Motorcycle Road Trips in North Florida
With bike week just around the corner, bikers from all over the
country are pulling their motorcycles out of winter storage and
cleaning up their leathers in anticipation of a motorcycle rally
like no other. While Daytona is definitely the place to be the
week of March 5th, Florida offers some great stretches of road
through pristine landscapes to some great biker destinations.
About an hour and a half north of Daytona on A1A lies the
bustling beach community of Jacksonville Beach, which will be
our focal point because, well, that's where I'm from! On any
given day you'll find bikers and their motorcycles parked and
hanging out at the Jax Beach Pier parking lot. Just across the
street is the famed biker bar Mango's, a great place for bikers
to meet, have some good home cooking and shoot some pool. Summer
weekends will generally find some heavy metal band performing
outside on the covered deck.
Our first day trip will start from Jax Beach and head north on
A1A to Fernandina Beach, a quaint little island town with its
own unique attitude. If you follow A1A north, after bearing left
at Mayport Naval Station, you will be cruising through the
marshlands at the mouth of the St. Johns River and come to a
dead end at the ferry in Mayport Village. A traditional fishing
village, this is where most of north Florida gets their seafood.
Shrimp boats, party boats, and deep sea charters line the docks,
and you can even take a gambling cruise from here. If you're
hungry, there's an old wooden shack sitting on the water that
serves some of the best seafood available. Singletons is not
much to look at, but it's been there forever and people drive
for miles to sit on the water enjoying the freshest of Florida
seafood, while watching the pelicans scrounge for theirs.
Taking the ferry across the river, you'll once again pick up A1A
heading north. To your right you'll soon see a huge barren
sandbar that was formed by the northern jetties at the mouth of
the St. Johns. On the eastern edge are the jetties, the Atlantic
Ocean, and a beach that is packed with babes of all shapes and
sizes. The western side has a lagoon and the Fort George River
inlet. A very wide beach at low tide, vehicles have been
swallowed up and swept away by the Atlantic because of people
parking just a little too close to the water, and taking a walk
in the dunes. A great place for jet skiing, swimming, fishing
and surfing, Huguenot Park also has a campground with primitive
and RV camp sites and showers.
For the next several miles, you will be cruising through some of
the most pristine and unspoiled wetlands in Florida. Island
hopping through little and big Talbot Islands and the Timacuan
Preserve, this coastal area is one of the few in Florida
untouched by development, and will theoretically remain that
way. Flora and Fauna abound, and nature lovers flock to the area
in kayaks and flatboats to navigate the waterways in search of
trout and redfish.
Heading across the Nassau Sound Bridge to Florida's northern
most barrier island, the developments once again start to pop
up. World renowned resort Amelia Island Plantation has vast
acreages of condos, single family houses, an Inn rivaled by
none, and a huge convention center that draws business from all
over the world. A community within itself, the Plantation
strives, and has done a good job, of preserving the natural
habitat.
Not to be outdone, the Ritz Carlton is just a few miles north
and is also a magnet for the well to do, with a golf course and
all the pampering the Ritz is known for!
Almost there, we take A1A into downtown Fernandina Beach. An old
fishing village like Mayport, Fernandina is much larger and has
many unique and historical buildings. The waterfront is speckled
with shrimp boats and deep sea charters, and Brent's is the
restaurant on the docks. Fernandina Beach also hosts an annual
shrimp festival on the first weekend in May.
Ending our motorcycle excursion from Jacksonville Beach (about
an hour non stop), our last stop is a very popular watering hole
for bikers and locals alike. The Palace Saloon has been there
since 1878, and although it burned in 1999, it has been restored
to its original 18th century wooden d