As you approach Fernandina Beach from the north you go past factories billowing smoke/steam from their chimneys. It all looks very industrial. Paper is the main business here. We began to worry about our decision to stay a night. We arrived at about 2:30pm, got our lined made up, power hooked up, received our welcome packet and jumped off the boat to explore. We were pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful town right by the marina. A ‘quaint’ southern town with lots of history an old (for the US) buildings. Plenty of shops, restaurants, bars and cafés. Positively teaming with culture! If you are ever near Jacksonville, FL, it is well worth a visit.
We haven’t been to the beach on the ocean side but we are told that it is beautiful as well.
After a coffee, chocolate eclair and wander around town we returned to the boat to lounge in the sunshine and have our pre dinner drinks 🍸. We booked (online) a table at a little French restaurant (Le Clos) we had walked past earlier. There was no sign of life when we walked past it so we half expected it not to be operating. We arrived 2 minutes early and still it was all locked up. By magic it opened on time and we had a fantastic meal on their heated outdoor back terrace. Timmy approved and enjoyed all the dropsies !
What an amazing find !
We rolled back to the boat and tidied up.
We are not quite sure if the train running along the promenade between the factories will be running all night but Timmy does not like it one bit and insists on defending the boat 🐶🐶🐶