Fernandina Beach - "Not Florida"

N30°39.958', W081°28.483'
Fernandina Beach is another of those stops that "Everybody" makes along the Cruiser Highway.  After leaving Jacksonville, we discovered that we were missing a card for our Chart Plotter for this part of the East Coast (I know, how did THAT happen?) and we would have to wait for a few days for the new one to arrive.  Fernandina Beach, with it's inexpensive mooring field and close proximity to the Florida/Georgia border,  looked like a great place to hang out!

After our rainy arrival (remember, we're still in Florida where it rains EVERY DAY!), we began to get the impression that the people at the Fernandina Harbor Marina were pretty laid back.  That impression held true thoughout our stay here as the staff made us feel very welcome and couldn't have been more accommodating.

The marina is just on the other side of the ICW from the mooring field with this long fuel and transient dock.  Even with the strong reversing currents that run through here, it's an easy on/easy off stop for fuel, water and pump out services.

We unloaded our bikes and parked them near the dinghy dock so that we could get around town a little quicker, although the main street runs just up from the marina, so we're right in the middle of the entertainment.  The grocery store, however, is a couple of miles away so having the bicycles was VERY nice. We ended up staying just over a week here before moving on.  We had great wi-fi and lots of things to do to pass the time.

The only thing even remotely wrong with this town is the view of, and smell emitting from this paper plant.  It's fine when the wind blows the smell of burning 'something' in another direction, but when it comes your way... it permeates everything, leaving an odd burnt smell lingering in the air that we could still smell after the wind changed direction...

Awesome sunsets!

We enjoyed the beautiful sunsets every day.  There was nothing to restrict our view with the wide open landscape to the West of our mooring field.  The dolphin rolled lazily at the water's surface adding to the gorgeous scene.

The railroad track ran between the marina and and the town.  We grew accustomed to the daily sounds of the trains as they moved back and forth carrying 'something' to/from the paper plant...  There is a bar in town that it is rumored, gives shots to the patrons every time the train goes by... but somehow, we never got there...

Before...

Coming and going by dinghy, we were continually amazed by the dramatic tide range of this place.  We just don't HAVE this where we come from...

Mud Flats where there had been water!

We parked the dinghy at the dock and left for a few hours... and when we returned, we had THIS!

See the mud there at the edge of the dock?

It left a trail of slimy icky muddy water...

Our dinghy was practically sitting high and dry!  We had to raise the motor and pull it back out to deeper water before we could leave!
















We learned our lesson and parked at the OTHER dinghy dock where there was plenty of water all day.

A quiet space tucked in between two buildings...

The town is just lovely.  The City of Fernandina Beach has done a great job of creating beauty in the most unlikely places.  Everywhere you look, there is evidence of the pride this community takes in their town.

I love the old buildings still in use.  And there is NO shortage of churches.  It seemed like there was literally one on every street...

Lesesne House

The Palace - Florida's Oldest Bar

We found a little bakery on Atlantic Avenue that had the most wonderful Sticky Buns EVER.  Ok so I've never had a sticky bun... but I'm sure that these are the BEST!

We ended up having breakfast here about half of the days we were here...  We discovered that they also make a muffin that is very much like carrot cake, which is Bruce's favorite.  They were scrumscious...  My rationale is that since we were riding our bikes to get here, it didn't matter if we ate pastries for breakfast every day...  

We had a little bit of shopping to do while we were here.  We don't do a lot of that in our travels since we have no room for nick-nacks on the boat... But my daughter's upcoming birthday gave us the excuse.  We found a sweet set of pearls from China that seemed like just the thing...

The trip to the Post Office to mail off that package was even a treat.  We have visited several communities who still use their old old Post Offices.  

Entering these quiet halls produces a sense of reverence in me.  I can almost feel the multitude of people who have come and gone here through the years... leaving their presence in the air.  I know, strange... But the place just had a historical feel to it that was palpable.  

We made it across the island to the beach one day.   We were a little surprised to see the waters all brown and muddy looking, even as far offshore as we could see.













We stopped for lunch at Sandy Bottoms.  We had a nice lunch overlooking the Atlantic and wondered if the waters were so stirred up because of the shifting shoals that reach out for miles from here.  Sandy Bottoms serves a side dish we've never had before... Fried Baked Potatoes.  They bake the potatoes, then cut them into chunks and coat them in a light covering, then briefly deep fry them.  It was pretty good...

Why does this Lifeguard look to be about 12 years old?...

They say that you should never try to do more than one thing in a day as Cruisers.  This is very true when it comes to grocery shopping.  We made several trips to the Winn Dixie and the Dollar Store right next door.  We can only carry so much on our backs so we had to make several trips... But it's great exercise and we took a different route each trip so that we got to see a lot of the town.  We rode down by the paper plant and the railroad tracks on the way home one day, and found this enormous pile of wood pulp.  There was a machine blowing more on top of the pile.  The air smelled of wood all the way to the mooring field.  I wonder what happens to all that pulp when it rains?

All week long we kept an eye out for a good place to have our Anniversary dinner...  We were married ten years ago on July 18th, 2004 and had a tradition of eating lobster on our anniversary.  We've kind of let that go in recent years, but were looking for fish at least...

Angel Food Cake with strawberries and Amaretto Chocolate Liqueur.

In typical Cruiser style, we found some nice looking tuna steaks at the grocery store, and ended up having a simple, delicious tuna salad with a decadent dessert on our own boat instead of going out.  I think our quiet, low key celebration was just perfect and befits our lives together much more than any fancy dinner ever could...

We did have some touristy fun while we were here... One day we rode our bikes to the Community Center to take the Amelia Island Lighthouse Tour.  The lighthouse is Florida's oldest continually working light and it is very rustic.

They only offer a limited schedule of tours and we were lucky to be here during one of them.  We rode the shuttle from the Community Center to the lighthouse.  This site is set apart from the other lighthouses we've visited, (and there have been many...) by their lighthouse keeper, Helen O'Hagan Sintes.  Helen is a third generation keeper and has lived in this lighthouse for her entire life.  She is in her 80s and still climbs the stairs daily.

We weren't able to climb into the tower as it isn't safe for the public, but we got to take a peek inside the bottom.  These stairs are made of stacked granite and there is no evidence of any type of supporting structure inside of them.  They are just stacked in a spiral all the way to the top.

I'm not sure that I would have been able to climb them even IF we had been given the opportunity...

While we were in the neighborhood, we detoured to the entrance of Fort Clinch... but unfortunately we put it off this trip.  The miles we had already traveled plus the additional three mile bike ride to get to the fort were more than I could do at the moment.  Will have to save this one for our next visit here...

We always love a local farmer's market and were happy to walk through the stands set up all along one of the closed off side streets.  The produce was beautiful and there were many other things we don't usually see such as locally made goat cheeses and meats.

We bought some veggies and I got my first taste of Georgia Peaches... YUM!  Oh just the smell of them makes me swoon!

We also bought some more pastries... I know, I know... but they look so good!

We got our new map card and would have been ready to get out of Florida...  Our insurance premium goes down the moment we cross the Florida/Georgia Border... and it's just moments away... But, we were delayed by some back pain that I experienced for about a solid five days.  Luckily, we had something for it and I was able to get over it enough to pull my weight, so to speak on board and we were only delayed by a couple of days.

Fernandina Beach has a lot to offer and we will make it a regular stop on our way up and down the coast in the future.  The Marina staff were so friendly and welcoming.  The laundry and shower facilities were in great shape and very clean.  The Cruiser's Lounge had deep leather couches and cold AC.  The wi-fi was super-fast... there are just so many reasons why this spot is so very "Not Florida"...  Gone are the wall to wall developments... Small town ways are prevalent here.  It's really more like "South Georgia" than Florida... We haven't even left yet and it's already like we're somewhere else!