Jacksonville, FL to Jekyll Island, GA Jacksonville, Florida to Fernandina Beach - Wednesday - March 28, 2007 After a great stay in Jacksonville (four nights), we returned the car to Jim and Mary and prepared to leave. We were so glad to leave that marina, Beach Marine. It was a great location for us, close to many places we wanted to go, but the marina itself was not well kept, to say the least. The dock we were on was so old and run-down. It had many big splinters, also. There is a restaurant/bar that is very crowded on the week-ends. By Wednesday, neither the broken beer bottles had yet been swept up nor the lime wedges. The trash had not been emptied down by the boat and, worst of all, three of the five cleats that held our boat to the dock had partially pulled loose from the dock. Phil told the dock master and he agreed that they were pretty bad, but did nothing about it. Phil did not think the cleats would hold the boat if a strong wind came up. Fortunately, we got away from there before that happened. We left Jacksonville Beach at low tide about 2:20 pm. We wanted to arrive in Fernandina Beach at high tide, about 6: 00 or so. We saw lots of military helicopters on our way probably because there is a nuclear submarine base near Fernandina Beach. There were lots of marshes on both sides of the ICW. Of course, there were the ever-present manatee zones with no manatees in them. We arrived in Fernandina Beach at 6:15 pm. The dock master tied us up inside the dock, out of the ICW, which proved to be very lucky because we had no wake where we were tied, while other boats on the outside exposed to the ICW had a lot of wake and waves. Fernandina Beach is a darling town. It is the only United States location to have been under eight different flags. First inhabited by the Timucan Indians, it then became a haven for swashbuckling pirates because of its sheltered location and easy access to the Atlantic Ocean. It has interesting little shops, an ice cream and fudge parlor, a 50 block area designated by the National Register of Historical Places and excellent restaurants. We took a tour on a little antique trolley which was fun and informative. When the pirates were in control of the town in the 1700’s, there were twenty- two brothels on one street near the harbor! The name of the street is Ladies Street. Fernandina Beach was a tiny settlement then. Later the pirates left the area, and as the town grew, there were 60 brothels! One still remains, the Saloon, but it is now a bar/grill/cigar bar. When Henry Flagler built his railroad down through Florida, he by-passed Amelia Island and tourism surged southward, leaving Fernandina Beach slipping into sleepy obscurity. Because the economy was so bad, the old buildings were repaired, rather than replaced, so the architectural heritage was preserved. We ate lunch at the Florida House Inn, which is Florida’s oldest surviving hotel, opened in 1857. Our food was delicious. We did not see the rooms, but there are only 14 and 1 suite, all furnished with period furniture. We ate our lunch in this courtyard near the fountain with a life-sized mermaid sculpture. One night we went to dinner with four other couples who were all doing the Loop. Woody and Ellen Sutton on Double SS, Mike and Pat Sullivan on Irish Ayes, Ginger Austin and Laura Tomayko on Stargazer and the couple who planned our dinner, Tom and Gerry Clare on Sea Knight. They have already done the Loop, live on Amelia Island and are going to the rendezvous in Charleston. We had a good time and enjoyed meeting everyone. After dinner, Woody, Ellen, Phil and I went to the Florida House Inn to listen to live music, which was very good. It was a local group about to make their first CD. A huge boat, American Glory, docked in Fernandina Beach. It is one hundred and sixty feet long. It holds fifty guests. It runs between St. Augustine and Charleston. We met the chef and he told us there were fifty people on board and they ate three times a day! This is part of the American Cruise Lines fleet of small ships that ply the east coast and the inland waterways. They have an extensive list of cruises ranging from New England to Florida. See the following link for more information: http://www.sunstonetours.com/cruiselines/americancruiselines/? gclid=CO63xeuy_IsCFRpGZwodmyIEVw The following pictures are two of the more notable historic homes. The second house was built of "tabby" that consist of equal parts lime, water, sand, oyster shells, and ash. The last picture shows the oyster mounds that were created by the early indians who used the shells for food and tools as well as jewelry. We all planned to leave on Friday, but the day dawned with sustained winds of twenty to twenty-five miles an hour and gusts up to around thirty or thirty-five. We had two foot swells in the harbor. Tom Clare called and said it was not a good idea to go north that day because the sounds we would have to cross would be far too rough and windy. We all stayed. We went to lunch with Woody, Ellen, and another couple, George and Peggy Hurley, off a smaller sailboat, Take Five. They live in St. Mary’s and were in Fernandina Beach just for fun. She is an emergency room nurse, so she was a little concerned about getting home in time to go to work on Sunday. Ginger and Laura came down for a visit and a glass of wine late that day. We enjoyed our day. The picture is of our last sunset on Fernandina Beach. Fernandina Beach to Jekyll Island – Saturday - March 31, 2007 This morning dawned bright and calm. We left the fuel dock about 10:00 am. We passed a nuclear submarine base and, actually, got to see one tied up and being worked on. We saw security guards in boats and the coast guard in heavily armed inflatables. We crossed St. Andrews Sound and Jekyll Sound and we were in Georgia. When we left Fernandina Beach, we had no definite destination. Woody and Ellen called us on the radio, said they were going to Jekyll Island, so we decided to go there also. We docked about 1:30. We decided to go sightseeing, but ended up talking until time to go to dinner, which was a less than stellar experience. We went to SeaJay’s, which is right at the marina, but our service was terrible, took Phil forty-five minutes or more to get his food and it was awful when it arrived. We really think it was our waitress, but may have been the whole place. The manager was the only bartender and did not have time to even talk to Phil! Needless to say, a return visit was not planned. Woody and Ellen came back to the boat and we played Chickenfoot dominos. We had a good time and hope they did, also. |
Our Travel Log
Travel Log