Fernandina Beach, FL

 Up early for a long day motoring.  We planned to make it all the way to the St. John's river near Jacksonville about 60 nautical miles away.

 

Pretty bridge in the background near St. Simon's Island.  The currents were against us, literally all day long.  2 knots against us often, slowing us to 4 knots for a good part of the day.  Our friends from Oriental on Dragonfly and Jennabird were a few miles in front of us and invited us to join them at Fernandina Beach.  Since we weren't going to make it to our intended destination, it seemed like a good idea!

 

Closer to Fernandina Beach, there is a huge complex that I believe is a degaussing station for ships.

 

Strange structures that apparently remove magnetization.

 

Pretty working vessels.

 

This pile of wood chips belongs to Westrock Corporation. 

 

They apparently are a huge paper and packaging company.

 

I thought the smell of the wood chips was a nice, pleasant smell.   I don't think everyone in the town agrees.

Even though Fernandina is a "tourist town", there is a lot of industry going on. 

We anchored near the channel and went ashore to meet up with Debbie & Dale from Dragonfly and Alicia & Harry from Jennabird.  They had a game of pickleball in mind.  So we walked down the busy downtown boulevard towards the park.

 

Lots of beautiful old structures.

 

We found the park with lots of open courts. Everyone but us knew how to play so they gave us a fun beginner lesson.  Sortof like tennis but easier.  Lots of rules though.....

 

I asked for a photo so I could prove to Pat that we actually played....and Duane took it as an opportunity to be silly.

 

But he did behave for a moment....

 

Walking back thru town, more pretty houses.

 

And we all stopped at Pepper's restaurant for a fun meal. 

Back to the boats as we all need to get near St. Augustine because there is some nasty weather coming this week!