S/V Geru: Cannons and Health Problems

On our way to St. Augustine, Geoff developed a very bad tooth ache. Wednesday, our first full day in St. Augustine, was spent trying to find a dentist. We were unable to find a dentist that could take us right away, but we were able to find one within walking distance for the next day. We spent the rest of our first day wandering the town with Geoff in a painful daze. We did find the Sailors Exchange, which carries an unbelievable assortment of piles and bin-fulls of used boat-related stuff ranging from old lights to fuel pumps to cushions.

On Thursday we made the trip to the dentist (a good thing as Geoff's face was all swollen by then) and learned that Geoff had a tooth abscess. The dentist prescribed some antibiotics and painkillers for a week, and told him that he'd need to get a root canal done in 10 days. So we will be looking for a dentist again in a few days!

We spent the next few days touring St. Augustine, which is a beautiful old town with many historic buildings and neat streets. For those from Ottawa reading this: it felt like a bigger (and older) version of Merrickville.

Our Friday started out with a cannon from the fort being "shot" at us. It turns out that on Fridays and on the weekends they shoot off the cannons during reenactments of the Spanish defending the fort. We were anchored right in front of the fort, and the first time a cannon went off it scared us a bit as it felt like something actually hit the boat! At a later time, they shot off two cannons at once, and along with the explosions from shore, the main hatch on the boat (which was propped open) came crashing down. No damage done, but we were ducking in the boat and considered hoisting a white flag to surrender.