As we drive
to our destination this morning I am a little apprehensive. I’ve seen a few pictures of these beaches
that have made me want to see them. But,
the reviews I read have included remarks that the trail to the desolate beach
is really long, there is a steep grade to get down to the beach and getting
back out is really hard. But I keep
thinking we are really in pretty good shape, we can do this.
Lots of
bridges and water on our way out.
Mayport Naval Station is a busy place this morning.
We got lucky
and snagged one of the 12 or so parking spaces at the Black Rock
Trailhead. The trail is packed sand with
lots of trees shading overhead. It’s
plenty wide for two to walk side by side without brushing up against the
foliage. I thought it was awesome. It’s about 1/3 mile to get to the beach. This is supposed to be a habitat of a really
colorful bird, the painted bunting. We
didn’t spot any of those.
Lots of saw
palmetto and ferns under the trees. The
foliage was so thick that you couldn’t tell what was in there – not a walk to
take at night. But, the beach would be
amazing during a full moon.
This is the
view coming off the trail – took my breath away. There is indeed a little steep part to get
down to the beach, it is about 3 feet high but it has enough of an incline that
it’s not a problem at all, even going back up.
A little more challenging is the big tree trunk you have to go over but
that didn’t stop us either.
The
“boneyard” of bleached live oaks has been created by erosion of the shoreline
over the years. Our timing was perfect
today, we got here at low tide. At high
tide most of this driftwood is covered, only the upper limbs are seen from the
water and you can’t walk around.
The black
rock part of the beach is made up of a rare organic soil formation that can be
found in very few parts of the world. It
is made up of compressed sand and decayed leaves from the shoreline. The black rocks are not visible during high
tide.
We were
surprised that the tidal pools in the black rocks didn’t contain more than just
a few shells. I guess the fish are smart
enough to get out before they get caught.
If you look closely at this shot of the rocks you can tell that they are indeed
comprised of some kind of vegetation.
In the background you can see the bridge to Amelia Island.
I originally thought I wanted to make that our destination for today,
I’m so glad I choose these beautiful secluded beaches. The only other people we saw were about 6
college age boys who were busy fishing and 4 other couples.
Wildlife
picture of the day, a live sand crab.
Looks like someone stepped right on its front door.
This little
sand crab didn’t make it.
We stopped
at the Sand Dollar Restaurant for lunch.
Our table
looked out over the water.
The ferry
was just next door.
I had the
shrimp po’boy and Greg had the fish club.
We had leftovers for supper tonight.
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