TripAcross.net
Total Miles Traveled: 62,631
Her View
Amelia Island - Caywood's perspective
Amelia Island: a city of seclusion! I have nothing negative to say about this place. On the way from Miami to Charleston, we decided to spend the night in the Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach area. IT WAS GORGEOUS. The sand on the beaches was incredible. On my birthday night, we took a long walk on the beach with a glass of wine, and just enjoyed the fresh sea breeze. Also, I found my first ever shark tooth!!! It. Was. Awesome. After enjoying the beach we watched Finding Nemo in the van and went to bed early after an 8-hour day of driving. Next thing to point out about Amelia Island: Amelia Island Coffee in their little downtown area. Great coffee, nice baristas, really has the local hometown feel like Dakota Coffee in Dothan!
The last thing I want to point out about Amelia Island is an amazing story we came across while there. A man named Felix Jones - their local boiled peanut pusher, and according to a gas station attendant the city's "gift from God." This man, who has cerebral palsy, rides around downtown Amelia Island every day from sunrise to sunset, selling anything he can get his hands on - newspapers, warm bags of boiled peanuts, etc. The majority if not all of Felix's proceeds to go various charities. This is truly an amazing man. On our way out of town we rode around for 15 minutes or so trying to find him, but with no luck. It was Sunday so he very likely was in church. This is my one suggestion - if you ever vacation or visit Amelia Island, spend some time downtown and hope that you get the opportunity to meet Felix Jones. I know we'll be back to try and meet him.
His View
Amelia Island - Feliks' perspective
This was a last minute stop, I Googled 'best beaches to for shark teeth' and this was on a list of top ten. The island was a good distanace from the interstate and I thought it would be a nice quiet place to relax. I was right. The beach was magnificent. The sand was so soft and clean. People were walking out 30 feet and still the water was waist level. There were not a lot of people on the beach, it was clean and went on for miles. Even though the weather was a little gray, the walk down the beach was perfect. Caywood found a shark tooth just sitting in the sand, pretty good size. She was very excited. I found nothing.
There was free parking everywhere. We spent the night in the beach parking lot and no one borthered us. We took a short stroll on the beach after dark and there were a number of people looking for crabs with flashlights. We didn't have one with us, the moon was decently bright but it looked like they were finding them everywhere.
In the morning we drove downtown and had breakfast in a little coffee shop. Nothing special but it was quiet and they had wifi. The downtown area was very small town like, one main street and some side streets. Parking was no problem.
Just before leaving the island we stopped at a gas station to ask about boiled peanuts, we were on a kick. This is where we learned about Felix Jones. Apparently this guy sells peanuts, newspaper, and pies from his bike and donates it all to charity, oh he has cerebral palsy. His story is increadable and you should read it. Linked to his name.
Overall the Island was very nice, local, pretty much no tourist, even though someone told us later that many tennis players start there. I would go back for a weekend for the beach. Great place.