Other Great Places to Paddle in This Area
Guana River State Park and Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve - Whew!!! - hopefully this place is easier to paddle than it is to say.
Here are two links:
Guana
River State Park
Guana
- Tolomato - Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve
Faver-Dykes State Park and Pellicer Creek
http://www.floridastateparks.org/faver-dykes/
And nearby Princess Place
http://www.flaglerparks.com/princess/preserve.htm
Here is an article about paddling in the St. Augustine area:
by John Webb, manager, Kayak St. Augustine
St. Augustine Kayaking
I am launching at Hospital Creek today - on May Street or North A1A just west of the Vilano Causeway. I know the name of the creek may be a little disconcerting but it's a real quiet, decent place to paddle. Only the locals know about this launch (shhh!!!). I'm trying to keep this launch area clean - if you want to help - let me know - perhaps I can give you a discount on rental. If you launch here at low tide there is a mud flat to cross (20 to 30 feet) - launching at the Vilano boat ramp is an alternative at low tide.
On previous trips here I've come up on dolphins and, on a separate trip, manatees - very near the launch. Usually they are further out in the Intracoastal Waterway - Matanzas River or Matanzas Bay - which borders St. Augustine. If you want to paddle past the historic sites of this area - to the walls of Castillo de San Marcos - you will paddle south on Hospital Creek.
To the north there is a bit of urban blight, then you come to a narrower, shallower creek. I have not paddled it all the way but I am told his creek flows all the way to Robinson Creek and the Intracoastal. It may be best to paddle at or near high tide. Once, going as far as I could at low tide, I came up on great blue herons, snowy egrets and white ibis - all feeding in a small pool isolated by the falling tide.\
On my trip to the south I soon come upon the grounds of the "Fountain of Youth". Never mind the claims that this establishment makes - there are some things that are fact and the fact is these grounds and surrounding area are where the earliest European settlers made a stand and a colony that would continue on to this day. Michael Gannon in his book, Florida, A Short History, writes,
"Florida was Europe's first frontier in North America .... One would not know that fact, however, from reading the typical American history textbook .... According to the best-known accounts, Western civilization arrived in our country with the landing of the English at Jamestown in 1607 and at Plymouth Rock in 1620, but by the latter date Florida had long since been explored and settled and the Spanish city of St. Augustine was fifty-five years old."
Just past the "Fountain" you come to The Great Cross. The cross, all two hundred and eight feet of it, was erected in 1965 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Nombre de Dios, the first Spanish mission in Florida..
After leaving the cross the paddler comes to some of the fine old homes of Water Street, St. Augustine. A little further on you come to Castillo de San Marcos, also known as Fort Marion. There is something about seeing the fort from the water and imagining the cannonballs which would be flying over your head during one of the bombardments made by the British (1702 and 1704) when they were trying to capture the fort (unsuccessfully). The balls merely sank into the relatively soft coquina walls, the front wall being nineteen feet thick. Writes Gannon, "at the end of two sieges the intact castle looked like a chocolate chip cookie."
After leaving the fort a paddler has many options - he or she can paddle to the Bridge of Lions (for experienced paddlers - use caution) or over to Anastasia Island and the Lighthouse at Salt Run. To access the lighthouse ($7.50 for adults) park at the public land at the St. Augustine Yacht Club and walk the short distance to the tower. After the Lighthouse (if you're not worn out) you can paddle to Conch Island - the northern tip of Anastasia State Park. Park your kayak and walk over and take a swim in the Atlantic Ocean if you feel frisky. After your refreshing immersion cross St. Augustine Inlet (use caution - strong currents - it is conceivable that an outgoing tide and offshore wind could pull you out into the ocean) to the back side of Vilano Beach.
Re-cross the Intracoastal to get back to the launch area.
Ponce de Lean sailed from Puerto Rico to the coast of what he would name Florida in "two caravels and a bergantina". Caravels are described as small light ships and the bergantina was used to get in closer. Nevertheless, compared to kayaks, and to the eyes of natives, they would have been huge. The modern day kayaker around St. Augustine travels more like the Timacuan Indians who preceded the Spanish. And like the Indian we have to watch out for the modern day big ship - or get run over (use caution in the channel area of the intracoastal - cross it as swiftly as you can - for other possible hazards please go here: Caution). Other than that this is a wonderful place to paddle, especially on calm days or early morning. If the boats bother you you can always stick to Hospital Creek or one of the other creeks in this area. Give us a call - we deliver kayaks to your favorite spot.