I was up for the sunrise and walking along the sound towards the fort. The sun quickly warmed the already sultry morning as I patrolled the sand for shark teeth. A few fishermen were out wetting their lines otherwise the beach was empty. I wore my trunks so when the heat got my attention I was able to jump in the river and cool myself down. I spent a couple of hours meandering along the shore occasionally finding the odd tooth then returned to camp to have breakfast with the girls.

Sunrise at Fort Clinch

Fort Clinch didn’t have the same site available for two consecutive days so today we had to move over a few spaces and set back up. We got the new site organized then rode our bikes through the hammock up to the office to get checked into our new spot. We decided to stay an extra day here and only stay one day at Hunting Island. To give us two more days we had to move again a little closer to the river so it was musical campsites for the early afternoon.

Once we were reset in site #41, we decided to drive over to the Atlantic side and see if the ocean was good for a paddle. The wind was a bit too strong and the sea was choppy. We opted for a swim then walked the beach looking at shells and collecting a few more shark teeth. The water was warm and the weather was mid-eighties. We would get back in the water every so often and splash around and try to body surf the tiny waves rushing into the shore.

“You put the lime in the coconut” 🎶

Back at camp, PJ had some phone calls to tend to and I took a well needed shower over at the big bath house. We ate a small dinner then headed over to the little fish cleaning dock to sit on a bench and watch the sunset. There was lots of activity out on the water, fishermen working the shore and boats coming and going, but the highlight was the wildlife. A large sea turtle kept poking his head up just a few yards off of the dock then we saw some dolphins cavorting around near the buoys. The most striking thing was a pair of sharks lighting into something just off of the beach, maybe twenty feet into the river from the fishermen standing staring at the spectacle. The sharks were four or five feet long and pretty frenzied for a few moments before disappearing into the murky water. By the time I finished gawking, I got a few blurry pictures but it was pretty exciting. Guess I’m not swimming there any more.

The sun continued its westward trajectory and soon it was rounding the earth’s curvature and disappearing from our view. We sat on the bench talking about important life matters, possibilities, decisions and where we are heading on this journey. An older couple took the bench opposite us and we all sat until the afterglow was fading and the bugs began to feed.