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Travel Guide: Florida
Orlando Area Nature Tour,
Day Two
Exploring St. Augustine, Palm Coast, and Ormond Beach, Florida areas
(Start off by reading about day One of this nature drive, if you haven’t already done so.)From Ocala, head east on State Highway 40 back into Ocala National Forest. Get an early start.
From Highway 40, take Highway 314 north and east toward Salt Springs.
Near the junction with Highway 19, the Salt Springs Recreation Area offers another opportunity to swim and relax in a pretty subtropical setting.
Because the water that feeds this spring flows through salt deposits, aquatic life that once lived in the sea that covered central Florida co-exists with fresh water species in the spring.
(Skip Salt Springs if you want to save more time for ocean swimming later today.)
From Salt Springs, drive north on Route 19 to Route 20.
Turn right on State Highway 20, and enter Palatka, Florida, a regional trading center for this rich agricultural area.
At Palatka, head east on U.S. Highway 17 and State Highway 100.
Just over the large bridge across the St. John's River, turn north on State Route 207.
Continue north and east to Interstate 95.
Head north on I-95 a short distance to State Highway 16.
St. Augustine, Fla.
Take Route 16 eastward toward St. Augustine.Ignore the signs for U.S. Highway One, and instead continue east to Business Highway One.
Turn right (south).
Just past the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, the St. Augustine and St. John's County Visitor's Center pops up on your right. Drive to its back to use its inexpensive parking.
This large information center has a really helpful staff that sells discounted tickets to local attractions and suggests places to visit.
Let them provide you with an inexpensive ticket for one of the horse drawn carriages of the St. Augustine Transfer Company and a free map of the historic district.
From the visitor's center, you are within easy walking distance of the historic area and the Transfer Company tour starting point.
Your one-hour guided tour shows the highlights of the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the United States.
After your tour, spend time walking around the historic section and fortifications, including the plaza and St. George Street areas. The setting on a beautiful bay exhilarates.
On your guided tour, you passed the Lions Bridge, where Route A1A branches off Business Route One to cross the bay. When you leave St. Augustine, drive across this bridge to St. Augustine Beach.
Just across the bridge, well-signed Anatasia Island—Anastasia State Park—offers good ocean swimming in a child friendly environment.
Continue south on Route A1A.
Palm Coast
At first, you'll drive along a typical Florida coastal highway. Sadly, this means buildings and sometimes dunes block most views of the ocean. Happily, this will change, as you continue.At the Fort Matanzas National Historic site, turn left into the parking area just prior to the long bridge and causeway across the inlet.
Here a marked nature walk leads you through the dunes to an almost pristine beach.
True, you can see some buildings in the distance to the north, and true some vehicles drive along the hard sand of this beach, but overall this is a pleasant and natural spot.
Beware, however, that currents are said to be very strong here, which makes swimming dangerous, especially for small children. Remember, also, to not bring glass bottles or alcohol onto the beach, which can lead to fines.
Since the founding of the fort during the Eighteenth Century, the outlet to the sea that the fort guarded has shifted far to the south to where you are now.
Continue southbound on Route A1A.
Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, next on your route, has a rocky coastline, very unusual in Florida. However, its gardens are what attract most visitors. This pleasant spot was once the estate of a former head of General Electric and his family.
Stop here for a pleasant hour or so, and perhaps use the picnic facilities.
Flagler Beach
Next comes Flagler Beach.The town of Flagler Beach itself lacks charm. It certainly lacks the influence of wealthy residents to create the great mansions and public buildings found in some Florida coastal communities.
Something even more precious, however, has been structured here.
Nearly unique on the Atlantic coast of Florida, every meter of the Flagler Beach sea front has been preserved for public use. No privately owned buildings block your view.
Seeing the deep blue Atlantic while driving along Flagler Beach and the northern portion of adjacent Ormond Beach lifts the spirit.
You'll miss this experience when you drive south toward Miami, with minor exceptions.
Almost continuous development mars the coast between Cocoa Beach and the Miami area. Unlike the Pacific Coast of the United States in California and Oregon, very little beachfront land has been set aside for public use, a terrible shame.
Florida has shot itself in the foot economically, so to speak, as lack of easy beach access lowers the value of inland properties close to the shore and thus reduces property tax revenues. More importantly, this lack of easy access lowers the quality of life of most Floridians.
Florida, to its credit, has become more ecologically conscious. Recent years have seen important expansions of the Florida state park system. Sadly, however, so many opportunities have already been lost to uncontrolled and often unwise development.
These open stretches of Flagler and Ormond beaches are your last chances to enjoy an ocean swim today.
Ormond Beach
Adjacent to Daytona Beach to its south, Ormond Beach provides a less hectic environment than its famous neighbor.Just past the undeveloped beachfront in northern Ormond Beach, turn right on State Highway 40, and immediately cross the bridge over the Halifax River, the Intercoastal Waterway, staying in the right lane.
At the end of the bridge, turn right.
Go north on this very scenic drive past lovely homes and private gardens along the waterway.
Continue north through the dense subtropical forest of Tomoka State Park, where you may picnic for a small fee.
Your route, a marked Volusia County scenic drive, slowly winds towards the west, and reaches Interstate 95.
Volusia County, Florida is said to have the youngest population in the U.S. You'll feel younger being here.
Go south on I-95 back toward Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach.
(This evening, you may wish to drive down AIA from Ormond Beach to check out the high rise Daytona Beach spring break fun area. Nearby, at 200 North Ridgewood Drive—old Highway 1—just north of U.S. Hwy. 92—enjoy traditional southern cooking at Piccadilly Cafeteria. You won't find many tourists, but you will see lots of locals enjoying the moderately priced, but well prepared family-style food. Don't be wanted by the police, however, as it seems that the entire Daytona police force eats here.)
Make sure that you have booked accommodation in Ormond Beach (Priceline.com Hotels) or Daytona Beach (Hotels.com
, Hotwire.com
and Priceline) in advance.
You may wish to linger in this area for two nights, also using this as your base for the Canaveral National Seashore. Or, have one night here and one night nearer the Kennedy Space Center.
During the spring break period—February through the Easter and Passover holidays—you may want to avoid the high prices and crowds of Daytona and Ormond Beach and instead stay at Cocoa Beach (Hotwire), Titusville, (Priceline.com), etc. These will also be crowded, but a bit less so.
Go on to day three of the Orlando area nature tour. You’re heading for Canaveral National Seashore, the Kennedy Space Center, the Cocoa Beach “strip”, and some typical Florida subtropical grassland.
Go on to day three of the Orlando area nature tour.
Return to day One.
