For four hundred forty-four years the port city of Saint Augustine has both welcomed and warred with people who sought her bounty and her fortress.  Her quaint cobbled streets are lined with evidence of Spanish influence and the Castillo de San Marcos a rough-hewn symbol of her resilience to sieges throughout time.  

To think, of the many soldiers who sailed across the Atlantic and into her port determined to claim her for their king, yet most never to return home. To think, here where we sit in the darkness listening to the gentle water slapping against the hull of Aurora, many also sat planning and preparing for battles, proud to kill for their king and country.  Realizing now as then, warring was not and is not the answer.  

Not all have sought to claim her.  Thousands like us have anchored in this beautiful place, walked her peaceful lanes, and listen to her intriguing stories of how this beautiful first settlement has survived through history to become who she is today.  We’re just glad to have this opportunity be in her port in 2012, seeing those same stars shining on her harbor waters as when Ponce first claimed her for his king.  She’s a beautiful first lady.