Fernandina Beach

    Fernandina Beach is an historic town on the northern end of Amelia Island.  My brother Ralph and his wife Kim live here.  From the water it truly doesn’t look very appealing at first, as the town is sandwiched between two very active paper mills.  Between them, the waterfront is almost entirely a marina, and there is a small shipping port as well.  But take the dinghy into the dock and you are instantly in the historic section with its Italianate architecture and brick-lined walks.  Restaurants and shops are clustered beyond the old train depot, live oaks and other local flora line the streets and arch overhead.  Right now it’s all decked out for Christmas with lots of lights, ribbons, and wreathes. 

Fernandina Beach Historic District

Even the paper mill looks festive at night!

The weather could have gone either way for us - the forecast was very very strong winds and thunderstorms - but most of the time it was sunny and warm and the winds were considerate about abating in the evenings when Dan and I returned to the boat in the anchorage for the night.  We stayed in the Fernandina Beach anchorage for the entire week.

Ralph and Kim live in an older neighborhood near the beach.  They couldn’t have been more generous hosts.  They lent us their only car for the whole week so we could run as many errands as we wanted.  We ate dinner with them every night, either Kim’s fabulous cooking, or dining out in one of the many restaurants.  On Thursday my sister Betty drove down from South Carolina to join us for two days. 

            While she and Kim went horseback riding on the beach, Ralph gave Dan and I a little tour of the American beach, which used to be the segregated African-American beach and host to a lively African-American community.  There is a small building here that once used to be a juke-joint where musicians like Louis Armstrong came to play.  That night we all went out to dinner in honor of Ralph's birthday.

On Friday, we hosted everybody on the Willie Dawes for a quick run back up to Cumberland Island.  None of the others had been ashore there, so Dan dropped us all off at the  No-Public-Use dock and we explored a little while he anchored nearby and brought the dinghy in to join us.  We checked out the ruins and the cemetery, and walked the beach a little. 

Siblings (and Dan) on the beach.

We saw horses everywhere, but one armadillo this time, and on the way back to the dock we spotted a couple of deer.  We had a glorious sunset cruise back to Fernandina Beach.  One of our many errands during the week was a run to Ace Hardware to pick up a string of Christmas lights.  We didn’t realize they were solar-powered and set to come on automatically at dusk when we bought them.  So much fun to see them suddenly light up as we approached the marina dock to discharge our cargo!  

Saturday morning Betty drove back home and we returned the car to Ralph and Kim, enjoying one last meal with them before they brought us back to our dinghy to wish us bon voyage.  Perhaps they’ll join us in the Bahamas.  We hope so.  

Kim & Ralph & Max