After Cumberland Island we made our way down to St. Augustine Florida. It was a short 8 hour sail down the coast. Both harbors are easy to enter and are well marked.

We ended up spending about a month at Marker 8 Hotel and Marina which is an absolute gem. The marina component is a small add on to the hotel and it’s clearly a labor of love by the owner. That said, there is essentially no marina staff. The hotel staff will take care of you with all of the things that a hotel staff can do but with no deckhands the approach can be a challenge.

You’ll need to call on the phone, not VHF, well before you make your approach to ensure that the owner herself is there to meet you and help you dock.

The other concern is that you 1,000% will need to approach at slack tide. it would be impossible to dock outside of slack tide. And the final concern is that the city pump out boat will not visit the marina to pump you out and Marker 8 does not have their own pump out boat. It’s a short trip across the river to the municipal marina for a pump out but it seems a silly thing when they have a boat that you can watch run to the mornings just off the dock.

Once at Marker 8 there is a real risk that you will be captured by the place and not want to leave. We sure were.

The marina is well located just over the “Bridge of Lions” to downtown St. Augustine and just a short hop to the major stores, although possible to walk you’ll want to take one of the bike exchange bikes or take a car.

And this is where you can get swallowed up. The guests at the marina are amazing. There is a lovely community there that really helps each other out. Rides, heck even pet sitting. I was surprised at how much of this community was fostered by the Marina itself.

Each evening there is a “Happy Hour” with free appetizers and very inexpensive glasses of wine that is open to all guests of the marina and the hotel. As we know boaters never pass up the possibility of free snacks and so the area is always full of boaters. Advice on boating, sailing, and life in general flows with the wine. The appraisers are always spot on perfect and amazing. I was also surprised at how entertaining the boaters seemed to be to the hotel guests who would ask questions and enjoy the stories.

Another great aspect to St. Augustine in general is the local Cruisers Net which is every morning on VHF 72 at 9am. The group also has an active Facebook Page and organizes weekly dinners out and other events. It helps to tied the whole community together.

For those anchoring out we’d recommend North of the bridge. You still have access to the municipal marina’s dinghy dock and can have a quick exit when it’s time to go offshore again which was what we did for a few nights at the end of our stay.

I look forward to returning. The staff and the community at Market 8 made us feel so welcome and included that I can see myself returning for an extended winter stay for years to come. This winter we might even spring for two months it was that good.