Day 173 - Spanish Moss, Darien, GA and the A1A, FL

Lee's obsession with Spanish Moss only intensified as we left Savannah and found that there was even more in the suburbs compared to the city! It is now the end of October and with all the Halloween decorations, it felt very spooky even at though it was just after breakfast!

We hit the interstate and headed south until we reached the small fishing town of Darien. I had read about this town before the trip and was expecting to find a quaint little fishing town that we could walk around over lunch. We drove around for a while trying to find some quaintness to get excited about before deciding that hunger was making us (well mainly me) a little grumpy.

Google found us a restaurant with a good rating called Skippers' Fish Camp. The restaurant wasn't along the main high street but tucked away next to what looked like timeshare apartments.

We sat outside overlooking Pompeii's Head until it started to rain, then we retreated inside to the bar where we had fresh fish and a beer or two (for Lee, I was driving!).

Outside the restaurant there were the remains of an old wall. This is what was left of the cotton exchange warehouses and naval stores built between 1815 and 1830 and it looked like it was built of oyster shells!

Refreshed after lunch, we hit the road again with me at the wheel! Lee was entertained (or distracted from my driving!) by the constant storm clouds, the roadside turkeys, the first roundabouts we'd seen for months (they do seem to be becoming more and more popular in the States) and finally, the Florida State Line!

Lee had a great plan to avoid the traffic around Jacksonville and stay off the interstates, we were going to take the A1A from Yulee all the way down to St Augustine. 

The A1A is a Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway that runs all the way down the Atlantic Coast in Florida to the Keys. Interestingly, it is also the main road that runs through Miami Beach!

The journey was filled with lots more Spanish Moss (to Lee's delight), pretty coastal towns, bridges, small beach towns, wetlands, nature preserves and past some very impressive houses, including a castle!

Now, there is a slight 'challenge' with this road. At Ft. George Island, the road stops, there is no bridge to cross the 0.9 miles over the Saint Johns River. But we are planning pros by now and had already looking into this. There is a car ferry, called The Mayport Ferry, which for $6 takes you across the river so you can join the A1A on the other side in the town of Mayport.

The trip was going really well until we reached the ferry port and read the sign to say it was closed due to renovations, there would be no ferry today! Our only option was an hour's detour, we went inland until we reached the interstate, went down the interstate a few stops and then headed back towards the coast until we reached the A1A again.

Sadly there are no photos of this experience, I was driving and Lee had his nose in the map trying to work out what to do.

Once back on the A1A, we decided we needed to stop and get some sand between our toes. We found a carpark at Vilano Beach, the whole area felt like a cheesy 80's holiday destination with the art deco buildings and tourist shops but as it was off season, everything was closed... apart from the beach which we only had to share with the seagulls.

The houses backing onto the beach looked stunning, what a location to live in although it did look like some of the houses were getting a little close to the edge of the sand dunes and needed to be pushed back!

We left the beach and were just 10 minutes away from St Augustine. If you are staying in St Augustine, this is definitely a day trip you need to make, more so in the off season when the holiday makers have gone home and you can just enjoy walking along the beach with no one around.