We woke to breezy conditions, but it was still pretty calm in the anchorage. Bob took Auggie to shore for a nice walk along the waterfront. Once they got back, Auggie had some grooming done–teeth brushed, ears cleaned, and toe nails clipped. After that, he needed a nap. Bob and I checked the weather and decided to stay another day due to the winds. We researched some things to do around the area and decided to ride the bus down Ringling Blvd., across the causeway, to St. Armand’s Circle where we could do some window shopping and stretch our legs. As we dinghied to shore at O’Leary’s, we crossed paths with the tour boat, Le Barge, out for an afternoon excursion. They looked like they were in for a good time.
These 2 sailboats in the anchorage near O’Leary’s had somehow wound around each others anchor lines.and ended up being way too close to each other. It was downright unsafe!
We left the dinghy on shore again at O’Leary’s and walked to the bus stop for the 11:45 pickup.
We caught the bus across the street from the marina entrance and took the 10 minute ride for $1.25 to St. Armand’s Circle. Our first stop was for San Juan Nachos at Cha Cha Coconuts.
We found this interesting at Cha Cha Coconuts. Besides the usual ketchup and mustard on each table, they also supplied hand sanitizer. We’d never seen that before!
From there, we walked around the entire circle and outlying “spokes”, stopping in shops that drew our interest and window shopping the rest.
We ended up back where we started from, with 30 minutes to spare, so we found some shade on one of the benches in the circle, read the paper, and waited.
Along came a young man about 25 years old who commented on how he was looking for sandals just like the ones Bob was wearing. He proceeded to ask Bob what size he wore. Bob told him he was a size 8 and the man said that was too bad because he wore a size 9. He wandered away and came back a few seconds later to say he was really a size 8 and asked if Bob would like to trade sandals with him. When Bob told him “no”, he wandered away mumbling to himself. Interestingly enough, the sandals he had on looked new. Hmmm. Very peculiar! Around 2:15, we wandered back to the bus stop to wait for the bus. We enjoyed people-watching and looking at all the fancy cars go by—Porshes, BMW’s, Corvettes, Vipers, Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Mazaratti’s, and Ferraris. The bus picked us up and returned us to the marina where we picked up the dinghy and headed back to the boat.
As we were leaving, I cut my foot on a shell or barnacle as I was launching the dinghy from shore, so Bob had to play nurse when we got back. After cleaning and disinfecting the wound, he bandaged the cut and I was as good as new. We cooled off in the AC and charged the batteries for awhile. Auggie was glad to see us! By mid-afternoon, the temps had reached 92 degrees and the wind had dropped off. Bob took Auggie just across the way to shore for a potty break while I rested my foot. Bob and I played cards after they got back to pass the time. After 2 games of 500 Rummy, Bob succombed to my skill and luck with the cards and we went out back to have a cocktail where it was cooler. The sky darkened to the west and we could see a very light rainbow off in that direction. It must have rained over there.
It sprinkled for a little bit right before dinner. After dinner, Bob made the last trip to shore with Auggie and we watched a little TV before going to bed.
