Amelia Island Beaches
GUIDE TO AMELIA ISLAND’S BEACH PARKS
MAIN BEACH PARK, FERNANDINA BEACH, FLORIDA
- Main Beach Park, Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida
If you’re looking for beach access with a few concessions and activities (like a game of beach volley ball, putt putt golf, and a drink or bite to eat at the beach), you’ll prefer Main Beach Park toward the north end of the island (intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Fletcher Avenue).
Here you’ll find a restaurant (Sandy Bottoms) with oceanfront covered patio and a retro mini golf experience at Fernandina Beach’s Putt Putt (reminescent of yesteryear Florida, it’s been here for 50 years). Putt Putt also serves milk shakes, ice cream, other beverages and snacks. Main Beach Park offers public restrooms and outdoor showers, picnic tables, barbeques, gazebos, and children’s playground beachfront. You can park your vehicle at Main Beach’s large parking lot and enter the beach for free. Main Beach does have three lifeguard stations during the summer tourism season. See weather, tides surf conditions at Main Beach Park, Fernandina.
PETER’S POINT PARK, AMELIA ISLAND, FLORIDA
- Peter's Point Beach Park (looking north), Amelia Island
Peter’s Point, on South Fletcher Avenue, is a free public beach park on Amelia Island (Nassau County, Florida) with very large parking area (including equestrian horse trailer parking), restrooms, outdoor showers, picnic tables and barbeques. Peter’s Point borders the Carlton Dunes (near the Ritz-Carlton). Peter’s Point still allows limited beach driving. Thus, those with 4-wheel drive vehicles can actually drive onto the beach at Peter’s Point and park (turn left only at beach entrance). However, all non-Nassau County residents are required to have a beach driving permit. Beach driving permits are available at the historic courthouse in Fernandina Beach located on Centre Street. Those with children (and all the beach gear that goes with kids) will find beach driving particularly convenient — not having to carry the beach chairs, boogie boards, beach toys, picnic lunches, etc. over the wooden dune walk overs. But if you don’t have a vehicle with 4-wheel (or all wheel drive), don’t be tempted to drive on the beach. The likelihood is you’ll get stuck and need a tow (and then your day at the beach will cost you a few hundred dollars). Peter’s Point does have lifeguards during the summer tourism season.
SEASIDE PARK, FERNANDINA BEACH, FLORIDA
- Seaside Park Holiday Beachgoers, Labor Day
In between Main Beach Park toward the north end of Amelia Island, and Peter’s Point toward the southend of the island, is Seaside Park near Sliders (at the roundabout of South Fletcher Avenue and Sadler Road). There is a smaller public parking lot at Seaside Park (free) with dune walkovers and a couple of picnic tables, but no public restrooms or showers. Beach driving is allowed here, so with a beach-worthy vehicle, it’s possible to drive onto the beach and park (during special events, however, beach driving is suspended). Sliders is an oceanfront restaurant/bar, a local landmark, with outdoor tiki bar and often has live entertainment. Also close by Seaside Park near the roundabout is a beach equipment rental shop and place to rent bicycles, for those who’d like to pedal around Amelia Island (bicycle riding at low tide right on the beach is a great Amelia Island experience.) Seaside Park does have lifeguards during the summer season.
SUNSPLASH BEACH CONCERT SERIES AT SEASIDE PARK IN 2010
- Seaside Park, Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida
Seaside beach park in Fernandina Beach is the place to be for some island tunes this summer on the first Saturday each month. SUNSPLASH, a new, free beach concert series is happening the summer of 2010 starting Saturday, June 5, 2010 right on the beach. SUN SPLASH features free, live reggae music (performed from 1-7 pm), and activities like beach volleyball, petanque, ping-pong. Also, a kids sand castle building contest from 11 am to noon, an 8 am surfing contest (Eastern Surfing Association) will be featured on June 5th, plus there will be a swimwear fashion show at 2 pm. (Note the other Amelia Island SUN SPLASH Saturday dates during summer 2010 are July 3, August 7 and September 4th.) Vehicular beach access will be closed 6am-9pm. PARKING FOR SUN SPLASH: There will be free parking at K-Mart, 1525 Sadler Road, then ride the SunSplash tram for $1 (per person, each way.)
FORT CLINCH, ONE OF FLORIDA’S BEAUTIFUL, NATURAL STATE PARKS ON AMELIA ISLAND’S NORTH TIP
- Fort Clinch State Park Beachfront
Apart from the free beach access parks noted above, if you want to see the one of the most natural areas of Amelia Island, pay a small fee to enter Fort Clinch State Park. It’s a great deal and beautiful spot to spend the day on Amelia Island. Fort Clinch State Park has lovely, uncrowded beachfront on both the Atlantic and Cumberland Sound. The Atlantic Ocean beachfront at Fort Clinch is accessible by wooden walkways over what is probably the island’s largest remaining area of undisturbed natural dunes.
Fort Clinch is a must-see attraction on Amelia Island, with over 1,200 acres, a half-mile long fishing pier, historic fort tours, picnic area with playground equipment, hiking and biking trails. (Tip: bring bug spray if you plan to go to the picnic/playground area near the fort or hike/bike in the wooded areas of the park.) The entry fee for Fort Clinch State Park is $6.00 per vehicle, 2 to 8 passengers. Fort Clinch State Park is open daily from 8 am until sunset. Tour the historic fort itself for an additional $2 per person. Like sleeping under the stars? A camping adventure awaits you at Fort Clinch State Park, with some campsites just steps away from the riverfront and great fishing spots.
The Fort Clinch entrance is located at 2601 Atlantic Avenue, near the Fletcher Avenue intersection, close to Main Beach in Fernandina Beach. Construction of the fort began in 1847, but it was never 100% completed. During the later years of the civil war, the fort was occupied by both Confederate and Union troops. Pedal through the park by bike, a great place to take a bike ride on Amelia Island. It’s a 3-mile bike ride into the park from the entrance at Atlantic Avenue to the fort in the rear of the park, perched above the Cumberland Sound. There are also wooded bike riding trails within the park for mountain bikes. For more information call Fort Clinch State Park at (904)277-7274.
- Fernandina Beach's "North Beach Park" on North Fletcher Ave.
FERNANDINA BEACH’S “NORTH BEACH PARK”
North Beach Park, a smaller beach access point within Fernandina Beach with some parking, a wooden dune walkover with two pavilions, provides beach access on Amelia Island’s northern end from North Fletcher Avenue. There is one lifeguard station at this beach area, but no restrooms.
A FLORIDA STATE PARK, “AMELIA ISLAND STATE PARK” ON AMELIA’S SOUTHERN TIP
In addition to Fort Clinch State Park on the northend of Amelia Island, at the opposite tip of the island is the Amelia Island State Park. Kelly Seahorse Ranch operates horseback riding tours from this state park, where riders can experience horseback riding right on the beach. (There aren’t many places on the east coast of the US where people can ride horses on the shoreline.)(Also see Amelia Island’s BEACH ORDINANCES page…)
- Amelia Island State Park, Florida (South tip of the island)
Amelia Island State Recreation Area (State Road A1A just before the bridge that takes you off Amelia’s south-end), contains over 200 acres of untouched land, beaches, salt marsh, and forest — a wonderful natural environment. It is open all year long, with a bargain admission price of only $1. (This area of Amelia Island is a favorite spot of local fishermen who cast from the shore.) Driving on the beach is allowed (with permit for non-county residents) in Amelia Island State Park. Only drive on the beach here around low tide, since the beach gets narrow at high tide along the entry/exit area of the park. For further information call (904)251-2320.
TIDAL POOLS FOR THE KIDS AT LOW TIDE ON AMELIA ISLAND
Low tide sometimes offers wonderful tidal pools on Amelia Island’s beachfront, ideal playgrounds for the little ones. So, if you have young children, a wonderful time to visit Amelia Island beaches is around low tide. You will often find tidal puddles that will bring glee to the young as they play in shallow water and chase darting minnows that get trapped in the pools. Parents will be able to relax a wee bit more, with diminished stress watching children in the less-threatening tidal pools (as compared to supervising children in the ocean waves with potentially strong currents).
A trip to Amelia Island’s beaches can really be a fulfilling experience, not just for the “typical” beach and water activities, but also for unique sights. You may see horseback riders in the distance as noted above from the horse ranch, or folks playing Petanque on the flat beach surface at low tide. From May through October is sea turtle nesting season, so you’ll see the marked nests of loggerhead turtles.
The beach is also a venue for outdoor activities like a yoga or fitness class, ocean kayakers, surfers, and those riding bicycles right on the beach (at low tide). Low tide provides a hard enough surface that allows bikers (with the wider mountain bike tires), to pedal in the hard packed sand toward the water. Riding a bike on the beach is fun and a great workout, too! Dogs are allowed on Amelia Island’s beaches, (but please clean up after your pet). It is legal to have leashed dogs at the beach on Amelia Island, and some folks do enjoy bringing their pooch to the beach for a walk.
(Also see Amelia Island’s BEACH ORDINANCES page…)
THE BEACHES ARE NOT JUST A SUMMERTIME PLACE. During the cooler months, many find beachcombing in both late fall and mild winter days, a very peaceful and gratifying experience on Amelia Island. “Off-peak” beach season (November thru March), there may only be a handful of people for miles on Amelia Island’s beaches — you can really experience some solitude at the beach. The season for swimming at Amelia Island beaches is usually from around mid-April right through September (with the average high air temperature 87°), and sometimes into October (average high air temp is 80°).
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