Taurus Great Loop

In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon came ashore to what is now St. Augustine on the east coast of Florida while searching for the legendary Fountain of Youth. He thought he found it. While visiting, you can drink all the water you want from the Fountain. St. Augustine is the oldest successful European colony in the United States, established September 8, 1565.  We also visited Castillo de San Marcos, a fort in the town of St. Augustine. Coquina - rock that is composed almost entirely of seashells.  This rock makes up the walls of the fort. Fred and I agreed that once we re-start our Great Loop north, we will have to stop again at St. Augustine to see the things we missed this time.

A while ago, we wrote that our boat engines exhaust elbows were failing. This is normal for an engine around 20 years of age. Taurus was launched in 2004, so it is 18 years old this year.  A reminder of the old cast iron exhaust elbows We drove to Ft. Lauderdale to take the old exhaust elbows to a shop who made new ones for us. The old exhaust elbows were cast iron and the new ones are stainless steel. Fred took the old ones out and installed the new ones.  New stainless exhaust elbow Dropping the old ones off and picking up the new ones 2 weeks later meant another 2.5 hr. drive to Ft. Lauderdale.