Pippi Longstocking Lived here

by Nancy

Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach Marina – Last stop in Florida

We don’t usually travel the ICW on the weekend but due to the weather delay in St. Augustine, we were set back a day and ended up traveling on a Saturday. It was rather chilly and overcast and that’s probably why the weekend boat traffic was not an issue. Landed at Fernandina Beach Marina on Amelia Island in time for sunset. Our neighbor took this photo of Flying Colors framing the sunset.

Since we always mention the shopping in any given town, some of you have asked us what we are shopping for. The answer, we are hitting the local art galleries looking for a piece, either metal or a painting to put in the spot on the boat where our “Great Loop” map now resides but will be relocated after the trip. We really enjoy searching out the local galleries and seeing the local talent. Here, the Artist’s co-op was the office building right on Main St found in the movie “The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking”. The green house in the movie that she lived in, is also here, it’s privately owned and I must have taken a wrong turn because I walked until I could not longer walk any longer and still didn’t find it. I am big fan of Pippi, read the books, saw the movie, no didn’t buy the shirt.

The highlight of the trip was taking our 16 mile round trip dinghy ride to Cumberland Island, GA. This is now a National Park and Seashore but the majority of the island was once owned by the Carnegie Family, not Andrew but his brother, Thomas. The 50 room estate lies in ruins now and wild horses can be found everywhere, they have no fear of humans. The beach has dunes reminding us of our Lake Michigan Days. It’s just a really cool blast from the past.

Rainy overcast day, but when we arrived in the marina, fellow looper snapped this shot, a beautiful sunset to end a grey day.
Fernandina Beach Marina at low tide, not used to seeing this much tide and mud!
Dungeoness dinghy dock at Cumberland Island , GA
Cumberland Island, was very rustic, as many National Parks are. They had restrooms and some water bottle refill stations but that was all. We brought our lunch and our own garbage bag and spent the day exploring the island and many of the ruins and old buildings.
A walk from the dinghy dock takes you right to the ruins. The mansion was abandoned during the Depression but in ’59 a fire occurred and this is what remains of the 50 guest room house.
Over 100 wild horses live on the Island, they have been known to come right up to you. Caught this video of Mom and foal.
Found some other hungry Loopers from Rochester, MN and shared dinner with them at Pedros in town. Last time we saw them was in Marathon, so fun to share the stories and the margaritas.

Leave a comment