Beaches in NE Florida (Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach: camping, live, beach)

[Stonewall17]

Samierra listed these beach zipcodes for the benefit of newcomers to the Jacksonville area:

Zips for the beach areas:
Atlantic Beach 32233
Neptune Beach 32266
Jax Beach 32250
Ponte Vedra Beach 32082
St. Augustine Beach 32080


Would be interesting to get some feedback on everyone's favourite beach in NE Florida, i.e. Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Feedback on things like: Sand texture, Sand color, Access, Surfing, Security, Lifeguards, Clean/dirty, Crowds, Family-oriented or not.
I guess most people would favor the beach that is closest to where they live . For that reason, admittedly, the beach that I go to most often is St Augustine but lately it has been suffering from erosion and there is a steep decline down to the water. So I would not necessarily rate it as one of the better beaches. Further south at Crescent Beach the sand, in my opinion, rivals the sands in the Caribbean for whiteness. Fernandina Beach seems to be a favourite of the tourist pamphlets. Ponte Vedra is also very popular. All in all, I love our beaches and I can understand why Jax and St Aug may be the envy of those Inlanders. So which is your favourite beach? You might even want to comment on beaches further down the coast.

[CBB]

My favorite beach is at Atlantic Beach. It is very wide, flat and rather white/fine. There is no erosion. Access is easy at the Town Center or at Hannah Park. Although we're in Ponte Vedra Beach, we often drive to Atlantic Beach just for the walkability of its beach.

We know the beach only in Dec/Jan, so there are no lifeguards, no crowds and few people do swim/surf (I never do). I posted photos in another thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/flori...a-pics-45.html. Those of PVB are older, the beach has changed quite a bit due to erosion.

The Ponte Vedra beach is not so fine and has a more orangey color. There is quite some slope towards the ocean and there are mushy areas, both make walking a bit more difficult.

I like that there are no cars on the beaches, other than further south.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by Stonewall17

You might even want to comment on beaches further down the coast.

Or further up?
Amelia Island has some nice beaches.

[5FLgirls]

IMO, Guana State Park has great beaches. In all the times we visited, there weren't more than a handful of people on the beach and we felt like we were the only ones there. Water shoes are preferred because the beach is littered with shells. No lifeguards and you have to pay a small fee to park because it's a state park.

[riveree]

I love the look of Guana - it's great for photography, but as mentioned above, the sand itself is a bit "ouchy" to walk on . Nice golden color though .

Jax Beach and Atlantic Beach have the nice, fine, squeaky sand that I'm used to from up North. Hanna Park, too.

Really, I like them all. I like being at one beach and then driving to the next and seeing a completely different look .

[Zinnyhost]

I personally like Hanna Park. My wife likes that it has bathrooms at some of the access points. It has a lot to offer. Picnic areas, mini kidds water park, camping and fishing. I swayed outside that realm this year on the fourth of July just North of St Augustine. Some crazy local female nut case harassed me for fishing off the surf. Said something about it leaving hooks in the water for people to step on. Maybe she should concern herself with the crap thats dumped in the ocean washing up to shore, most of which she cant see. Jees a guy cant even throw in a fishing line anymore without getting harassed by some nut. And the water was nasty filled with seaweed also, South of Ponte Vedre and North of St Augustine. I just left back to Hanna Park. My wife was angry at me for the pullout at first but she was happy on my descision in the end. The nut case can have her seaweed infested dirty water in some half bay along the way.

Originally Posted by Stonewall17

Samierra listed these beach zipcodes for the benefit of newcomers to the Jacksonville area:

Zips for the beach areas:
Atlantic Beach 32233
Neptune Beach 32266
Jax Beach 32250
Ponte Vedra Beach 32082
St. Augustine Beach 32080


Would be interesting to get some feedback on everyone's favourite beach in NE Florida, i.e. Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Feedback on things like: Sand texture, Sand color, Access, Surfing, Security, Lifeguards, Clean/dirty, Crowds, Family-oriented or not.
I guess most people would favor the beach that is closest to where they live . For that reason, admittedly, the beach that I go to most often is St Augustine but lately it has been suffering from erosion and there is a steep decline down to the water. So I would not necessarily rate it as one of the better beaches. Further south at Crescent Beach the sand, in my opinion, rivals the sands in the Caribbean for whiteness. Fernandina Beach seems to be a favourite of the tourist pamphlets. Ponte Vedra is also very popular. All in all, I love our beaches and I can understand why Jax and St Aug may be the envy of those Inlanders. So which is your favourite beach? You might even want to comment on beaches further down the coast.