Great Loop: Welaka - St. John's River, Day 2
St John’s River, Day 2
Welaka is a fish camp town.
Founded in the 1850’s, it is now characterized by bait shops, bubbling
bait tanks, friendly people, crab pots, and a wonderful free dock for
visitors. We walked around town, it is
clean, but somehow caught in a bygone era.
The homes were on large lots with trees for shade against the hot
Florida sun. In the shade it was pleasant
but walking in the sun created an instant thirst for a cold drink. So after stretching our legs we went looking for
that cold drink and some dinner.
Our amblings brought us to “Shrimp-R-Us”, a restaurant
clearly built in phases as their popularity grew. The original building was probably from the
40’s or 50’s. None of the add-on
enclosed areas were newer than probably the 60’s or 70’s. You could eat inside or they had an outside
eating area. We chose outside and sat at
the bar. Their were large pavilions with
picnic tables for large group meals.
Shrimp-R-Us
Playground in Welaka
They were having a busy night. So after getting our beers we
started chatting up some of the other patrons.
They were a mix of local and people visiting from various locations that
had come to fish or in some cases to enjoy a warmer winter than they might have
back home. All were getting in a good
mood after a couple of drinks.
The couple next to us, had moved to Florida back in the 70’s
and raised a family. Kids were all gone
and they were staying in their RV in Welaka for the winter. One thing led to another, and they started
telling stories. They were members of the
local historical society and had gotten into doing re-enactments. Especially in
St. Augustine, but in other locations too.
Their schedule was quite full.
The could portray Spanish or British settlers or soldiers, depending
upon needs. They were actors in a PBS
Historical Documentary on St. Augustine.
In some scenes they were Spanish and other scenes they were
British. It was clear they had fun doing
so.
The next story they told was of a time in their younger
years when 4 or 5 couples decided to visit a “Gentlemen’s Bar”. Evidentially, the gals picked one fellow in
their group and lavished him with extra attention. In short order he was covered in discarded
pieces of clothing as all hooted and hollered.
At the end of the evening they headed home and the sweet grandmother
sitting next to me went in the house, changed in to just a bathrobe, came back
outside, climbed on the roof of their car and proceeded with her version of a
strip tease. It was inadvertently cut
short when she miss stepped, slide down the front windshield, across the hood
and onto the ground. Another guy at the
bar who had been listening to her story said it was a good thing the car didn’t
have a hood ornament! Fortunately, she
did not injure herself and could still laugh at the story many years later.
Morning at the Public Dock
After we finish gorging ourselves on shrimp, we headed back
to Amy Marie. The remainder of the night
was quiet as we charted our course for the next day and hit the sack.
Andersen's Landing, North of the Free City Dock
The Welaka "3-Hour Cruise" that never returned.....
Where we stayed:
- Welaka has a FREE public boat dock with a restroom. The dock fingers are ~ 25’ long.
- No electrical or water
- No WiFi
- Fishermen were friendly, helped us tie up
- Close to Shrimp-R-Us
Trip Log
Comments
Post a Comment