Jacksonville Beach to Daytona Beach, FL

“Wheels up” at 6:10…back on schedule 🙂

We arrive at the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, Florida around 9:45 am and wait with several other boats for the 10:00 am bridge opening. It is said that it lays claim to being the oldest city in the U.S. Within the city, with views of the St. Augustine Inlet, sits the Castillo de San Marcos a 17th-century Spanish stone fortress. The wait gives us a chance to take in the view of the city’s quaint European flavor, with centuries-old buildings.

Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park, the original site of the Nation’s oldest city. Located in the area first explored by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 and settled by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565, historic St. Augustine is the oldest successful European settlement in the United States. It is said Colonial America started here, 55 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, and 42 years before Jamestown. The Fountain of Youth gives visitors a chance to experience history and drink from the famous springs.

The beautiful and historic Bridge of Lions is a double-leaf bascule bridge that spans the Intracoastal Waterway here in St. Augustine. A pair of copies of the Medici lions made of marble guard the bridge, begun in 1925 and completed in 1927 across Matanzas Bay.