venturing4th: Coquina

This morning we went back up to Jacksonville to the REI store (third time!) to pick up our newly tuned bikes and settle on a bike carrier. We decided on the original one but not without giving each of them a thorough look over and test drive. The one we have will fit nicely in the back of the car when we are hitched to the airstream.

There it is on the right - white tubes with red accents.

We took this opportunity to do some house cleaning of the back of the car. I think that will be a frequent occurrence as we figure out what we need and what we don't. We moved the two suitcases into the Airstream and put them under the bed. One is completely empty and the other one has some cooler weather clothing in it. I think we'll try to send the empty suitcase back to Kathryn's basement. ( I don't know what we would do without Kathryn's basement - what she has left of it!)

This afternoon we wanted to take our bikes out for a spins so we went to Anastasia Island, just across the Bridge of Lions from St. Augustine, for a visit to the Anastasia State Park. We didn't realize that the Bridge of Lions was a drawbridge until we got on it and then had to stop for the bridge to open for a sailboat to pass under.

We had to wait for about seven to eight minutes.

Frederick jumped out to take this picture of a couple of historic ships moored next to the bridge.

Anastasia State Park has a lovely beach

Lovely beach.

and a view of the lighthouse.

Find the lighthouse!

One of the reasons we wanted to go to the park is because it is the site of an old Spanish quarry for Coquina. This stone is of great significance because without the rock, Spain might have lost St. Augustine, and Florida, as a colony. Or, the ancient town of St. Augustine might have been abandoned, left to fade from Florida's history. Instead there is beautiful, historic St. Augustine!

Coquina (Spanish for "tiny shellfish") is a component of the sedimentary limestone called the Anastasia Formation. The formation extends from the northern end of Anastasia Island south some 250 miles to Palm Beach. Locally it reaches up to 30 miles inland to the west. It can be as much as 50 feet thick.

The Anastasia Formation was formed when much of Florida's present coastline was under the sea. During the Pleistocene Epoch (1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago) worldwide glaciers repeatedly formed and melted, causing sea levels to rise and fall. On Florida's Atlantic coast, when the sea level was high, shells, quartz, sand, and clay accumulated as beaches and offshore bars. When the sea level dropped, these bars emerged as offshore islands. As rainwater seeped through the exposed deposits, it leached calcium carbonate from the shells. Calcium carbonate cemented the loose deposits together to form the coquina stone. The coquina deposits date back over 100,000 years.

In 1970 the Anastasia quarry was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of coquina stone's contribution to the settlement of St. Augustine. To preserve this unique area and remaining coquina strata, no further mining has been permitted. In the decades that have passed, many natural changes have occurred. Due to erosion of the topsoil at the edges, some trees have collapsed into the pit. Decaying vegetation and sediment now pave the quarry floor. Once porous, the exposed coquina has hardened and water cannot seep through. Except in times of drought, the sediment remains wet.