Well St. Mary's rolls up their streets on Mondays after busy weekends. Maybe things are more open during the summer. So we went to the Cumberland Island National Seashore office to get tickets for a special six hour tour tomorrow. We were sent down the street to another office, only to find out that the tour is fully booked until late April. Ah well, we would visit the Submarine Museum. Nope, closed Mondays. So we would buy tickets for the ferry and make our own tour tomorrow on Cumberland Island. Whoops, have to go back down the street for tickets for any time other than today. Sigh! Time to regroup.
We left St. Mary's and drove to nearby Amelia Island which would be five minutes by boat, but was 45 minutes by car. This area has so many rivers, backwaters, and salt marshes. There are no direct routes. By the time we got to the historic downtown of Fernandina on the island it was time for lunch. We had some very fresh shrimp and fish at the "Crab Shack." Such a delightful lunch.
We walked along the waterfront and watched huge, brown pelicans hanging around waiting for fish cleaning scraps. There were some big sailboats in the harbor and a few really nice cruisers, but the wind was brisk and chilly. We found a brochure which had a walking tour map. Fernandina has a 50 block historic district with many beautiful old buildings. Our favorite was the Bailey House, a grand old Queen Anne with a wrap around porch. Some of the posts holding up the porch roof were carousel horses. The one in my picture here was another favorite as it was guarded by a cat sitting by the front door - The Baker House. These great old houses were built during Amelia Island's golden years (1875-1900) when tourists came by steamboat from New York, shipping was booming, and the cross Florida railroad arrived in Fernandina. 
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