Historic Fernandina Beach

While the Amelia Island plantation is nice, Beth & I decided to take a taxi "uptown" and experience what the locals had to offer. Fernandina Beach is a town of about 11-12,000people, about the same size as Coshocton, and probably very similar to Coshocton....if Coshocton had multi-million dollar beach condos, two thriving golf resorts, and a steady influx of rich Yankees spending money like drunken sailors! We toured the historic downtown area of about 7 blocks, down by the marina on the west side of the Island. You can also see the Smurfit-Stone pulp mill on the intra-coastal waterway....I could smell a hint of sulfur in the air...on the whole, it reminded me of home....only with warmer weather and filthy little pelicans. You can see Beth's pleased expression as we found some small vestiges of the paper mills at home.

Overlooking the peaceful waters of the Fernandina Beach Marina towards the Pulp Mill

From local history, apparently Fernandina beach was the place where the modern shrimpin' industry was founded. The shrimp trawler, with big trawling nets, immortalized by Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, was first used to mass-harvest shrimp from the sea in the waters off Jacksonville, FL. You can see a picture of a nice row of Shrimpin' boats in the below picture. Please disregard the filthy little pelicans.

"Shrimp gumbo, shrimp 'n rice, shrimp stew, fried shrimp, bolled shrimp, shrimp cocktail, shrimp n' beans...."

At the end of the Marina, was a life-like plastic shark, guaranteed to catch the eye and the photographic lens of a true tourist. So, rather than disappoint the locals who went to such great lengths to mount it on the wharf, I obliged by taking a "freshly caught photo" for my fan club. It was a great struggle, let me tell you, but I finally got that shark in the boat. My arms were completely worn out....they felt like useless rubber bands...okay, I'll stop:).

The Great White Hunters with their Great White Prey

To close on a more aviation-related theme, I went out and picked up my Night currency requirements last night. 5 landings in 0.8hrs. I also activated the XM weather capabilities of the G1000, and while I didn't have time to thoroughly appreciate all the information, I was favorably impressed. Who needs flight watch now?