10/26/2007

 

by Joel Addington

Staff Writer

Less than a week after moving to Jacksonville, I found a small stretch of paradise that disappears during high tide but is perfect for fishing and swimming.

It’s called Huguenot Memorial Park and thanks to Tour Jax — a two-month old touring company based at the Holiday Inn Airport on Duval Road — that’s where I’ll be cooking out this weekend.

“It’s my favorite park,” said John Murphy, Tour Jax’s director of operations, while steering the company’s 12-passenger, leather-seated tour bus through Amelia Island. “We can drive right onto the beach and get out.”

Such freedom and flexibility of itinerary is what Tour Jax owner Steve Burnett hopes will set his fledgling business apart from traditional tours.

“With advanced notice, we’ll tailor the tour and do anything anyone wants to see,” said Burnett.

That could mean stepping onto a boat chartered by Amelia River Tours, shopping in the afternoon or having a cold beer at Florida’s oldest continuously operating saloon — The Palace — on historic Centre Street in Fernandina Beach.

“We’re flexible,” said Murphy. “We like to go with the flow of what’s happening. If they (tourists) want to stay and shop around the downtowns, we’ll swing back around to pick them up.”

My tour began in Yulee, an unincorporated area of Nassau County near the intersection of Highway 17 and A1A.

“Before (Interstate) 95 (was built), it was a major crossroads,” said Burnett after informing me about the town’s namesake David Yulee, who served as a senator in the 1850s and lived in the area.

“It was back when senators were appointed instead of elected,” he said.

A few miles up the road, Burnett, Murphy and I exited the tour bus at the Chamber’s Amelia Island Visitor Center, in which hung a banner advertising the island’s 60 shops, 25 restaurants and nine bed and breakfasts.

The walls of a narrow corridor were filled with hundreds of pamphlets directing visitors to a host of activities on the island — including explorations of two state parks from atop motorized scooters known as Segways.

Another sign boasts the organization’s recognition as Florida’s Chamber of Commerce of the Year.

“That’s why we make this our first stop,” said Burnett, who also owns a number of Jackson-Hewitt tax franchises, including one near Yulee. “There’s always something going on like the film festival coming up.”

My guides were also quick to point out local eateries people often rave about.

“There’s T-Rays,” said Murphy. “They say they have the best burgers in town.”

Before making our way to Centre Street in downtown Fernandina Beach, we stopped at the Amelia Island Museum of History where a rusted steel cage around the front door welcomes visitors to what served as the Nassau County jail until 1978.

Although the inside of the museum is filled to the brim with historical displays, museum greeter Richard Hayes said the organization’s guided tours, including a walking ghost tour, feature “a lot of history that aren’t on these walls.”

Walking down Centre Street, we came upon many unique things that add even more old Florida charm to the neighborhood.

There’s the shrimp and grits breakfast special at Seattle’s Best Coffee Shop, an old train depot built in 1898, a massive anchor that stands about four feet tall on its side and a pirate ship.

“This is where the slaves were brought in,” said Murphy, who also runs a massage and physical therapy business with his wife. “Even after it was outlawed, they used to sneak them in here.”

In between pointing out landmarks like the Florida House Inn, my tour guides would often talk with local business owners about partnering opportunities.

Diane Warwick, who had her wedding at the Florida House and bought the place three years later, hoped Tour Jax would bring people to the dining establishment’s songwriters contest held every Wednesday night.

With most of Tour Jax’s customers touring on the weekends, Burnett welcomed the idea as a way to gain more weekday business.

“We’re all about letting people discover hidden gems like this,” he said.

Tour Jax already works closely with many Jacksonville hotels and area visitors bureaus, which are responsible for referring most of the company’s customers.

“That’s helped out quite a bit,” said Murphy. “If someone calls they send them our way.”

Tour Jax offers tours of Amelia Island as well as Downtown and historic Arlington.

To tour all 70 miles of Tour Jax’s triangular route, riders pay $39 per person, $69 for couples and $109 for a family of four.

Burnett started the business after a meeting with fellow Jackson-Hewitt franchise owners at the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Amelia Island.

“Most of them flew in and took a taxi to the hotel and never got to see Jacksonville,” he explained. “Being so big geographically, tourists don’t get to see much of the area.”

That also presents a challenge in that tours can take between three and four hours to complete.

“They (tourists) don’t want to give up three to four hours,” said Burnett. “But it’s tough to give a one-hour tour and leave people feeling they’ve learned something.”

And although both men admit Tour Jax is not turning a profit after two months of operation, they are committed to “keep plugging away” until it does.

“The main thing I’m trying to do is make the phone ring,” said Burnett, adding that the company’s Web site, www.tourjax.com, is under construction.

For more information about Tour Jax, call 220-8687.