FERNANDINA BEACH, FLORIDA

Full Stop

After seeing so many beautiful homes over the last few weeks, I thought I'd be rather blasé over another raft of them on Amalie Island. 

Not so. This small town had quite the collection of very well maintained classics.

Another stunner - Queen Ann style.
One of the reasons that there are over 400 historically significant buildings is that the first cross-Florida railroad began here and then Fernandina beach became an important shipping terminal to the rest of the world.

Gingerbread detail from one of the smaller cottages. 

Appropriately, this is known as the Tabby House for the type of concrete used in the structure. I've come to the conclusion that as much as I love concrete as a building material, tabby concrete doesn't always please my eye especially when incorporated into some architectural designs.

The Bailey Mansion was, up until recently, a B & B but tightening building safety requirements forced the owners to sell.

This home typlifies what I think of as Southern style of architecture with wide two story verandas, storm shutters and lap siding. The flowering shrub in the foreground is called a shrimp flower plant. Camellias bloom at the edge of the picture.

Though our two week cruise has stretched into a two month travelog, things are far from over. Over the next few months the blog will focus on the sights closer to home, or at least the West. Stay tuned and thanks for traveling in the passenger seat. If you have comments you can leave them at the blogsite (ferrytrails.blogspot.com). Emails are always appreciated but if you are a subscriber do not reply to the blog post directly as it is a "no-reply" type of email; drop me a note directly (billatferry360dotcom).

CROSSING THE LINE

From Georgia To Florida

Along the way we saw this. A strange structure with a very specific purpose.

We also saw two Navy ships also with a very specific purpose.

Adding to the mystery, two hangars that open on to the water. Any idea what we are dealing with?

It is all part of Kings Bay Nuclear Submarine Base near the Georgia - Florida state line. From what I could learn, there are three classes of subs that homeport here. 

Sometimes submarine resupply operations take place far from home, which is a service the two ocean going Navy tugs can provide (previous pictures). Also previously the two hangars can keep prying sky-eyes away from maintenance and munition duties. 

One of our passengers onboard was a navy vet and he said that the large steel frame cage in the top image was something called a degausser, which was developed during WW II to removes the magnetic field that exists in a ship steel hull that would cause a mine to detonate as it got close. Today the cage removes the magnetic signature from these sleek warships and, in theory, allows them to pass unnoticed from foreign listening devices.

Also passing frequently undetected for most all of the two weeks that we have been cruising have been porpoises. Occasionally the cry would go out, "Oh, look, fish!", and of course the porpoises would disappear. These two did not escape the camera.

We would hit pockets of industrial activity as we moved in and out of larger shipping channels. This is a paper mill.

We did see reminders of the destructiveness of Hurricane Sandy. Tidal surge can do more damage than the wind and rain.