With the bike weeks around the corner, bikers from around the country have their motorcycles out of winter storage and cleaning their leather in anticipation of a motorcycle rally like no other. While Daytona is definitely a place to spend the week of 5 March, Florida offers some great routes through pristine landscapes to some great biker destinations.
About an hour and a half north of Daytona on A1A lies the bustling beach townJacksonville Beach, where we are to start our road trip just because, well, that where I come from! On any given day you can find bikes and bikers parked and hanging out at the Jax Beach Pier parking lot. Just across the road from the famous Mango's biker bar, a great place for bikers is to meet, have some good home cooking and have a few pool. Weekends during the summer, typically you will find some heavy metal band performing outside on the porch. To put your bestCome leather motorcycle jacket and out to Mango's start our first north Florida road trip.
Our first trip will start from Jax Beach, heading north on A1A to Fernandina Beach, a quaint little island town with its own unique attitude. If you follow A1A north, leaving after giving birth at Mayport Naval Station, you'll be cruising through the swamps at the mouth of the St. Johns River and come to a dead end at the ferry in Mayport Village. TraditionalFishing village, this is where most of north Florida gets their seafood. Shrimp boats, party boats, and deep sea charters line the docks, and you can even a gambling cruise from here. If you're hungry, there is an old wooden shack sitting on the water that serves some of the best seafood. Singletons is not much to see, but it's always been there and people drive for miles on the water enjoying the freshest seafood Florida seated as thePelicans scrounge for theirs.
Take the ferry across the river, you will be picked up A1A heading north. On the right you will soon see a huge barren sandbar that was formed by the northern jetties at the mouth of the St. Johns. On the eastern edge are the jetties, the Atlantic Ocean and a beach that is packed with babes of all shapes and sizes. The west side is a lagoon and the Fort George River inlet. A very wide beach at low tide, vehicles have been swallowed up and sweptaway from the Atlantic because of people parking just a little too close to the water, and a walk in the dunes. A good place for jet skiing, swimming, fishing and surfing, Huguenot Park also has a campground with primitive and RV camp sites and showers.
For the next few miles you will cross through some of the most pristine and unspoiled wetlands in Florida. Island hopping through little and big Talbot Islands and the Timacuan Preserve, this coastal area is one of thethe few in Florida untouched by development, and will theoretically remain that way. Rich flora and fauna, and nature lovers flock to the area in kayaks and canoes to navigate the waterways in search of trout and redfish.
Traveling in the Nassau Sound Bridge to Florida's' northernmost barrier island, the developments once again start to pop up. The internationally-known spa resort Iceland Amelia Plantation has vast acreages of condos, cottages, an inn by competingnone, and a huge convention center that attracts companies from around the world. A community in itself, an attempt by the plantation, and has done a good job, to preserve the natural habitat.
Not to be outdone, the Ritz Carlton just a few miles north and is also a magnet for the well to do that on a golf course and all the spoils, the Ritz is known!
Almost there, we drive A1A into downtown Fernandina Beach. An old fishing village like Mayport, Fernandina is much larger and hasmany unique and historic buildings. The waterfront is speckled with shrimp boats and charter deep sea, and Brent is the restaurant at the harbor. Fernandina Beach is also an annual shrimp festival the first weekend in May.
Ending our motorcycle excursion from Jacksonville Beach about an hour (for non-stop), our last stop on a very popular pub for bikers and locals. The Palace Saloon has existed since 1878, and although it burned in 1999, wasits 18 from the Century wood decor restored. More than a bar, a restaurant, this is where you learn to know the locals, many of them in the hotel industry and in any case, how to Party Hardy! With live bands, dancing, flirting and drinking, the Palace Saloon is the place to party in Fernandina Beach!
In my next road trip article we are going south on A1A to our nations oldest city in the head. Founded by Ponce de Leon in 1513 and home to the fountain of youth, this place is justa little drinking town with a fishing problem!
No comments:
Post a Comment