St. Augustine Alligator Farm

We were able to sleep in a bit this morning not awakening until after 6:30 am.  Since we had made a run to Publix the night before, we had cereal and fruit in the room for breakfast.  We were able to leave the Super 8 before 7:30 and headed toward St. Augustine.  By 8:30 we were at the parking area near the St. Augustine Old Jail.  Since we had tickets with Old Town Trolley, we were able to park for free all day.  We walked around the reconstructed village and the gift shop before going through the old jail that opened in 1891.  When Flagler opened his luxury hotel, he didn’t want the town jail nearby so he paid to have a large modern jail built a mile from the then town boundary and specified that the jail be painted pink to not look like a jail.  Our informative guide “arrested” us and booked us into the jail but gave us a tour of Sheriff Perry’s home that was attached to the jail.  

The jail had a secure and high tech locking system that was part of the installation by the St. Louis company building the jail to Flagler’s specifications. The jail looked so much like a hotel that it was common for rail passengers to come to the jail thinking that it was Flagler’s exclusive Ponce de Leon hotel. 

After leaving the jail, we went to the small but well displayed historical museum adjacent to the jail.  After that, we walked over to the area that is believed to have the area where Ponce de Leon looked for the Fountain of Youth and past a 600 year old live oak tree called Old Senator.  We walked over to the trolley station and rode into town then walked over to the St. Augustine Visitor Center.  We walked over to Flagler College in what was Flagler’s luxury Ponce de Leon hotel.  We had lunch at the student center there at Flagler College.  Mary had a ham sandwich from the Boar’s Head Deli.  I had a Chick-Fil-A sandwich.  Since we were in the historic heavily tourist part of the city, the student center was the least expensive place to eat.  After finishing our lunch we walked two blocks to the pickup point for the shuttle going to Anastasia Island where the Alligator Farm, lighthouse, state park and beaches are located.  We were pleased that the shuttle which runs once an hour was at the bus stop when we arrived.  We made the short trip over to the island on the bus while our driver gave us interesting information about the area along the way. 

Our trip package from Old Town Trolley included passes to the Alligator Farm and when we arrived at 11:45, the feeding at the large alligator area was preparing to begin.  We enjoyed watching the large alligators eat game hens and prepared pellet food.  Some of the alligators in the pond were very large.  The feeding lasted about 30 minutes and included a lot of information on each of the alligators in the pond. 

After the feeding concluded, we walked around the many displays at the Alligator Farm and saw nearly every species of alligators and crocodiles from all over the world.  

The Alligator Farm works with conservation groups to promote breeding of rare and endangered species of alligators and crocodiles to attempt to preserve the species.  There were also displays with snakes, birds, a few mammals and a number of turtles including four Galapagos Tortoises.  We especially enjoyed the large display with the Australian Saltwater Crocodile named Maximo and his mate Sydney.  Maximo is over 15 feet long and is still growing.  Maximo replaces Gomek, the prior saltwater crocodile who was nearly 18 feet long and weighed in at over 2000 pounds.  Gomek was a wild caught crocodile who died in 1997 while Maximo was hatched in captivity in 1971 and should be at the Alligator Farm for many years to come. 

After walking around the Alligator Farm and seeing what there was to see, we walked across A1A highway to the St. Augustine Lighthouse.  We weren’t interested in going up in the lighthouse, especially since there was fog limited visibility.  The lighthouse was constructed in 1874 to replace the prior lighthouse that collapsed due to erosion in 1870.  The current Anastasia Lighthouse operated until 1970.

When we completed our walked around the lighthouse, we caught the shuttle back to St. Augustine across the Matanzas River.  Once back in town, we walked a few blocks over to Whetstone Chocolates for a tour of their facility and processes.  We were able to get in the day’s last 55 minute tour at 3:30.  We learned the history of Whetstone Chocolate and that they invented the chocolate orange.  At one time, Whetstone Chocolate contracted with M & M, Mauna Loa and other large manufacturers of chocolate.  However, they are have recently downsized and are making high end artisanal chocolates.  We enjoyed our samples of white, milk and dark chocolates along the trip then stopped in the shop to make some gift purchases before catching the trolley back to our car on the day’s last trolley run.

After getting our rental car from the lot at the Old Jail, we drove back into town and headed for dinner at Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grill.  This restaurant was recommended to us by my pal, Joe, who spends a good deal of time in St. Augustine.  Harry’s specializes in New Orleans style seafood so Mary had shrimp and grits and I had shrimp etouffée.  We both enjoyed our meals then finished by sharing a slice of excellent key lime pie. 

After dinner, we drove back to our Super 8 in Daytona which took about an hour.  Mary called to give Sarah birthday wishes and we talked to our friend Bruce Neale who will give us a tour at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.  We are looking forward to the day.

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