Sunset on the waterfront, Amelia Island, Florida

After walking the broad Fernandina Beach and touring Fort Clinch, we longed for one last coastal sunset before heading back to Tennessee the following morning.  Ah, yes.  This will do: the waterfront at Amelia Island.

As we arrived, a man standing on a ramp was ending what he later told us was a nightly ritual: pitching fish into the water at sundown.

Feeding the fish at 5:30, Amelia Island, waterfront

The birds (mostly pelicans) loved it as they flew, swam, darted, and pushed — eager to get in there and get fish at any cost!

Seagulls, brown birds, pelicans, and more.  Didn’t matter — all wanted a piece of the action.  And here they came, flapping wings, splashing water, honking and screeching.  We scrambled to focus our cameras to take it all in.

Perched on a post at Amelia Island waterfront

And just as we started taking pictures, one singular bird — a rather large, pensive pelican — perched atop a green post.  And sat there.  Watching.  Waiting.  Taking us in, or so we thought.  He’s harmless, right? But with that stern look, we weren’t so sure.

He looked left and right.  He stared forward and back.  But he always seemed to have one eye squarely focused on us.  And then, just like that, he was gone.

Taking flight.

By this time the feeding frenzy had ended, the man was walking back up the ramp, and birds began paddling around, content. We looked past the marina into the sunset once more as we heard the man, now behind us, say softly, It happens every night about 5:30.  Come back tomorrow.  It’s fun every time.  

Looking into the distance at the Amelia Island waterfront

And we wished we could, of course.

Sunset, Amelia Island.

For more information:

Check out this post on Kate Harris’s blog:  “Fifteen Things to Do on Amelia Island in 2015”

And also take a look at the site Welcome to Amelia Island full of suggestions for what to do and what to see on Amelia Island.

Here’s hoping you’ll have more time than we did to see this lovely coastal area!

For more on the Coasting series, click here.