Enjoying Jacksonville means getting out on the water

You haven’t really discovered Jacksonville until you’ve seen the city from the water.

You may think of downtown as nothing extraordinary until you’ve seen the skyline from a boat in the St. Johns River, approaching from the south, in the early evening when the wind is calm and the river smooth, sparkling lights reflected in the water’s mirrored surface.

And you may have caught glimpses of the marshes of the Timucuan Preserve and the tidal creeks that lace through them from a roadway or a bridge, but you haven’t absorbed their beauty until you’ve paddled through them in a kayak or canoe, riding the outgoing tide past wading birds and oyster beds.

Water is the soul of Jacksonville. The beaches and dunes of Big and Little Talbot islands, preserved and protected as parks, are spectacular.

The marshes of the similarly protected Timucuan, their grasses ever changing in a parade of yellows, greens and browns, stretch for miles to the Nassau County line.

The St. Johns River, one of 14 American Heritage rivers, ends its 310-mile journey here, emptying into the blue-green waters of the Atlantic at Mayport.

It was near there that the French explorer Jean Ribault first dropped anchor in the St. Johns in 1562. He was awed by the river’s riches, the abundant fish and wildlife.

Those riches are still there today.

I’ve been fortunate to spend many hours on the water in Jacksonville.

I’ve seen bald eagles, roseate spoonbills, great blue herons, egrets, kingfishers, gallinules, marsh hens, pelicans, wood storks and myriad other birds.

I’ve watched as pods of dolphins, swimming in water so shallow it barely covered them, shoot across a tidal bay as swift as a speedboat, herding mullet onto the bank and grabbing a quick meal.

I’ve had manatees swim around my kayak.

I’ve paddled along the narrow creeks and tributaries of the St. Johns into forests that are undisturbed, lush and green, past deer, turkeys, squirrels and rabbits.

The waters of Jacksonville are working waters. They carry commerce, and shrimpers and crabbers earn their livings on them.

They are also fun waters, for sailing, fishing and skiing.

But to know them, you have to get out on the water. Find a boat, a canoe or a kayak and go exploring. Find an out-of-the-way place and learn it, make it your own.

Or hook up with a group on a party barge, or get behind a ski boat, or find a fishing guide, or take a walk along the beach.

But get out on the water. That’s when you will really discover Jacksonville.
Souce: Florida Times-Union

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