The mission moved to the north side of the St. Johns River near its mouth, in present day Duval County, Florida under the name of Santa Cruz de Guadalquini or Santa Cruz y San Buenaventura de Guadalquini for a few years before merging with the mission San Juan del Puerto.
Guadalquini was the Timucua language name for St. Simon's Island, which the Spanish called Isla de Ballenas (Isle of Whales).
[2] For most of the 20th century historians thought the mission of San Buenaventura de Guadalquini had been located on Jekyll Island, but examination of previously known and newly discovered documentary evidence has identified Gualdalquini with St.
[5] Two French ships visited Guadalquini in 1580, in an attempt to recruit coastal tribes to attack the Spanish presidio at Santa Elena (on what is now Parris Island, South Carolina).
About 1,000 warriors from towns along the Georgia and South Carolina coast besieged Santa Elena for a couple of weeks, but left without success.
The raiders withdrew, and then attacked the mission of Santa Catalina de Guale on St. Catherines Island to the north.
Clara, cacica (female chief) of Utinihica, was still resident in the relocated mission of Santa Cruz y San Buenaventura de Guadalquini in 1685.
On hearing of the presence of the pirates, Lorenzo de Santiago, chief of San Buenaventura, moved the people of his village, along with most of their property and stored maize, to the mainland.
When the pirates landed at San Buenaventura, they found only ten men under a sub-chief who had been left to guard the village.
[21] In 1685 residents of Santa Cruz asked that Guales, people from Colon, and other Yamassees be allowed to join the village.
The Cedar Point archaeological site (8Du81) is at the south end of Black Hammock Island, and has been occupied off and on for over 4,000 years, from the Archaic period until the 20th century.