Bryan Simpkins paddled his kayak 30 miles around Amelia Island on Saturday, Aug. 29, finishing the solo loop in nine hours.

Simpkins launched from the Dee Dee Bartels Boat Ramp at 97177 Pogey Place in Fernandina Beach more than two hours before high tide, the Fernandina Beach News-Leader reported. He paddled the island's full perimeter, including the northern jetties at the St. Marys River Entrance, where strong tidal currents scour depths of at least 25 feet between Amelia Island and Cumberland Island.

It was Simpkins' second circumnavigation. In 2023, he completed the same route shortly after a hurricane passed through the area. That trip ended successfully, but Simpkins described a dangerous encounter with the jetties on the island's northern edge.

"There was a lot of trepidation about this trip," Simpkins told the News-Leader. "Enough time had passed that I can vaguely hear myself saying, 'I won't do that again.'"

Despite that lingering unease from 2023, Simpkins said he pushed through and took on the route again. He told the News-Leader the earlier trip's danger came specifically from the northern jetties, where the St. Marys inlet separates Amelia Island from Georgia's Cumberland Island. The channel there is deep and swept by strong currents that make it one of the most challenging stretches for a solo paddler.

Simpkins is not the only local to have completed the route. Paul Harvie, responding to a Facebook post about the Aug. 29 trip, wrote that he made the same circumnavigation a couple of years ago in a 13.5 sit-on ocean kayak.

The Dee Dee Bartels Boat Ramp, managed by Nassau County, sits at the north end of Amelia Island and serves as a launch point for paddlers and boaters heading into the surrounding waterways.

Coming up around Amelia Island

• Monday, Sept. 28: Nassau County begins upgrades at the Wilson Neck boat ramp.
• Thursday, Oct. 1: Fernandina Beach Library drops Saturday hours.
• Monday, Oct. 5: Last day to register to vote in Nassau County.