Huguenot Memorial Park....truely memorial

WHAT A GEM !!!!!  I would encourage everyone to put this one on their "RV Bucket List".
The St John River flows north from Jacksonville to the Atlantic Ocean. Right where the river and ocean meet is a small city park called Huguenot Memorial. There are NO hookups, so it is virtually dry camping but with water and dump stations available. There are 21 beach sites where you are literally feet from the beach. We choose one where we had a small dune separating us from the beach since Sydney was not permitted directly on the beach. This is a preserve and sea turtles and birds are abundant. Here is where we were. My feet were in the water when I took this picture.

Even John, who is not much of a beach person sat in his chair and watched the porpoises swimming and fishing yards from the shore.

While we were sitting a marine research boat came by and they were dragging a net to catch some of the marine specimens to track the type and size. They were very friendly and gave us a sneak peek of some of the creatures up close. There were crabs, flounder, puffer fish and something called a bat fish. Here are some of the pics I took.

John was able to drive directly on the beach, so of course he did. Here he is........

We took a day trip about 50 miles south to St Augustine....  the oldest city in Florida. It was founded in the 1500's and was occupied by the Spanish and the British prior to becoming a part of the US. I was actually disappointed because most of the old city is recreated or altered and not original. Here are some pics showing the Spanish flavor of the town..

In this next picture check the spot above the 4th shutter from the gate. That area at the top is a cannonball from a pirate ship embedded in the wall.

This is what is left of the actual fort. A small portion of the outer wall....

The best part of the day was the ferry ride at sunset that took us back to the park... These are Pelicans...

While here, we ran into another couple that John had spoken to in Georgia.... Tom and Cheryl Drotning from Minissota. They are just starting out in their 5th wheel. We shared websites and experiences before parting ways. Maybe we will run into them again.... hopefully not litteraly.

We only stayed for 4 days.... I wanted to stay longer, but we had reservations in Orlando.... so off we go. Thanks Millie and Ray for letting us in on this secret place. WE WILL BE BACK !!