CHART 1
Georgia to St. Augustine
CHART 3
Matanzas to Titusville
Cruising Florida's FIRST COAST
... the first to be discovered ... and the first you come to as you enter Florida on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.
The Georgia-Florida line runs through the middle of St. Mary's Entrance at about Mile 712. Amelia Island, on the south, has one of the first places to visit; it's beautiful old Fernandina Beach with marinas restaurants and a wonderful "small town" shopping district.
Traveling south, when we come to the St. John's River we can choose between Jacksonville to the West or continuing down to Jacksonville Beach. There are several marinas right on the ICW in this area ... then it's just a few fishing camps `til we get to St. Augustine with its marvelous history (and museums to prove it!) and several marinas and boatyards where we'll find anything we may need or want.
Daytona Beach is on the Halifax River at about Mile 818 and as you'd expect, the city can take care of boats as well as motorcycles, race cars and Spring Breakers. Our next "major" city is New Smyrna Beach, small but quaint and certainly worth a stop.
Continuing on through Mosquito Lagoon, we reach Mile 869 and turn to the west through Indian Haulover and into the Indian River Lagoon. The area is steeped in history with its oldest settlements dating to the early 1800s. Then, in a cruising version of Future Shock, we are out of the oldest and into one of the newest "coasts," but first we'll check out the St. Johns River.