Published April 22, 2011 | 
Today is Earth Day and everyone should participate in any Earth Day Events that you can. Go online to one of the many links below and read about the many Earth Day Celebrations and Activities around the world. What can you do to help save the Earth? Participate in GREEN Events and Earth Day activities is a great way to start. Some of the things that I have done and have read about include: Plant some trees, start a garden at home, recycle your bottles, cans and papers, set some rain barrels around the corners of your house to catch the rain and water your lawn and garden, start a compote pile to fertilize your garden, work from home when you can, carpool, walk your neighborhoods for exercise, combine your errands as much as you can, use cloth bags for carrying groceries and other shopping, sign up for electronic bill pay through you bank and creditors, subscribe to online magazines and newspapers, etc.
At the beach every year they hold a non-denominational sunrise service for Easter. This is a very nice way for families to gather at the beach and enjoy a nice Easter service and each others company. If you want to go check out the Jacksonville Beach City website for times and places of services: http://www.jacksonvillebeach.org/ Make sure you bookmark the page or add it to your favorites to keep up-to-date on all of the festivals and events this spring and summer. With gas prices going up so high we have to find events and places to go that don’t take a lot of time or gas to get there.
Here are some websites you might want to checkout for Earth Day:
http://www.earthday.org/ – Earth Day Organization
http://act.earthday.org/ – A Billion Acts of Green
http://holidays.kaboose.com/earth-day/ – Family Earthday Ideas
http://network.earthday.net/ – Earth Day Network
http://www.earthdaybags.org/ – Earth Day Grocery Bags Project
Published February 9, 2011 | There are a variety of different things to do and see at the Jacksonville Florida Area Beaches. It is not the most hip place to go like Daytona Beach but it is nice none-the-less. We like to just ride down there and wonder down the board walk. If you get there early in the morning to see the sunrise there are plenty of places to park and not be charged a parking fee. They are constantly changing the look of the place so there is a constant state of construction going on in one place or another so be patient and keep an eye out for the bad spots. Last summer we took some great pictures of the sunrise and various other places that you might enjoy viewing.
Published May 1, 2010 | Did you know that the Beaches Leader has an online edition called the SUN TIMES? You can view it on their website at: http://www.beachesleader.com/. Just click on the Online Sun Times Icon in the upper left hand corner. The Sun Times is in a PDF format and has an average of 15 pages of news and advertising for the Beaches area. The newspaper covers Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Mayport, Jacksonville Beach and Ponte Vedra Beach. The online Beaches leader website is nicely formatted and is non-cluttered as with the Jacksonville Times website. You can do some research on past articles but that function is somewhat limited.
The website has a calendar function for upcoming events, limited classified section, news, sports, entertainment and the obituaries. If you afford to pay for the newspaper to come to your house I would encourage you to do that as the Beaches Leader has been the newspaper for the Jacksonville Beaches area for over 45 years. They have been the voice of the beaches since June 1963.
Published January 11, 2010 | There are a lot of websites out there with information about being prepared for a natural disaster. The trick is to find good information from good resources. You should never have to pay for information about keeping you and your family safe. The City of Jacksonville has a Code Red Service that you can sign up for to get a phone call if a natural or even an unnatural events is about to happen in your neighborhood. We recommend this service, especially for the Beaches Residence, as the beaches is usually the first area that will get bad weather. This service also reports on other things as well including the following: evacuation notices, bio-terrorism alerts, boil water notices, and missing child reports. You can find out more information about Emergency Preparedness at the City of Jacksonville’s Fire and Rescue webpage: http://www.coj.net/Departments/Fire+and+Rescue/Emergency+Preparedness/default.htm
The City of Jacksonville Beach has the Firstcall Network for it’s citizens at: http://www.alertregistration.com/
It is another FREE service offered to Jacksonville Beaches Area residents to be informed by a phone call of immediate weather problems that will affect the residents. Of course, they also have a Hurricane Preparedness webpage as well at: http://www.jacksonvillebeach.org Check them out!
The City of Atlantic Beach Has the same information in it’s website as well. http://www.ci.atlantic-beach.fl.us/index.aspx?NID=154 They participate with the FirstCall network as well. They have other information about Flood zones, Hurricane Preparedness and much more for it’s residents. You decide which one you want to put in your bookmarks or favorites.
Basically, for residents in the Beaches are the best thing to do is prepare a Disaster Kit and have it ready for when you will need to evacuate. Being next to the ocean almost always means you and your family will need to leave for a period of time. To be on the safe side you should organize yourself and keep your family informed of your plan.
Published December 7, 2009 | Welcome all new members of the Jacksonville’s Beaches Area Info blog. Well, the decorations are hung up in the poles next to the road and all the neighbors have been putting up their decorations in their yards. The tinkling lights are very pretty at night but our weather has not been very cooperative lately with all the rain and fog. We only have two main holidays left and then we should be getting back to something “like” normal again. The crazy season is here and everyone is running buying stuff and making plans to visit relatives or having relatives visit them. The main thing that you really should be worrying about is to keep safe and try to reduce your stress levels.
There are some excellent articles available on the web about reducing stress that you might want to take a few minutes out of your business schedule and read. One I was reading was from the Readers Digest entitled: 79 Instant Stress Busters. Some of these include chasing your dog around the backyard; hold a sleeping baby; take a walk in the park; pop some bubble-wrap; chew some cinnamon gum; and much more. Take a look and try to relax, get plenty of sleep and drunk plenty of water. Simple solutions that may help you this “silly” season.
Jacksonville Beaches Area has some terrific parks. We have a listing of them here at: http://jacksonvillesbeaches.info/wordpress/beaches-services/jacksonville-beaches-area-parks/
These parks are FREE and open to everyone and open from dawn to dark. Please exercise respect for the park and put your trash in the bins, if you take your pet do the pooper-scooper thing, and finally respect others right to be there.
Another thing that always makes a difference this season is to volunteer for an organization you believe in. There are lots of people out there who need help and this holiday season is about GIVING. Not just about giving presents but giving of ourselves. Our family is not going to be getting many presents this year because times are hard and we need to focus on others rather than ourselves. If you want to make a difference and teach your children a lesson about really giving then go to: http://www.volunteerjacksonville.org/index.htm
Published July 26, 2009 | Every couple of weeks or so our family likes to venture out and cruise around the town to see what has changed and what is the same. Personally, I like to go to the beaches area and spend a few hours at one of the parks or ride the ferry from Mayport to the Northside or vice versa. The ferry at Mayport has been in operation for a lot of years and is a great way to go from one side of to the other. On the Mayport side is the little town of Mayport that use to be a town all its own but has been incorporated into the Jacksonville city limits. Most of the homes there are owned by families who have lived in that area for generations. That is where the shrimp and fishing boats dock. There is a restaurant, a little convenience store, a seafood store and even a haunted house. Now-a-days there is a gambling cruise line docked there as well as a Coast Guard Station. Mayport Naval Station takes up most of the penisula. There is a boat yard that sells and stores boats as well. The little school is now a Marine Science Center and is visited by every 5th grader in the county each year. The school has regular students as well but they are sent there when they don’t fit in any of the other schools.
You and your vehicle can ride the ferry every day for $5 a car or truck with pedestrians and bicyclist paying a little less. The trip across the St. Johns only takes a few minutes but it is a thrill to get out of your car and stand by the railing and watch as the boat cruises across the waves. And whether you start the trip on the Northside on Hecksher Drive or the Mayport it is worth the fee.
The small village of Mayport in 1852 and hasn’t really changed all that much. However, from the last time we went there most of the little buildings along the river have been torn down. That usually means that someone will be building new stuff there soon. There is a nice little park located across from the ferry entrance for kids to play in and there is another one located to the north of the ferry entrance for boaters to launch their boats. If you get a chance to go there don’t forget to stop into the seafood shop and get some shrimp!
Here are some pictures we took in Mayport. Hope you enjoy them.
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Published October 13, 2008 | Good Day to everyone. We have been able to add some more content to the website. For now we have added acrobat reader files on listings of Day Care facilities, Public Parks and Public Schools in the zip codes of 32227, 32228, 32233, 32250, 32266, 32081 and 32082. We haven’t had a chance to take any pictures of the areas yet but hope to have slideshows available very soon.
The files are posted on the appropriate pages and available for all of our subscribers for free. Just click on the links and the files open up to be saved to your computer or just print them out as needed. So check them out today!
Published April 21, 2008 | We will be giving our subscribers as much information as we can on resources for Beaches residents, newcomers as well as tourists. We will include articles and links to great places to eat, live and play. All areas of the beaches will be covered including Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Mayport and of course Ponte Vedra Beach! We are including the zip codes of 32227, 32228, 32233, 32250, 32266, 32081 and 32082 in the Jacksonville Florida’s Beaches area information Blog.
Just remember in order to post comments you will need to register as a subscriber. It will only take a minute and Wordpress will email you a password. Once you get the password you just sign in and change it to what you want it to be. Also, once you have registered if you would like to be a contributor just email me and I will change your status. We are always looking for volunteers to help make this site the best it can be. So keep it rated “G” as we are a family website. We also reserve the right to delete any appropriate posts.
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- High count of dead sea birds washing ashore on First Coast Beaches, but officials say not to worry February 6, 2012Beachgoers may notice a high number of dead sea birds washing ashore on the First Coast lately. Gary Anderson, a member of the Jacksonville Waterways Commission, just happened to be on the beach for a stroll on Friday and found about 10 dead sea birds in the area of First Street in Atlantic Beach. Concerned, Anderson began to investigate and found that there […]Drew Dixon
- Flurry of government action on Mayport ferry slated for today, coming week February 6, 2012The first real government action on supporting continuation of the St. Johns River Ferry Service could take place tonight in two Beaches municipalities. read more […]Drew Dixon
- Task force gears up to save Mayport Ferry February 4, 2012By Maggie FitzRoy maggie.fitzroy@jacksonville.com Those waiting in their cars for a ride across the St. Johns River on the Mayport Ferry last Saturday had a variety of reasons for crossing the water for points north. Some were tourists making a journey on Florida A1A. Some were area residents on their way to work. Others were locals on a day trip to Amelia I […]Maggie FitzRoy