Florida: Fernandina Beach

Day 305
NM Today: 53
NM To Date: 4849


To minimize dealing with the wicked current at the docks upon departure from St. Augustine, we timed leaving to coincide with "slack" tide. With that in mind we left our dock just after 8:00 a.m. and waved farewell to a city that has been added to my list of favorite stops on the loop.

Good-bye to St. Augustine

Last look at Castillo de San Marcos fort

We made a Plan A and Plan B in terms of where to stay for the night. Clark knew of a free dock near Jacksonville. Stopping there for the night was Plan A. However, there is nothing near that dock and no services (water, electric, toilets) are provided there. Depending on what time we arrived there and how we felt about continuing on, Plan B meant traveling the full distance to Fernandina Beach and staying there for the night.

We came to the Plan A stop just before 1:00 and took a look at the view. Spending the night looking at the power plant did nothing for me, and Clark was raring to go, so we kept going.

View from Free Dock near Jacksonville, FL

We arrived in Fernandina Beach mid-afternoon, so we still had time to bike into town and out to the Publix to get some supplies.

Biking to Publix ...
View from the Marina of Historic Fernandina, FL

Downtown Fernandina, FL

On the way to the grocery store, we passed

the historic Amelia Island depot -
part of Florida's first Atlantic to Gulf railroad line

as well as a fountain in town

and the Historic County Courthouse

When we registered at the dock, I swear the dockmaster said that the Publix was located 1.5 miles away. Well, we biked and biked and biked some more to get there. Fortunately the terrain was pretty flat as the distance to just get there was twice what I had heard.

I only picked up a few essentials to limit the load to be carried back to the boat. Although some of the ride was along a rather busy street, I enjoyed the ride and the exercise. At least the busy street had a designated bike lane for safer travel.

On our way back into town with our purchases, we passed a few more places of interest ...

Lesesne House c. 1860
on Historic Places Registry

and

Yet another "Oldest in Florida" location
This one is the oldest bar in Florida.

We passed an ice cream store on the way to Publix and again on the way back to the boat. As we passed the second time I stopped in to ask what time they closed. The answer surprised me as both clerks agreed that the store would close at 8:00 or 9:00. Given it was currently 6:30 and we had to eat before we could have dessert, the non-specific closing time was a bit annoying. I decided that if we wanted ice cream we had better target the 8:00 time to be sure it wasn't closed if / when we managed to come back.

Because the dock that we are staying on is so very long, we pulled out our bikes for the trip back to the ice cream store after our dinner on board the boat. That shortened the time back to the store considerably and we managed to get back to the ice cream store at 7:50!

Cinnamon Bear Ice Cream Store
(car inside store has a huge teddy bear passenger)

Since the store sold more than just ice cream, I stayed and did some shopping. Clark noticed that the sun was getting low in the sky and left me at the store to go in search of tonight's sunset picture.

Sunset at Fernandina Beach, FL

Afterwards we invited Charlie from the Mainship Pilot 34 docked in front of us to come on board our boat. He and his wife Jackie are from South Carolina and we wanted to see what they could tell us about places to see as we pass through Georgia, SC, and NC.  He gave us some nice tips to assist with our travel planning. They told us that before we leave here we should visit a local park. We hope to do that in the morning before we head out for our next stop north.