JACKSONVILLE (Ortega River) to Fernandina Beach on AMELIA ISLAND, FL / Monday to Wednesday, March 7-9 (Days 46-48)

Admiral's Log:     7:30am, Mon. 3/7/16
                           Temp:   50
                           Winds:   3 mph
                           Speed:   6.2



We had a sunny start, but pretty windy. The current is huge in the Jacksonville area. Normally we would be going 8-9 knots, but we had a 2 knot head current which really slowed us down. You also have to watch the markers very closely. It can get really shallow in these swampy areas around these barrier islands.

Example of a marker you can't get too close to!

You can see the current under this bridge

We got to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island at 12:45 and docked behind another Looper couple from Petoskey Michigan 
(Zephyr), Denise and Paul Drake. Another case of small world; they anchored up with Mel and Ann from Birmingham in Mobile Bay and saw them in Marathon around the same time we were there.

The red line is the FL/GA line, the blue dot is our boat

Fernandina Beach is a cute little town. It is the only city in the US that has flown under 8 different national flags. "Amelia" was in honor of Princess Amelia of England and Fernandina was named after King Ferdinand the 7th. 

Palace Saloon

Pretty ornate bar

We had to check out the Palace Saloon; the oldest saloon in Florida. Just had a drink to see it, too smokey since it is a bar. We walked around town a bit and found a cute Mexican place and sat outside for lunch. Went back to the boat and read a while, watched the Lightning and had chicken salad for dinner.

Sea Otter on the dock

Mike had noticed a small fuel leak, so Tuesday we had a mechanic come stop by and had a new fuel hose made; one of the easier fixes we could have. 

Fort Clinch

FL on the right, GA on the left

We went on a tour boat cruise with Paul and Denise around Amelia and Cumberland Islands. You can only get to Cumberland Island, which is in Georgia, by boat. It was the winter home for the Carnegie Family, until it burned down in 1959. The Carnegie's built several houses for their children. One of them is now the Greyfield Inn. It was the venue for John John Kennedy's Wedding. We saw a few wild horses, but they were too far away for any photos.

One of the "cottages" on Cumberland

Vacation home of one of the Carnegie's

New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking was filmed here on Amelia Island (1988)

Our guide told us Fernandina Beach was the birthplace of modern shrimping and largest shrimping city in the world until the farm raised process came about in the mid 80's. They had over 150 shrimp boats at their peak, and now there are only 5, kind of sad. But the restaurants all buy their shrimp locally and it is really good. So light and not chewy, we really could tell the difference. 

I am trying to either take photos or buy artwork of all the Lighthouses we see on this journey. We went on a quest to find the Amelia Island Lighthouse. We must have walked 2 miles, and finally saw it way off in the distance, but could not get a very good picture, so I bought a print. Unfortunately there were no tours while we were there.

Amelia Island Lighthouse

We met up with Paul and Denise again and took them for margaritas at the Mexican place we went for lunch the day before. Mike and I had dinner at the Marina Restaurant. Of course we had to get the fried shrimp and it really was delicious.

Wednesday, Mike was dying for a haircut and found a very colorful barber shop in town. We told Denise and Paul goodbye but new we would meet up with them again the next day on Jekyll Island. We had a good lunch at the restaurant at the marina. Went back to the boat, read a little which usually leads to a nap. Fixed scallops in a pasta sauce for dinner.