Fun in Fernandina

We arrived in Fernandina on Friday afternoon. We are staying at The Amelia Island Yacht Basin...very friendly, we recommend it. They even have a courtesy van...no charge, take the keys and go...so we did...to Publix to restock and of course, Chip was drawn into the local West Marine store.

Fernandina Beach is a sweet little village at the north end of Amelia Island. It has the distinction of being the "northern most city in Florida" as well as the oldest "platted" Spanish city in Florida. There once was a rail road that connected Fernandina to Cedar Key on the west coast. There seems to be a bit of a competition between Fernandina Beach & St Augustine for who has the oldest this or the first that... (St Augustine is winning.)

From where our boat is docked we can look out across the river to Cumberland Island which is in Georgia. The Carnegies had a beautiful home there which is an inn today. I believe JFK Jr. was married there. To this day there are wild horses roaming the island left behind by the Spanish. You can only get there by private boat or ferry. We may "dink" over there tomorrow on our way to Jekyll Island. Everything depends on tides, winds and weather...You can learn more about it on www.greyfieldinn.com

We spent all day yesterday being tourists...went on the trolley tour (Polly the Trolley) and learned all about the history of the island...had a libation at the Palace Saloon, the "oldest saloon" in the states...the downtown area encompases about 50 blocks of Victorian Homes of which many have been converted into Bed & Breakfasts. The Riverfront is alive with fishermen & shrimpers and boats of all sizes. Very picturesque harbor. We had dinner last night at The Down Under, the best fried shrimp I've ever had in my life. (Everytime we go out to eat I order shrimp). Today we ran the dinghy out and went fishing...didn't catch a thing but some rays. Getting a little laundry done, cooking on board tonight...got to see all our "babies" via their new webcams...I am a tan, happy and well shrimped Mimi.