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Old 30-09-2010, 08:38   #1
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Has the St. Augustine Mooring Field Been Completed ?

My wife and I are planning a cruise to Florida and would like to spend some time in St. Augustine. Everything I read on the Internet discusses the "plans" or "discussions" and even $rates for the different mooring Fields. But, my question is: has it been completed yet? If yes, how convenient is the mooring location for downtown shopping and sight seeing? (Is the Worlds largest alligator still there?)
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Bill & Judy

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Old 30-09-2010, 09:51   #2
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The city has existing moorings and more are being added. Some are just off the main drag and very convenient, others are further out. You can visit the city's website to learn more and make a mooring reservation. We're planning to spend most of January there. Lovely area.

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Old 30-09-2010, 10:38   #3
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The city has existing moorings and more are being added. Some are just off the main drag and very convenient, others are further out. You can visit the city's website to learn more and make a mooring reservation. We're planning to spend most of January there. Lovely area.

CoSA: St. Augustine Municipal Marina
From this Cruiser's Net » Blog Archive » Mooring Field Now Available in St. Augustine, AICW Statute Mile 778 moorings are available south of the bridge. Apparently they've put 30 in already. $20 a day is a bit steep!
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Old 30-09-2010, 15:12   #4
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$20 a night is steep indeed. I was there for awhile in '08. We all anchored north of the bridge. They were rebuilding it. What 20 a night says to me is my money should be spent elsewhere. It's very convenient to downtown but can be a real rock and roll experience. And downtown, once you've seen it, is yuppie heaven.

An alternative: from the ocean, head to port after the inlet. sail down 1/2 mile or so and anchor off the small yacht club to your starboard. Dinghy to launch ramp. Call cab. To town and back won't be 20 bucks as I recall, and you can stop at a store if needed, and will pass several reasonable bars along the way. Good fishing too.

Here's another place liveaboard "sailors" have ruined I guess. It's like everywhere else: the few buck ups hurt all who follow. Tell me why the city fathers or their minions can't just deal with the buck ups individually?
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Old 02-10-2010, 12:53   #5
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An alternative: from the ocean, head to port after the inlet. sail down 1/2 mile or so and anchor off the small yacht club to your starboard. Dinghy to launch ramp. Call cab. To town and back won't be 20 bucks as I recall, and you can stop at a store if needed, and will pass several reasonable bars along the way. Good fishing too.

Here's another place liveaboard "sailors" have ruined I guess. It's like everywhere else: the few buck ups hurt all who follow. Tell me why the city fathers or their minions can't just deal with the buck ups individually?
Salt Run is the place you are speaking of as an alternative, but it is part of the mooring field plan. The mooring fields neatly cover all the best spots to anchor in/near St. Augustine. One of the results is the waterfront is now nearly wonderfully devoid of the derelicts that plagued the harbor.

You are absolutely correct that "liveaboards" have ruined this as a great spot for cruisers heading up/down the ICW. The reason the city and/or the harbormaster couldn't deal with the "buck-ups" is because they didn't have the statutory authority to do so until now. This is the model that will likely be pursued by all Florida cities as they come into compliance with Florida law.

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Old 02-10-2010, 13:20   #6
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I always stopped at St. Augustine on my way north or south. Usually anchor south of the bridge. Sometimes I'd have lunch at the brew pub on the corner. Guess I'm going to keep going this year. I used to anchor there despite the strong tidal stream and the way the boats used to go every which way. Good anchorages not too much further north or south and you don't have other anchored boats charging at you. I wonder if all those moorings will have boats on them.
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Old 02-10-2010, 13:27   #7
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Nice user agreement. We can inspect you ad naseum, fine you if you violate anything we deem (including running of generators and slapping halyards violating noise ordinances, and requirement to have a bilge sock in your bilge, doesn't matter if it's dry or not) move your vessel and charge you if we deem necessary. You must have a state registration (even if Fed documented?!) and $300K of insurance.
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Old 02-10-2010, 13:32   #8
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I always stopped at St. Augustine on my way north or south. Usually anchor south of the bridge. Sometimes I'd have lunch at the brew pub on the corner. Guess I'm going to keep going this year. I used to anchor there despite the strong tidal stream and the way the boats used to go every which way. Good anchorages not too much further north or south and you don't have other anchored boats charging at you. I wonder if all those moorings will have boats on them.
I forgot to mention that I go over the Bridge of Lions 3 - 4X/week. The City Marina is nearly empty except for the commercial boats that have long-term leases, and the mooring fields are pretty free of boats too.

I suspect that the city may have gone a bit extreme in their plan - a response to the "liveaboards" exploiting any gap.

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Mike
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Old 02-10-2010, 13:37   #9
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Mike,

Have they put moorings in all three fields now?
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Old 02-10-2010, 13:44   #10
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There are moorings along the ICW area, North and South of the bridge. I haven't yet had a chance to look at the Salt Run area. I also don't know if they have put in all the moorings yet.

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Old 02-10-2010, 13:58   #11
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Reports from the Marina Manager and a boater;

As of Sept. 17th; To date two thirds of the moorings are in place and available south of the Bridge of Lions. They are working on them now and are installing about 15 moorings per day. None are installed in the north anchorage yet. The north field will contain 27 mooring balls and the entire fields both north and south should be completed around November 1st. The transient fees for the moorings are $20 per night, $120 per week and $360 per month. This gives you full access to the marina facilities including the dinghy dock at no additional charge. The pump out boat currently has a blown engine but the mooring fees include pump out, you will just have to bring the boat to the dock until repairs are made. No report on when the boat will be repaired. The moorings will total 27 north of the bridge and you will be able to anchor IF there is any room left and you don't interfere with boats on the moorings. But 27 mooring is going to fill most if not all of the existing anchorage.

As of Sept. 20th there are 15 moorings available for transients. This will change as the size increases, but availability will be a different story. You can make advance reservations and the contact phone number is 904-825-1026.

This report from a fellow boater; Hello Chuck, Spoke with HM today. Reserved an overnight mooring for our Carver 440 for Sept. 30. They can handle up to 120' on a couple of moorings. WEB site has diagrams of fields as planned. Demand appears high with limited availability - reservations good concept.

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Old 02-10-2010, 14:09   #12
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moorings

Quote:
Originally Posted by bchaps View Post
My wife and I are planning a cruise to Florida and would like to spend some time in St. Augustine. Everything I read on the Internet discusses the "plans" or "discussions" and even $rates for the different mooring Fields. But, my question is: has it been completed yet? If yes, how convenient is the mooring location for downtown shopping and sight seeing? (Is the Worlds largest alligator still there?)
Thanks,
Bill & Judy

S/V Charbonneau
I herd they now have 30 up and going the city marina is who you contact they are $20.00 a day with free pump out boat that is broke down and free dinghy dock I guess thats not bad with the free dinghy dock the field is on the south side of the bridge of lions
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Old 02-10-2010, 18:18   #13
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This all sucks if you ask me. I would have initially guessed there would be plenty of vacant moorings but it doesn't sound like it from the recent posters. All this up and down the east coast because of bums living on derelict hulls.

I was in Coconut Grove in the 80s. There really were a lot of bums and bum boats. Many more than these days. I was a member of the Coconut Grove Sailing Club and earilier worked there as well. Theft in the club mooring field was a problem as the folks in the anchorage dinghied adjacent to or through the club's moorings to get to their boats. The club had a searchlight that the dockmasters used to survey/watch the moored boats.

But $20 bucks a night to moor when none of us cares to or needs to be on a mooring?

Yuppie!
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Old 02-10-2010, 20:16   #14
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Nice user agreement. We can inspect you ad naseum, fine you if you violate anything we deem (including running of generators and slapping halyards violating noise ordinances, and requirement to have a bilge sock in your bilge, doesn't matter if it's dry or not) move your vessel and charge you if we deem necessary. You must have a state registration (even if Fed documented?!) and $300K of insurance.
Until it's challenged in court, and it will be when they try to enforce it against the first documented North Carolina boat that attempts to utilize one of their fields. (North Carolina does not require registration for USCG documented boats.) They will be then be in violation of interstate transportation compacts (laws) and that part of the ordinance will fail.

Also ....

Sec. 7-93. Regulation of Mooring Fields for Anchorage of Vessels.

(a) Definitions. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

(1) Anchorage means a place located outside a designated Mooring Field and used for attaching Vessels to submerged lands by means of cables, ground tackle and other devices designed to attach to or enter the submerged lands.


(j) Anchorage areas. Non-Live Aboard Vessels may anchor in Anchorage areas located outside designated Mooring Fields. The Vessel operator must remove all ground tackle upon leaving the anchorage.

The ordinance does comply with state statute in this regard and does not limit the ability of non-Live Aboard Vessels to anchor ... subject to limitations not restricting navigation of the waterways.

While I can see where the expansion of mooring fields may gradually encroach on desired anchorage spots, I also believe that the attempt by the city to hamper anchoring will fail by the sheer economics of having to maintain those fields. Maintenance will get expensive when cruisers bypass mooring opportunities and the fees that would support the fields fail to materialize .....
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Old 03-10-2010, 05:31   #15
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The problem for cruisers along the ICW is the "Anchoring areas". The "Mooring areas" fully encompass the areas near Saint Augustine where you would want to anchor, effectively forcing you to use their moorings.

It will be interesting to see what develops when hurricane season ends and the Bahamas bound cruisers start passing through. Will cruisers bypass St. Aug entirely, or shorten their stay? Will the local businesses feel any impact at all, or is the boating demographic too small to have an effect?

Fair Winds,
Mike
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