Urban Parks: Exchange Club Island

[Lucasjj]

I always heard from boaters that it was infested with snakes - maybe that was an old wive's tale........

I heard the same thing growing up.

[fieldafm]

When I was in my teens, we hunted birds on the island.  It is no more infested than any stretch of woods in this area.  Before I ever set foot on the island... the tale I always had heard was that there was once an abundant rabbit population on the island before the snakes ate them all, lol.

[Ocklawaha]

Back about 1970 when my parents ran a marina just south of Daytona Beach Cris-Craft, there was a similar spoil island. Pelican Island was really two little islands no bigger then Exchange Island out in the Halifax River. A bunch of us otherwise long haired, noble faired, leaping gnomes, decided it would make for a great "nation". We found an old white parachute on which was painted (both sides) with a giant leaf... not too far off from the Canadian idea!

Clothing was optional and usually discarded at the shoreline... Beautiful young women with crowns of flowers actually danced in worship of the sun on the shell mound in the islands center. Condoms HU? Man that was like washing your hands with gloves on... Many thousand happy hours were spent sitting under the palms near a spot we called "Flip-Out-Forest" (mangroves which have upside down roots) which could do a number on your brain under the influence of certain chemical substances.

Once we sponsored the "Worlds Greatest Freak Party," out on the island, only in reality we had NO INTENTION of using the island. A couple of hippy chicks and myself spent a couple of late hours hanging tiny (Penlight for anyone old enough to remember) flashlights out in the "Forest" along with about a 1/2 dozen transistor raidos cranked right up. We ran a ferry service for those coming to the party (they had no idea we were taking them to the marina) and sat on the end of the dock at the marina and laughed out asses off as the USCG and Marine Patrol raided the island. (almost as funny as the time I wrecked the USCG patrol boat!)

I vaguely remember waking up on the hard wooden floor of the old restaurant building next to a dozen or so friends and thinking "I will NEVER drink and smoke again," which lasted about 20 minutes...  We got everybody home safe, and were rewarded with... ummm?... well??... Lot's of teeny boper favors for inviting them all. As far as I know, no children with my last name came from that party, but?? We really shouldn't deprive the young people of Jacksonville an equal chance to defile themselves!

OCKLAWAHA

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

right there, folks.  that's why i don't like hippies.  hedonism's a grand old thing, but when coupled with the kind ov irresponsibility it's rather sickening.

[north miami]

Islands certainly have an allure.

There are similar islands sprinkled throughout my native North Miami Biscayne Bay.(We were a bit more reserved than 'Ock'......)

Like so much of the Downtown waterway,Exchange Island represents yet another 'opportunity'.

The island is accessable to primarily smaller boats.

I feel that with additional spontaneous small vessel hand launch facilities in the DT area we would see greater appreciation of the Island.
After all,we take a stand according to where we sit.

[JaxNative68]

I have a friend whose grandmother tells tales of swimming to the island from the Arlington side for a couple of years after it was first built.  It was her version of swimming the English Channel.

[Ocklawaha]

right there, folks.  that's why i don't like hippies.  hedonism's a grand old thing, but when coupled with the kind ov irresponsibility it's rather sickening.

Just say "NO" to hippies! YOU first bubba!

What a pisser! I'm just trying to imagine a college scene with young men and women and you standing in the corner and telling everyone NO! NO! NO! Pollination of the flower is a natural activity in nature, it's only mankind that try's and control it with rules and regulations...

Yeah well so you don't like the FACT that YOUR DAUGHTER might have visited Pelican Island, I'll just say when she left she had a giant shit-eating grin on her face! Maybe it was the 24,670 acid trips I took, but today, high on life and whatever the hell the VA gave me (yep! Volunteered for Vietnam so I wouldn't get drafted into some God forsaken rice paddy), you really sound like the life of a party.

OCKLAWAHA

[mlnowlin]

I've been raised here since my birth almost 40 years ago. My father and family have been shrimpers/fishers/crabbers my entire life. I have watched every island that we have be developed (mostly for profit). I hope someone will keep this island from being too "developed"!

Growing up with a shrimper as a father I spent every summer morning helping dad rig up his boat and everyday we drug the bottom of the St Johns River hoping we were in the right spot. Hoping we'd catch enough shrimp to have enough money to pay for the gas we used and enough for dinner. If not, we had shrimp for dinner. We had shrimp for dinner quite alot!

Everyday, around lunch time, he would take me to Exchange Island and drop me off with my lunch and a bucket. I'd eat my lunch as I walked the outer banks of the island while he continued to drag. I used the bucket to pick up all kinds of things that washed up on the shore....a lot of golf balls and other balls, lighters, cans, teddy bears, clothes, purses, shoes, etc. I even found a matching pair of converse high tops that I gave to my cousin. There were animals that didn't bother me and I didn't bother them. We coexisted without no concern to the other. My days spent on the St Johns River changed my life! Without those hard working days and the variety of lessons learned on the water I wouldn't be the hard working woman that I am today!!!

We need to keep this island as RAW as we can!! No development at all! I have watched as almost every island we camped on or hunted on be turned into another subdivision! Have you seen this island when we have an NFL game? It's the most beautiful scene of the bridge and downtown with this uninhabited gem underneath....who has that? We are very lucky and we need to make sure it is protected! Too many "GEMS" are gone or in the process of disappearing.

[Coolyfett]

I didnt know this  place had an official name....I always saw it when going over the Mathews.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Neither did I until I saw it on MetroJax first I think.

[Seraphs]

This place has great potential, just hope it's done right.

[coredumped]

clean it up and get rid of those dead boats...

I think the boats give it (more) character. Each one has a story, perhaps an urban legend.

[5PointsGuy]

I'd go over there and clean it up if I were in town. I could easily see a solar powered Gazebo placed there.

[stjr]

Maybe the island needs a live-on caretaker.  Like the lighthouse keepers of old.  Live in a little log or wood sided cabin.  Run off the riffraff and keep the place clean. 

[Ocklawaha]

Hippies line up at the left! Damn STJR where is Gilligan when we need him.


OCKLAWAHA