Recently my family and I went on a little day trip to the beaches area to check out two parks that we haven’t been to yet. The first was the Dutton Island Preserve. Dutton Island Preserve has two entrances to it on Dutton Drive off of Mayport Road just North of Atlantic Boulevard. There is a small picnic area with a small kids playground and hiking trails leading over to the Intercoastal and a large field where you and your family can throw down a blanket, play some frisbee and just enjoy the view. The other entrance is a little farther down the road over a small bridge. You can drive onto the island to put in your small boat, canoe or kayak. There is also a fish dock or wooden walkway with a covered area for when it is too sunny or raining. There are also picnic areas on the island as well.
Tide Views Preserve is located on the road on the north side of Atlantic Boulevard off of Mayport Road located at 1 Begonia Street. The preserve is rather small has a picnic area, bathroom and hiking trails. There is a wooden boardwalk over the marshland to view the birds and to go fishing. Both of these parks can be found on the Atlantic Beach website at: http://www.coab.us/index.aspx?nid=43 We have also included some pictures of each of the parks below.
Hello fellow Jacksonville residents and any visitors! I just took a look at the Jacksonville Beach Government website and it seems there are some really interesting things happening over the next couple of months. (Unless there is a Hurricane, of course!) You should bookmark the page http://www.jacksonvillebeach.org
And then click on the Calendar of Events. There is going to be some surf contests this month, a buddy walk and volley ball contests. September is probably the best month to go to our beaches as it is not too hot nor too cold and barring any tropical storms or hurricanes in the Atlantic the beach is pretty nice.
****CAUTION**** Please make sure you don’t swim or surf alone as the rip currents are always bad to the unwary. With our whole family being born and raised in this area for about 3 to 5 generations we don’t allow our children to go past the knees in the waves. The older ones still have to stay at their waist. So, please use common sense and always use the buddy system when swimming.
My youngest son and my nephew are picking up surfing this year so they will probably want to go see the surfing contests as well as watch the girls. We have quite a few skimboarders on the beach so beware of them as they try to slide across the water. For the young ones it is a good idea to go to the beach when the tide is midway to low as there are little pools of water for them to play in as the tide is going out. Make sure to bring water to drink and be sure to PICK UP YOUR TRASH! We do have nice beach areas from Hanna Park to the Crossroads down below Ponte Vedra Beach. Our sands are white and the surf is pretty nice.
GREEN FARMERS MARKET: http://beacheslocalfoodnetwork.web.officelive.com/greenmarket.aspx
IF you want to check out a “GREEN” Farmers Market there is one Every Saturday from 2:00pm to 5:00pm in Jarboe Park. Click on the link above for more information.