We drove up the A1A to Matanzas Inlet to determine whether it would be a good place for the maiden voyage of our new kayak. (And I think it will.) Matanzas Inlet is a channel that passes between two barrier islands and the mainland, just south of St. Augustine.
I could not believe the volume of shells remaining on this beach at the end of the day.
Matanzas Inlet has a fun (albeit gory) history:
Historic maps made by Spanish military engineers in the 18th century show that the inlet today has moved many hundreds of yards south of its location during the time of the Spanish Empire. In 1740, a British invasion force from Fort Frederica, Georgia blockaded this inlet, the southernmost access for boat travel between St. Augustine and Havana, Cuba. Shortly thereafter, in 1742, a coquina stone tower 50 feet (15 m) square by 30 feet (9.1 m) high, now called Fort Matanzas, was built by the Spanish authorities in Florida to safeguard this strategic inlet.
René Goulaine de Laudonnière founded Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, in 1564, as a haven for Huguenot settlers. In response to the French encroachment on what Spain regarded as its territory, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in 1565. Menéndez de Avilés quickly set out to attack Fort Caroline, traveling overland from St. Augustine. At the same time, the French sailed from Fort Caroline, intending to attack St. Augustine from the sea. The Spanish overwhelmed the lightly defended Fort Caroline, sparing only the women and children, although some 25 men were able to escape. The French fleet was driven off course by a storm, and many of the ships wrecked on the coast south of St. Augustine. When the Spanish found the main group of the French shipwreck survivors, Menéndez de Avilés ordered all of the Huguenots executed. The location became known as Matanzas (Spanish for “slaughters”).
So the part of the Intracoastal Waterway known as Matanzas River translates to Slaughter River. See also the Spanish assault on French Florida.
We did not stay for the full sunset, but this would certainly be a brilliant place to watch it. In the summertime, this area is one giant party thanks to all of the sandbars. (Floridians really put the “bar” in sandbar.) But it is calm enough now to take the kayak out, I think.
Days of Sunshine 