At first site you wouldn't believe that St. Augustine was home to so many firsts... first American School House, First Fort, first something else that I can't remember right now... but with real touch and see history dating back to 1565 this little town is really quite something. Its very quaint and offers all kinds of distractions, we had Pub grub (A Plowman's lunch) at the Prince of Wales Pub, a very fine establishment that would serve us twice today. Once for lunch and then again in the evening after a few drinks at another pub where we put the misery out of a 6 pack of Castle Lagers (good old Charles Glass, he still has the touch !)

We also spent some time at Castillo de San Marcos, the fort which begun construction in 1672. It is amazing to see how different construction was in this region compared to in England's castles of the same period. The single most interesting fact about this "Castle" is that it has never been taken by force, actually the reason it has never been taken is the really interesting fact... its made from the materials available in the area, namely shells, sand and water. Of course when you heat or burn oyster shells you get lime, when you add lime to sand and water, you get..... concrete. But shells are porous and basically consist of millions of tiny air pockets, so when you make big blocks of shell and concrete building blocks, lay them side by side one on top of each other 16 feet thick and many many times taller, you get what is essentially an incredibly resilient and tough Styrofoam fortification.... the real advantage being, when cannon balls hit your walls, instead of shattering the walls, the cannon balls just absorbs into the wall and makes it stronger...... kinda hard to take a fort without artillery... just ask the British who took 50 days strengthening the walls in 1740 before marching back to Charleston South Carolina dejected and carrying alot less cannon shot.

To end off the day, a walk on the beach with La Poo... this dog loves water, she caught her first wave today. Although it wasn't entirely voluntary... at first, she took to it like a veteran. Always focused on the task at hand (retrieving sticks) the waves were minor obstacles in her sundowner walk in water. At one stage however she showed signs of losing her marbles... placing a stick at the foot of a washed up jelly fish, presumably hoping it would throw it for her.