. Towards the end of the session, the wind began blowing even harder leaving big raining drops of spray off of each wave. The wetsuit wasn’t quite warm enough so I called it a session after just over an hour. I went back to the RV and collected PJ and Cali and we all went down to the beach to hang out.

One of the campers down the lane has been clearing out their excess gear in preparation for returning to the northeast and last week they had one of those big wheeled beach wagons in front of their site with a for sale sign on it. Inside was an umbrella, a little shade tent, two little low sitting chairs and some other odds and ends. A few days ago, PJ polished off her negotiating skills and came wheeling it back into our camp. I had to laugh, but it is actually working quite nicely. We used it today to haul all of our beach stuff down to the sand.

PJ got out her boogie board and sporting her new hooded rash guard, she paddled out to ride a few waves. I amused Cali and we sat around people watching in the soft sand up near the dunes. People are set up with all different types of umbrellas and shade structures. Trucks pull up and people throw their gear out right in the shade of the truck using it to hide from the wind. Everyone’s got their own style and idea of how to set up on the beach. We relaxed and strummed a few tunes, read books and enjoyed the warmth of the sun.

In the afternoon, we watched another online lecture from a spiritual teacher and did a meditation session. We did a little napping and hanging around on the porch. As evening approached, we hopped on our bikes and did an hour long trek down the beach. There was a super low tide providing a wide expanse of beach to ride on. We needed every inch of it to dodge the crowds of people out taking advantage of the mild spring conditions.We went towards the pier but as we drew near, the sand began to get soft, so we turned around and pumped it hard back past our camp for another mile or so then we turned around and came back. An awesome ride to finish off the day.

I made us some dinner and set us up outside to dine al fresco on the patio. We put on some mellow music and savored the end of the day as the sun slowly faded and a bit of chill sent us inside. St. Augustine is not a bad place to hang one’s hat for a spell.