Looking for more activities to do in the St. Augustine and Palm Coast area? Here are the best places to be, while embracing everything essential to having adventurous, natural, and unique experiences in and around St. Augustine! Enjoy!
Parks & Preserves
Princess Place Preserve
Princess Place is a Flagler County park nestled in the saltmarshes of Pellicer Creek and the Matanzas River. The park offers an enormous amount of outdoor activities including camping, equestrian camping, hiking, biking, fishing, canoeing or kayaking and wildlife viewing. There are interpretive exhibits of the area’s history, and facilities are available for rent for weddings or other gatherings.
Faver-Dykes State Park
This quiet park located on Florida’s northeast coast offers picnicking, fishing, hiking, canoeing and camping. The park borders on the pristine Pellicer Creek that winds along the coast before entering the Matanzas River. Wildlife is abundant…bald eagles, osprey, hawks, river otters, bobcats, wading birds and many migratory bird species.
Deep Creek Conservation Area
The Deep Creek Conservation Area is a wetland preserve in northeast Florida situated along the banks of Deep Creek and the St. Johns River. It is jointly owned by the state of Florida and the St. Johns River Water Management District. The area consists of pine flatwoods and floodplain swamp. The preserve offers miles of trails for biking, hiking and horseback riding.
Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
Formerly known as Guana River State Park, now part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve system. An absolute kayaking and hiking paradise with an incredible Environmental Educational Center.
River to Sea Preserve
The River to Sea Preserve is located on both sides of Highway A1A at Marineland and protects a rapidly disappearing maritime scrub environment. Still under development and restoration, the 90-acre preserve offers walking trails, nature vistas, and ecological education opportunities as well as public access to the beach.
Anastasia State Park
Located on the barrier island, Anastasia Island, east of St. Augustine, FL, Anastasia State Park features four miles of beautiful beaches plus tidal salt marsh, maritime forest and upland hammock and an archeological site where coquina rock was mined to build the Castillo de San Marcos fort in St. Augustine. Visitors can enjoy camping, hiking, picnicking and all kinds of water activities including fishing, windsurfing and canoeing.
Washington Oaks Gardens State Park
Washington Oaks Gardens State Park is famous for it’s beautiful formal gardens of both native and exotic plants from around the world, but it also is well-known and well-loved for its remarkable coquina rock beach, a rare sight in the state of Florida! Visitors can enjoy hiking, biking, swimming, picnicking and fishing and can learn about the park’s natural and cultural history at the visitors’ center.
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
This 46,000 acre preserve located in Jacksonville, FL was established in 1988 in a partnership between the National Park Service, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the City of Jacksonville. It consists of federal, state and privately held lands including the Kingsley Plantation, the Fort Caroline National Monument and a number of state parks.
Attractions
Marineland Marina
Right at Ripple Effect Headquarters, The Town of Marineland Marina has 20+ transient boat slips nestled on the ICW between Palm Coast and St. Augustine, Florida. Home to some of the states most beautiful ecosystems, this quaint location offers all of the amenities and services boaters desire in a peaceful and accessible location.
Schooner Freedom
St. Augustine’s premier 72′ sailing schooner and the only schooner charter vessel between Charleston and the Florida Keys. Schooner Freedom provides relaxing sailing experiences in downtown St. Augustine. Wind Power- we love it!
Florida Agricultural Museum
The Florida Agricultural Museum, located in Palm Coast, FL was first established in 1983 to preserve Florida’s agricultural heritage. The museum offers many family activities year-round. As a working farm, the exhibits and demonstrations educate the visitor about Florida’s farming culture. Part of the museum’s mission is to preserve heritage livestock including Florida Cracker cattle and horses. Museum visitors can observe these and many other animals.
Marineland Dolphin Adventure
The Marineland Dolphin Adventure is an entertainment, education and research facility dedicated to the conservation of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Visitors are able to observe and interact with the dolphins in a number of settings such as feeding and training. The center offers educational programs for adults, teens and youth with many field trip opportunities. Visitors can also learn about Marineland’s fascinating history from movie production to ocean conservation.
Paddle Florida
Paddle Florida offers week long trips throughout the interior of Florida on the Suwannee and Peace Rivers. Great music, food, people and camping!
The Sea Turtle Hospital
The Sea Turtle Hospital at Whitney Laboratory, located right next to Ripple Effect Ecotours headquarters, offers behind the scenes guided tours of the facility by Sea Turtle Biologists. Learn about their conservation and rehabilitation initiatives while you meet their current patients.