Fernandina Beach, a city on Amelia Island, is on the coast of Northeast Florida as far north on the Atlantic Coast as you can get in the Sunshine State. It is the only United States location to have been under eight different flags – French, Spanish, English, Patriots, Green Cross of Florida, Mexico, Confederate States of America and the United States.

We’ve decided to holed up here for a week to get some boat chores done since this harbor has a decent marine store within walking distance with many shops and restaurants to entertain us.

Before leaving Boston, we were inundated trying to prepare FUJIKO for this trip; we only had time to worked on the engine, mechanical, electrical, safety and plumbing related tasks. Any cosmetic work such the long overdue teak varnish was completely ignored. This was the time to give Fujiko a little bit of TLC and making her look respectable.

While we worked on our boat, we also had time to explored and attended the annual downtown Fernandina Beach Pajama Party and shopped their special Black Friday deals provided by the downtown merchants. We smiled as we see hundreds of grownups and kids walking in broad daylight with their pajamas and slippers. I questioned if this sort of thing happens in other countries other than America. Claudia was in her glory shopping trinkets for her arts and crafts projects as well as getting good deals for her holiday gifts. Later we tried attending the city’s annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony but unfortunately it was rained out.

Tomorrow we head towards St Augustine but will need to stop near Jacksonville to anchor for the night since it’s too long of a trip for one day.