Cumberland Island

     The morning excitment came via a call from Greg in Southport, who needed to let us know we had 2" of water in the new basement compliments of the sump pumps not working with the electricity off! Fortunately, no major damage as he got Becky's computer off the floor before the water reached the mother board. Glen next door came to the rescue by running a line off their generator to our pump, and it worked fine. No other damage, Greg seems to be enjoying the adventures!

          We left the campground early and checked in for our new site in the afternoon, the Amelia River Campground site. We hadn't been able to get 3 nights together at one place, so we will have tonight and tomorrow over there; won't get to see the site until after dark tonight.

     Drove in Wendy's Prius to the downtown dock area of Fernandina Beach, bought our tickets for the ferry and bought some coffees. Ferry was a pontoon boat that probably holds 80; we comprised 4 of the 6 passengers this day, and had Scott and Willy as our Captain and narrator.

     Trip out was slow but quite interesting. We learned quite a bit about the important early history of Fernandina Beach, particularly as the major port in Florida for decades. In the far distance we saw the two huge "hangers" for the Kings Bay Naval Base in Georgia. It's home port for 6 "Boomers," including the USS Maine, and 2 attack subs. Occasionally the subs are seen from our campground as they sail by Fort Clinch on the Amelia River.
     Heard quite a bit about the history of Cumberland Island, a huge national park with numerous attachments. Wendy and Carl told us it's well worth a visit, and had planned to take us there but the weather reports discouraged them. We saw several wild horses on the island as we went by. The last battle of the War of 1812 was actually fought there (after the Battle of New Orleans by two weeks!). An interesting sight was a huge flock of white pelicans that nest on the island, and we learned they were more "social" than the more numerous brown pelicans that most folks are familiar with. They don't dive underwater, and instead wait for cormorants or other creatures to chase fish to the surface; they then take turns eating the 4 to 5 pounds of fish a day that makes up their diet.

     St. Mary's is a cute little town, and quite old. Seems the major industry is the National Park Service and trips to Cumberland Island. There's a small visitor center there. There is also an old cemetery, where Robert E. Lee's father, "Light Horse Harry Lee" was buried (and later disinterned, though his gravestone is still there). Had a nice lunch, then Becky and Wendy went exploring the cemetery while Carl and Jim went to a small but delightful Submarine Museum that basically catalogs every US submarine that existed. We later walked around the town, and saw the very early Presbyterian Church and the huge Manse across the street. Seems the minister married a rich woman who owned the Mansion, and after she died he inherited it. The picture above is of Jim on the steps of the church. Ride back was again informative, and above photo is of Willy telling Becky more of the history.

          We went back to Carl and Wendy's, and had another delicious meal and lots of conversation.

           Finally back to the new campsite for the first time, and it was delightful! The sites are huge, well laid out, and are right next to a biking/hiking trail that the dogs loved. Great place to camp and spend some time!