Amelia Island

Tuesday morning dawned clear and calm. 

We all wanted a down day after 2 whirlwind days in St. Augustine, so a beach day it is!


The surprise was the “sand”.  It is mostly coarsely ground or tiny whole shells.

We were told there were lots of shark teeth, so we searched and searched and didn’t find a one!

We found a shady area under the stairs for Bob to read while we walked the beach and it was a wonderful spot to eat lunch.

Of course I found beautiful homes even on the beach . They were bringing more sand down to the beach to protect the houses.  Hurricane Irma removed much of the sand endangering the houses.  How much sand will it take to shore up the beach?

We checked out a couple more beaches – but none with shells like we found at the first one.  This one had actual sand!


Refreshed and ready for more adventures, off we go to tour Amelia Island and Fort Clinch.

Fort Clinch

Built in 1847. The only battle it ever saw was 1862 when the Union forces took it back from the Confederate forces.  One of the volunteers at the fort has lived there for many years, donating hours upon hours researching its history and restoring the fort.

He has posted “notices” as they would have appeared during the civil war.

The jail’s floor was built using some wall bricks which wear faster than floor bricks resulting in a floor that is extremely uneven.  The prisoners were incarcerated according to the type of crime – the worst one was solitary with bread and water put in through the bottom of the door.

The pots in the kitchen were huge!

The laundry was well equipped.

After the tour of the fort we took a tour of the town on a trolley.  So many beautiful homes on the tour.

From little…

…to big…

…to bigger…

…to unique (notice the carousel horses on the porch)…

…to Pippi Longstocking’s house (used in making the movie)!

I had to take this picture because Green Turtles seem a big part of our journey – Green Turtle Marina, Green Turtle Cay, and now Green Turtle Cafe!

“The Oldest” is quite a theme in this area, here is Joni with her new boyfriend at the Oldest Bar! (She didn’t go in!)

We spent the rest of the day on the beach trying to find shark teeth – we were destined for failure!

Bob went swimming but it was still too cold for Joni and I

Instead we walked the beach – Joni captured this awesome picture of the Laughing Gulls flying away from her.

More beaches on Thursday!

That night Joni treated us to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse: delicious steaks all around!

That evening the rescue boat across from us went out on a training mission.

One at a time a diver would go into the water and a helicopter rescuer came down and “saved” him.

Great video!!

Friday was supposed to be at Cumberland Island on an all day tour.  What we didn’t know was we needed to make the reservations long in advance.  A quick redirection of our plans included a visit to the base historic airplane exhibit, a day in Jacksonville visiting an art museum and garden (but the garden had been destroyed by Hurricane Irma – just our luck!), a driving tour of some beautiful homes, and, (wait for it) – more beaches!

Lots of planes to see

Even though the garden was still recovering from the hurricane, the museum was beautiful with a history of art.

This was a beautiful piece from the original house where the museum is now located.

Here is one of the gardens struggling to recover

At least Joni got to see SOME flowers!

We saw several historic homes, but were disappointed that we couldn’t find a walking tour describing them.

Joni and I were both amazed at the number of magnolias and most in full bloom.

Joni ended her time with us on a funny note – but I don’t think she’ll ever step foot in another Beall’s!  We were trying on clothes and she got locked into her dressing room!  It took three clerks to get her out.  We were close to breaking down the door .

This was taken just as the door popped open – relief!!

Saturday was Joni’s morning of departure. The sailboat next to us gave her a view not seen by many as he was doing work on his mast.

This is something I wish I could do!

 

Farewell Joni – until next time!  Your berth awaits :)

When we got back from the airport there was a truck stuck in the bog along side of the road at the marina.  He was on his way to pull his boat out of the water – not a good way to end the day .

Sunday we went to church, caught up on laundry, and had a wonderful lunch/dinner out at Mission BBQ.  There are not a lot of these restaurants around, but if you get the chance, we highly recommend it.  All the food that we ate was wonderful and the ambience was very patriotic.  Their motto is “Serving those who serve”.

We depart in the morning towards North Carolina and closing our Loop!

Docked at Mulberry Cove Marina, Jacksonville NAS – April 27th – May 7th, 2018 – Joni’s visit