Outback Crab Shack at Six Mile Marina

Shells are cracking! Fingers are being licked!  Eating boiled crabs is messy but there is nothing more satisfying than a platter piled high with big fat crabs. You break those claws and devour the sweet meat inside. You pop open those succulent crab bodies to get at every last morsel. This is sea food at its simple best. It's made even better when that platter also includes corn on the cob, Cajun sausage, potatoes and assorted other veggies.

A boiled crawfish platter

This is not white tablecloth and crystal glasses dining.This is the way a Timuquan Indian might have eaten centuries ago as they foraged along Six Mile Creek near the Saint Johns River. Only difference is the boats lined up at the dock today are sleek outboards or small yachts instead of native dugouts.

The dock at Six Mile Marina

Outside dining at Six Mile Marina

Like those early tribesmen, you too might spot an alligator or a manatee in the shallows of the creek. You might see a few wading birds gliding by or roosting in the trees on the bank. Here you can choose to eat outdoors near the creek bank but even inside you are made to feel the great outdoors. Windows compose the walls looking out on the creek to the side and the woods behind.

One of their classic cheesecakes

Boiled crabs are not the only delicacy here. You can have almost any kind of fish or shellfish, 'gator tail or even burgers, barbeque,  chicken or steak. Should you be a dieter, you could get a salad or veggie platter. Desserts are super here also.

Outback Crab Shack interior

The stuffed gators at the entrance

The mood is set when you enter the front door. You are greeted by several stuffed alligators. Attractive young ladies wearing tees and shorts are serving packed wooden or plastic tables both inside and out. Inside and outside bar stools are filled with jeans or short clad patrons sampling a variety of beer, wind or soft drinks. Sometimes, Lennie, the resident DJ/singer is singing or spinning disks. Sometimes the jukebox is competing with the ever present television usually set to some sports event. A few patrons may even have their laptops out making use of the free WI FI. One thing you can bet on is it's never quiet and sedate at Six Mile.

Deidra, one of the bartenders, serves a beer

Outback Crab Shack is located on Highway 13 which parallels the Saint Johns River in Saint Johns County. You can reach it by car or boat.

This is a second generation business. "Cutter" Tuttle founded it and is still memorialized in his "Cutterburger" and today it is run by his son Joe and his partner, Dave Sweat. The tone is set by their sign up front "No shirt, no shoes, no problem!"

More about Outback Crab Shack at http://www.outbackcrabshack.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1