Florida's guaranteed warm sunshine is a huge magnet for us, especially during the winter months. In recent years we have learned to appreciate the areas of Florida which are quieter, less populated and less frequented by tourists. This post is based upon the holiday that we have just spent visiting and thoroughly enjoying that type of environment.
For the record, the day after landing at MCO we picked up a hire car from Avis and headed up the I4 to Orange City. The main objective of that stop over was to visit the 'Blue Springs State Park' which, among other things, is a 'winter hang out' for Manatees.
We have visited this area before so we were retracing our steps. Visiting at this time was something of a risk in terms of seeing Manatees because they don'y start arriving in any numbers until November. Fortunately were not disappointed as you will see from the photographs shown below.
Whilst in the area we also visited the Ponce de Leon Springs State Park. The State Parks are one of Florida's and the USA's great treasures, for now and the future.
The main part of our holiday was spent in Omni's Plantation Resort, Amelia Island.
A location for whonm the phrase "getting away from it all" was coined. If that is your desire and you play Golf (which we don't) then Plantation Resort is close to being 'Heaven on Earth'. But don't tell too many people, that would take away some of its allure.
The arrangements for this holiday had been made months ago, a lot of effort and research had gone into it. After Amelia Island we had booked a hotel in Daytona Beach, being on our way back to MCO.
When we arrived at this hotel my wife and I looked at each and without saying anything conveyed the same thought "this isn't for us, its such a culture shock after Amelia Island". Clearly, the research that I had done regarding this part of the trip was flawed. I had been distracted by other considerations, one of those being the ability to pay for the hotel by using loyalty points.
We had to extract ourselves from this situation. My wife looked at the map and saw that a place called New Smyrna Beach was just a short distance down the coast from Daytona and suggested that we should go and have a look.
It was an inspired decision and put the holiday back on course for being described as 'fantastic' all round. We were able to book in at the Hampton Inn which is quite close to the beach. It is one of the best Hamptons that we have stayed at and they have all been good.
Places that we visited or used that deserve a special mention: -
- Holiday Inn Express Orange City **** (deducted one * for its location)
- Blue Springs Sate Park *****
- Ponce de Leon Springs State Park ****
- Omni Plantation Resort, Amelia Island *****
- May Port Ferry across St Johns River ***** plus an extra * for its uniqueness. We appreciated it so much we took it four times in the short time that we were in the area.
- Fort Caroline National Park, Jacksonville *****
- Hampton Inn New Smyrna Beach *****
- New Smyrna Beach History Museum ***** plus an extra * it was so good!
Here are the photos -
Blue Springs State park -
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| Florida Gar Fish |
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| Manatee |
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| The actual Blue Spring |
Ponce de Leon Springs State Park
Omni Plantation Resort Amelia Island
Timucuan History
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| Sunrise from hotel room balcony |
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| Natures magic - a branch in mid air probably held by a strand of a spiders web |
May Port Ferry Across the St Johns River
Fort Caroline, Jacksonville. Memorial to Jean Ribault and the French Colonists
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| Jean Ribault Column |
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| A view across the St Johns River from Fort Caroline |
New Smyrna Beach
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| Plaque recording the history of the founding of New Smyrna |
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The Old Fort |
Artists at work around the harbour
Preparing for Halloween
So that was a photographic summary of our latest holiday in Florida. There was another dimension, that of cars, my pet subject. That will be a covered in my ''Car Scene' blog.
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