Rattlesnake Island Anchorage

Rested and relaxed we headed north first thing in the morning. Our daughter Beth and her boyfriend Chris are coming to visit us in Jacksonville so we need to arrive there before they arrive on Thursday. We should make it easily with time to spare. We passed more large homes but these were farther apart than what we saw in the communities in southern Florida. It is lucky for us that we got through the area when we did as it is currently the site of a major wild fire.

We traveled through the Daytona area but did not actually see Daytona Beach. I was surprised by how small Daytona was, I was expecting a much larger city.

North of Daytona, the area became very marshy-like as the ICW meanders through a nature preserve. It is incredible how many thousands of acres are preserved within the state of Florida. While it seems that there are buildings and developments going up everywhere, the state of Florida and various nature groups have taken the preservation of their wildlife areas extremely seriously.







The area of our anchorage this evening is a secluded cove adjacent to Fort Mantanzas. The history of Fort Matanzas National Monument begins with an incident almost 200 years before the construction of the fort at Matanzas - the Spanish massacre of French forces in 1565. It took place near or possibly within the area which now encompasses the monument. The incident initiated Spanish control of Florida for 235 years and led to the naming of the Matanzas River. Coastal Florida was a major field of conflict as European nations fought for control in the New World. As part of this struggle, Fort Matanzas guarded St. Augustine’s southern river approach. The colonial wars are over, but the monument is still protecting—not just the historic fort, but also the wild barrier island and the plants and animals who survive there amidst a sea of modern development.







Fort Matanzas National Monument is the home of the diminutive Anastasia Island beach mouse, a mouse species found nowhere else except on Anastasia Island. Ft Matanzas National Monument, Florida

We arrived at the Rattlesnake Island anchorage with just enough time to fix dinner and wash the dishes before it was dark and time for bed. About midnight, Mark was awoken by the strangest sounds. He looked outside to find a group of about twenty people wearing headlights and carrying long poles. As he watched them, the people would approach the water from the shoreline and beat the shallow water with their poles. Then about an hour later, several small fishing boats came by and these people were also beating the water with long poles. We knew that they were not looking for rattlesnakes because rattlesnakes do not enter water. We never did find out what was going on…maybe it is some type of Floridian tribal custom or as Mark thinks, a way of communicating with aliens.



Hours on the water: 7.5
Nautical miles traveled: 48
Number of bridges to be opened: 1
Time spent waiting at bridge: 15 minutes
Next Destination: Jacksonville Beach
What we're listening to: The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks
What we watched: Nothing
Lesson for the day: Even the tiniest little mouse is important
Obligatory knitting report: Sally Melville's Einstein Coat