Sunrise to Sunset at Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach, FL

Our first stop was Fort Clinch State Park in Fernandina Beach, FL.  The park is located on the south side of the St. Mary’s Inlet at the most northeastern point of Florida.  It was a beautiful beach setting so fitting as our last stop in Florida before we head north.  Both mornings we woke to a beautiful sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and ended each day with a gorgeous sunset over the St. Mary’s River.  Our morning stroll to the beach we were greeted by the deer that stroll the dunes including a sighting of a mama deer with her nursing newborn fawn.  At the recommendation of the park host, we rode our bikes into the historical downtown of Fernandina Beach to view the 18th century homes and their stunning architecture.  While biking along the riverfront, we happened upon the Amelia River cruise that was just about to embark on its 2.5 hour Cumberland Island Tour and decided to hop aboard.  Captain Pajama Dave (owner of Pajama Life clothing store) wearing his pajama pants guided the boat on a very informative historical and ecological tour of Amelia Island and Cumberland Island.  Both are rich in history and Captain Dave is very knowledgeable in the history of the area and an excellent storyteller.  If you ever get the chance to visit Fernandina Beach you should definitely take one of his many cruises.  At Captain Dave’s recommendation, we enjoyed lunch at Timoti’s Seafood shack indulging on a shrimp po boy and blackened grouper sandwich made with the local catch.  After lunch we biked over to what is referred to as “Old Town” to check out some more 18th century architecture and the house where “The adventures of Pippy Longstocking” was filmed.  We biked back to the park to tour Fort Clinch, the Confederate, Union, Spanish, British fort that is rich in history  but was never involved in battle.  The fort was designed like an irregular pentagon with five tower bastions that offer incredible views of the ocean, inlet and river with cannons pointed conveniently at Georgia which is directly across the inlet.  Returned to the campground to enjoy happy hour and a sunset stroll on the beach searching for shark’s teeth.  Our neighbors, who we found the six degree of separation to be true as they had worked for 30 years with one of Greg’s college roomates, found a megalodon tooth that was the size of the palm of a human hand – pretty cool find indeed!
We definitely plan a return trip to Fort Clinch and would highly recommend the area to anyone looking for a great place to visit in northeastern Florida.  Looking forward to our next stop Croft Lake State Park in Spartanburg, SC. Sunrise to Sunset at Fort Clinch State Park, Fernandina Beach, FL