Tuesday October 26th 2021

The sun was back in full brilliance and the humidity was down today. The high temperature was very comfortable in the low eighties.

Today turned into a bit of a wandering tour of the area. While I was out on a couple of errands, I found myself driving east along the north bank of the St. Johns river toward the Atlantic Ocean. The area nearest the city is dedicated to the port of Jacksonville. I passed piers for oil tankers, container ships, car carriers and even cruise ships. The port was fairly busy, but it didn’t look backlogged like some of the west coast ports.

The road I was on transitioned into route A1A after passing a ferry port across the river. A1A continued on toward the Atlantic Ocean then turned north onto Little Talbot Island and Big Talbot Island and eventually Amelia Island. It was high tide. There were plenty of the little boat ramps to pull off the road into to get a vie of the river. I didn’t see much traffic on the water. Near the Atlantic Ocean I saw several ships apparently at anchor waiting to enter the port, so maybe the port is busy.

The Talbot islands are primarily state parks. I didn’t see any areas to stop along the road other than entering the parks. That is something that I may do, but it will require a little more planning. Areas to stop got even more scarce once I transitioned onto Amelia Island. My brief impression was of traffic circles, gated communities and full tiny parking lots for bicycle trails. If I really want to explore the southern end of Amelia Island I’ll need to bring my bicycle. Once I reached route 200 back to Intestate 95, I bailed on the island for now.

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