Mayport Ferry

When I looked at the Google Map for directions on how to get to Amelia Island from Jacksonville, it showed Highway A1A as a straight line extended across the water. I made the logical presumption that I was seeing the depiction of a bridge or causeway.

So you can imagine when I showed up to Mayport, FL, I was rather pissed off to find that A1A stops dead in its tracks at the water's edge and that you have to drive your car onto a gigantic ferry that takes you across to Fort George Island and beyond on the other side. Then I found out it costs money. And they want exact change. And they don't take plastic. And they only run at very specific times. Furthermore, the palpable Department of Homeland Security presence in the area (because of the adjacent naval base) made the whole place a total drag to be around.

So be warned, kids. Don't do like I done did. Go to Amelia Island the long way 'round.

José Gaspar Treasure Co.

Capitalizing on the enduring legend of the great (but most likely fictitious) pirate José Gaspar, these fine folks have been operating the José Gaspar Treasure Company in Flagler Beach on A1A for quite some time now. You might think you don't actually need wind chimes, sand dollars, bags of sea glass, rubber sharks, tiki heads, dolphin paperweights and made-in-China pictures of schooners suitable for framing, but you're wrong. And besides, it's the law. Get with the program, kids.

Castle Otttis

Earlier this year, driving down a relatively desolate stretch of A1A north of Vilano Beach, I beheld a most unlikely visage: a huge faux-Irish castle in the middle of nowhere.

Even after doing a little research, I still can't quite wrap my head around how and why this place came to be. Like other great castle-creating obsessives such as Kentucky's Rex Martin and Florida's own Edward Leedskalnin, the man behind this structure (Ottis Sadler) pretty much just thought it up and did it. Apparently he didn't even file a building permit when he started, and it's officially designated a "garage" because the county property appraiser didn’t know what else to call it. The primary work was done by just two people all by themselves, which is a rather amazing feat.

The castle's website doesn't exactly shed much light on it all. One page says the castle was "Done in Remembrance of Jesus Christ" (a sentiment echoed by a sign outside the building) but another of its pages says "It was created as an expression of art" and then goes on to say, in all caps, "CASTLE OTTTIS WAS CREATED TO DESIGNATE A PLACE OF PEACE UPON THIS EARTH."

The website also gives some rather puzzling factoids, such as:

"The project was begun on May 1, 1984 and sense of completeness was felt about the concrete portion of the sculpture (exterior) in the summer of 1988."

And:

"The weight of the building is conservatively estimated at more than 7 million pounds."

And also:

"It is interesting to note that this structure is located on the same latitude as the Great Pyramids in Egypt (30° North Latitude)."

Alrighty then.

The website doesn't explain why "Ottis" is spelled with three Ts, but numerous online sources have stated that locals believe it to be because each T represents one of the three who were crucified at Calvary.