Boneyard Beach on Big Talbot Island

North end of Jacksonville's Atlantic coast. A stretch of sand littered with skeletal remains of salt-killed live oaks and cedars — bark stripped, branches bleached silver-white, twisted into shapes that look like driftwood sculptures made by someone working through grief.

Trail from the parking area off Heckscher Drive drops through a maritime hammock — palmetto and cedar, salt and resin smell — then emerges abruptly onto the beach. At low tide the sand extends far enough to walk among the fallen trunks. Tide pools in the hollows, hermit crabs conducting business. The standing dead trees catch light differently every hour — silver at noon, gold at sunset, ghostly blue on overcast mornings.

Fall and winter for lower light and fewer people. Check the tide table — high tide submerges much of the beach. Camera with wide-angle recommended.