From the airport, drive north on highway 9A across the St. Johns River. The road meanders alongside the river, and crosses picturesque marshes with their salt grasses waving at the blue sky. Finally, bristly palmettos with their lancet-like fronds start marching beneath the shade of gnarly live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss as the road becomes highway A1A and turns into Amelia Island Plantation. The Plantation contains winding roads through natural but well-groomed vegetation. So one sees many oddly shaped homes wrapping around trees.
Some trees poke through roofs or porches, and some share a carport with the family automobile.
If you continue driving north on the 13-mile long island, you'll end at historic Fernandina Beach, a very appealing Victorian town which has the deepest port on this coast. Its garden husbands numerous weddings and other celebrations. Shrimp played a big part in the area's history and Fernandina Beach was the cradle of the offshore shrimping industry. Shrimp nets are still hand made by a company in Fernandina Beach. I asked Jean-Pierre Fournil, executive sous chef at Amelia Island Plantation, for ways to prepare the local catch.