Shrimp is king in this quaint little seaside village! As I learned on a recent trip to Fernandina Beach, there’s good reason for that. The modern commercial shrimping industry was born right there in the early 1900s.

Located on Amelia Island, Fernandina is a great daytrip, but one could easily spend a week exploring the road from here to there. I will get into that more in future blogs, but for now I’ll say, getting there is half the fun.

If you live south of the St. Johns River, you can exit onto Hecksher Drive from the I-295 East Beltway. Driving through Northeast Florida’s barrier islands is a stunning treat. The salt marshes and blindingly white dunes attract a host of wild critters and exotic-looking fowl.

As for Fernandina Beach itself, that’s fun too. If you’re a nine-to-fiver, it’s best to go on Saturday; some of the shops close on Sunday. If you’re retired, well then, I guess every day’s Saturday.

Centre Street is definitely the hub. Lined with art galleries, locally-owned restaurants and novelty shops, you can easily spend all day shopping.

If you want a little more adventure, however, I highly recommend taking one of the Amelia River Cruises. They have several packages to choose from, but I took the Eco Tour. I learned about the marshland habitat and its importance to the environment, in addition to the history of Fernandina’s shrimping industry.

I also learned, unfortunately, the regional shrimping industry is dying out. Nowadays, it’s hard to make a living at it, because most of the shrimp we buy in stores is grown on farms in…wait for it…China!

I don’t personally eat shrimp, or any seafood for that matter, but if I did, I promise you the frozen shrimp I bought in grocery stores would say, “Wild Caught: Product of U.S.”—a little tip from our tour guide to you.

In addition to the fascinating history lesson, the tour was seriously interesting.

When we saw a school of young dolphins playing around in the marshlands, I was as excited as a 10-year-old child. When the marine biologist pulled a number of squirmy, fishy creatures out of the brackish water using an otter trawl shrimp net, I was squeamishly intrigued. Honestly.

I didn’t hold one of the creepy crawlies, but if you wanted to you could on this particular tour. For more information, visit www.ameliarivercruises.com.