Fernandina Beach
During last night's rain, I planned the route we would take today on our walk around Amelia Island. We left Crossroads at 10:00 and crossed St. Mary's River to reach the dinghy dock. A large metal sculpture of a shrimp glowed in the morning sunshine from atop a pole. Fernandina Beach touts itself as the Birthplace of the Modern Shrimping Industry, and references to the tasty crustacean are commonplace around town. We used Centre Street as our outbound, 2-mile long east leg. A quick stop was made at the historic 1912 post office to drop off the three oil samples from the changes done in Spanish Wells. Once we crossed over 8th Street, the street name changed to Atlantic Avenue (aka A1A). The road was lined with well-kept houses with lush landscaping. Dozens of large magnolia blooms and hedges of blooming jasmine cast a sweet smell in the air. No matter how many times I see them, I still do a double take when I spot "house plants" in Virginia planted outdoors here in the deep south. These peace lilies were the latest find and joined amaryllis and poinsettias on that list of plants. We crossed the bridge over Egans Creek and looked back to see the Amelia Island Lighthouse peeking over the treetops. The beacon was built in 1838, and is Florida's oldest lighthouse -- first lit before Florida was a state. Atlantic Avenue dead-ended a short distance later at Main Beach Park. We were facing the aggressive surf of the ocean -- same ocean as The Bahamas, but a totally different world.
A large sand dune separated the parking lot from the wide beach which was covered in shells. I could have picked up my bodyweight in perfect cockle shells with little effort. I filled one pocket in my shorts and even found a large shark tooth. I walked along the surf, but not in it, for a while before returning to Barry who was waiting at one of several oceanfront park benches.
We turned southbound on A1A and passed numerous rental houses and apartments. Noticeably absent on this stretch of oceanfront were high-rise chain hotels. The rental house Katie's Light caught our attention for being a replica lighthouse resembling the Stingray Point Lighthouse at our home marina. We ducked back onto the sand at Beach Access 9 and found this less populated stretch much more to our liking. The red flag was flying indicating High Hazard for high surf and/or strong currents.
Jasmine Street provided the start of our west/inbound route. We took a detour into Egans Creek Greenway and followed the grass-covered trail. We paused to eat our packed lunches and then continued across the bridge and over the creek and salt marsh.
Exiting the park, a familiar sound echoed through the trees. I told Barry it sounded like a cardinal. We searched for a few seconds and found him sitting above the path. I wondered which loved one came to visit us this afternoon. We passed the high school and middle school with their top-notch athletic facilities, which included a disc golf course. We picked up Beech Street and continued west. Bright yellow cactus blooms and delicate Chinese lanterns were interesting finds along the way. Almost back to the riverfront, we arrived at the Amelia Island Museum of History on 3rd Street right as it opened at 1:00. Perfect timing. The museum is housed inside the former Nassau County Jail and covers 400 years of history in 10 exhibit areas. The section on pirates had some fun props to be enjoyed by all ages.
Of course, there was a recreated holding cell typical of the building's 100 year heritage (1878-1978). Was I in or out? Was Barry in or out? It was just like the Twilight Zone. Hands down, the highlight of the tour for me was listening to the oral history account by Sheriff Windle Brooks on the Great Thanksgiving Day Pot Bust of 1977. Twenty five tons of marijuana were washed ashore in the "pot boat" Gilberto after it hit an offshore reef. The resulting fire and explosion produced predictable results. I could not find the sheriff's audio on the internet, but did find one humorous account of the event. Not coincidently, we followed up our 10k walk and tour with ice cream at our finish line back on Centre Street. We've had a great stay in Fernandina Beach which helped ease us back into a more normal existence. Tomorrow we will depart on another overnight trip up the coast to Beaufort, SC, so there will be no report tomorrow evening while we're offshore.
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