Day 8 – Fort Matanzas and St. Augustine Beach
We slept in a little today because we were really tired and our beds were really comfy.
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| Sleeping teen |
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| View from our window. The beach is out yonder. |
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Our Hotel - The St. Augustine Island Inn
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We finally did wake
and decided we would visit Fort Matanzas.
This is a smaller fort on the Matanzas River. It was built by the Spanish in 1742 to guard the
Matanzas inlet, the southern part of the river and the rear entrance to St.
Augustine.
The fort is run by the parks services and is only accessible via a
ferry. It is free to visit the fort but
you have to get a ferry pass and they go quickly. There is a visitor’s center with a short movie,
models and maps. There is also a nature
trail. The area is beautiful. We got our boarding passes and explored the visitor’s
center and the grounds.
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| Visitors center |
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| Ready to watch the movie |
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| The Movie |
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| Map of area |
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| Neat tree |
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| Spanish moss in tree |
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| Boarding Passes |
Eventually we went down to the dock and boarded the ferry. We could see the fort from the dock and it was kind of exciting to know we were going to take a boat ride over. The ride over was nice and as the fort got bigger we got more excited. There is a dock on the other island with a path over to the fort. We had a ranger who led our group and told about the history, the fort itself and the landscape. We were allowed to explore the fort for about and hour and he was available to ask question. It turns out he was from Cleveland Ohio. We chatted with him for a while and he asked about some of the parks here in Ohio that he had not visited in a while. It was a neat exchange.
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| Signage |
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| careful on the river beach |
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| River beach - the river connect to the Atlantic so it is salt water |
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| Fort sign n foreground and the fort in the distance |
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| Docks - Daughter wanting to know what I am doing |
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| On the ferry on the way to the fort, which you can see just left of center |
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| Fort from island docks |
The fort was impressive despite its small size. It held 6 men, a captain and five soldiers. They rotated out from the larger fort in St. Augustine once a month. It is made of coquina which is a natural limestone composed of broken shells that solidified when mixed with sand and calcite from the shells. It is very durable even though it is about 90% air. The Spanish found that cannon balls would bounce off of it making it a great building material for the forts. There was a big battle between the Spanish and the French here in 1565, which is when St. Augustine was established. The French were slaughtered and that is what Matanzas mean, slaughtered. However this fort was not built until sometime later. The cannons at the fort were real and had been used at one point. The park ranger told us that these could fire cannon as far as the bridge that now crosses the inlet. It was all really interesting and the scenery was beautiful. We all really enjoy history and this was a really informative excursion. I recommend a visit if you are ever in St. Augustine.
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| Our ranger telling us about the fort. You can also see the beauty of the coquina. |
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| Ready to explore |
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| View from fort window |
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| Cannon aimed at the bridge in the distance |
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| Inner workings of the fort |
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| Items the soldiers used to pass the time |
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| Quarter artifacts |
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| Stunning view of the river, looking south, the Atlantic ocean is just to the left of that strip of land on the left |
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| Supplies |
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| Barracks |
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| View from fort looking south |
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| Cannon packing tools |
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| This thing |
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| Spanish flag on top of the fort |
We went back and purchased a few items at the gift shop then headed
back to our hotel. We decided to get
dinner and stopped at a subway on the way back.
We chatted with the lady working there. She was very nice and had lots
of insight on the history of the area.
We went back to our room and changed into beach clothes then headed
over to St. Augustine Beach. We walked
via the Ocean Hammock Park Walkway. It
is a trail for pedestrians and bikes much like the trails we ride at home. We passed several people walking and bike
riding and everyone was very friendly. Part of the is trail is located on highway A1A, so they have these pedestrian flags to use while crossing the street. You take the flag from the side you are on and leave it on the other side for you or whoever crosses the other direction. It was neat.
Our hotel was on the same side of the street as the walkway to the ocean so we didn't have to cross, I was just impressed that it was there. It was a beautiful walkway but much different surroundings than what I thought we would see. I thought a line of palm trees and then sand, sand and more sand. Instead, the area was marshy grassland that eventually opened up to the Atlantic Ocean beach. It was a really pretty walk.
We collected shells, built a sand castle and eventually our daughter put on her mermaid tail and I took some photos of her. She splashed her fin around in the water but none of us really got in the water. The water and beach were beautiful and we enjoyed it.
The sun was setting so we wanted to get back
to our hotel before dark. We hung out in
our room and ate leftover cake (yes we still had cake) and talked out our plan
the next day to see the big fort.
Our hotel was on the same side of the street as the walkway to the ocean so we didn't have to cross, I was just impressed that it was there. It was a beautiful walkway but much different surroundings than what I thought we would see. I thought a line of palm trees and then sand, sand and more sand. Instead, the area was marshy grassland that eventually opened up to the Atlantic Ocean beach. It was a really pretty walk.
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| Walkway trail head sign |
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| Entering the walkway |
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| This area is a protected wetland. I thought the green was beautiful. |
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| Long walk to the beach. It took us a while and we rested a few times. |
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| More grassland to the right of the walkway. Left of the walkway was a high end residential area but once we also passed the beautiful homes the landscape was open like this on both sides. |
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| marshy grassland |
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| there were embankments on each side just before we see the beach and ocean |
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| Walking down a sandy ramp to the beach |
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| Panorama of where the walkway and the beach meet. |
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| A bench on the ocean side of the walkway |
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| Signs you only see at an ocean beach |
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| Another sign only seen at the ocean |
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| It was low tide and the beach seemed to go on forever. So beautiful! |
We collected shells, built a sand castle and eventually our daughter put on her mermaid tail and I took some photos of her. She splashed her fin around in the water but none of us really got in the water. The water and beach were beautiful and we enjoyed it.
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| Collected shells |
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| Building a sand castle - love her hair! |
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| People on the beach. There was a lady on a modified skateboard using the kite to pull her down the beach. She is just left of center with the kite stretched out to the right and pulling her along. |
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| Husband and wife selfie |
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| My mermaid girl |
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| Mermaid daughter |
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| I love this photo, a mermaid looking toward the sea |
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| The Atlantic Ocean |
We took so many photos! Check them
out in our day 8 Flickr album
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