Jan. 12

We had rowed very close to the ramp at the northern end of Fernandina Beach across the St. Mary’s River.  But to make it easier for Pat Clink to meet us it seemed better to go in to St. Mary’s.  The row back to Fernandina Beach would be a short back track and might leave some time for a side trip to Cumberland Island that we had past yesterday where we could get our bare feet into the sand for a while and make a leisurely crossing the final half mile afterward..  We had risen late and I’d eaten a hearty breakfast of maple syrup with a few pancakes mixed in, a heavy dose of carbohydrates.  When we got to the ramp back in St. Mary’s a fairly strong wind was coming at us from the Southeast. This would be a headwind and when the wind blows against the current it builds up more chop.  My head was feeling fuzzy and I lacked energy. I let my body tell me that the wind was too much and it would not be safe to try to row across the three miles or so to Fernandina.  We stopped to see Pat again at the Habitat office on the way out and tell her we had aborted our plans. She had offered to drive around to Fernandina beach to bring me back to the car.  Then we drove around to find pretty good conditions on the other end and I realized that the overload on maple syrup had given me a drowsy low. So I blame my inertia on the pancake breakfast!  We made up for the lack of our walk on Cumberland Island by visiting Fort Clinch State Park at the northernmost tip of Fernandina Beach.  This was a fantastic place. The old Fort was an impressive structure with huge cannons facing the channel that could have blown away any sailing ship trying to get through. Then we walked the entire length of the fishing pier that stretched for at least half a mile along the breakwater at the entrance to the river.  At the end we stood and watched a huge flock of several different kinds of shorebirds as they rested on the water’s edge of the beach below.  Black Skimmers were mixed with Terns and several different kinds of gulls. Occasionally a group would take off and circle around and land again. The  group behavior programmed into their chromosomes was fascinating to watch. 

We had been advised by our daughter Sarah’s friend, who had lived in Fernandina Beach that there was a special place we should not miss: Fernandina’s Fantastic Fudge! A friend of hers named Sarah, of course, worked there.  We did not need to look far to find the place. I am not one to pass up a homemade ice cream place under any conditions. So we met Sarah, watched her help pour the fudge onto a marble table and ate our ice cream.

Other advice we had been given was to eat at the Beach Street Grille. Heather had made reservations and we ate a nice two-for-one entrée but FFF beckoned for dessert! We returned for our second ice cream around 8:00 and sat outside to eat them.  The boat on our car attracted the attention of some people who pulled up chairs beside us and listened to all we had to say about our trip.  No donations resulted, however!  We gave them cards so perhaps they will mail them in after looking at the website!

It had been a good day in spite of our not rowing a mile. It had definitely been a too much sugar day.

Steve Colwell and Sarah pouring at Fernandina's Fantastic Fudge