14 Free Things to Do in St. Augustine

I knew if I looked hard enough I'd uncover a bunch of free things to do in St. Augustine. It actually wasn't hard once I started looking. See for yourself …

1. Take a self-guided city walking tour.

We found we really didn't need to buy a guidebook at all. It's easy to explore the city by just wandering around. There are signs and info placards in front of places of interest throughout the city. Look for statues (Ponce de Leon, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Henry Flagler), city landmarks (City Gate), churches and cathedrals. Don't forget to walk along the narrow streets in the residential areas for unique, picturesque gates and gardens. The trolley tours of the city are modestly priced, but if you enjoy walking and wandering … and St. Augustine is a good walking city … just check out the trolley tour route on-line in advance. It provides lots of information, as well as the main sights to see.

2. Walk over the Bridge of Lions to Anastasia Island

The Bridge of Lions is beautiful and it's a short walk across. Check out the Carrera marble lions on both sides of the bridge. If you're lucky, the bridge will open while you're walking across and you'll see sailboats or even the Black Raven, the local pirate ship, heading through on the Intracoastal Waterway. Except during the busiest traffic hours (0800/Noon/1700), the bridge opens for boats on request on the hour and half hour. You can monitor the bridge on VHF Channel 09.

3. Beaches

The beaches here are lovely and access to the public is free. Parking is at a premium, but some of the beaches are the type you can drive right up to and actually park on the beach. Come early to stake out your claim.

4. Free Distillery and Winery Tours and Tastings

The St. Augustine Distillery and the San Sebastian Winery both offer free tours and tastings (age 21 and older). They are located right in the old city, an easy walk in historic downtown St. Augustine. Additionally, if you're an olive oil or balsamic vinegar connoisseur (or would like to be), The Ancient Olive offers tastings of olive oils and balsamics.

5. Aviles Street

Brick-paved Aviles Street, named after the city's founder Pedro Menendez de Aviles, is touted as the oldest street in America. It's lined with boutiques, antique shops, bistros, cafes and historic houses. Browse, explore, window shop. It doesn't cost a penny.

6. St. George Pedestrian Mall

More touristy and crowded than Aviles Street, this pedestrian mall in the old Spanish Quarter is still interesting to explore. Multiply the offerings on Aviles Street by 10 and that's St. George Pedestrian Mall. If people watching is your thing, this is a good place for it.

7. St. Photios Shrine & the Peck-Peña House Tour

While you're on the St. George mall, you can duck into St. Photio's, a Greek Orthodox shrine, rich in Byzantine décor, statuary and historic significance. The Peck-Peña House is just up the street from the Shrine and, unlike most of the historical houses in town, offers a free historic house tour at designated times throughout the day.

8. Fort Matanzas National Monument

This small, but interesting fort, is about 14 miles from the old city on Anastasia Island. There is no admission charge for this US National Park facility and even the ferry ride to Rattlesnake Island where the fort is located is free. There's a movie and interesting displays at the Visitor's Center. The fort is small, but worth the visit and a ½ mile boardwalk trail through the beach flora is pleasant. You might even spot one of the gopher tortoises that make their home there.

9. Free exhibits at the Visitor's Center and Government House

We were pleasantly surprised by the city's Visitor's Center. There are several interesting displays and lots of information available. This is also the main parking facility for the old city area. Parking, unfortunately, is not free.

Near the Plaza is the Government House which offers free exhibits from time to time. While we visited, an interesting exhibit on Dugout Canoes was available.

10. Free concerts and movies

There are two venues for free summer concerts in the city. There's a Music by the Sea Concert Series at the St. Augustine Amphitheater and Concerts in the Plaza, right on the old city plaza in front of the Cathedral. Just Google “free concerts st augustine” or “free movies st augustine” for current scheds and movie/performance offerings. Bring your chair or blanket and your dinner if you wish, but no alcohol is allowed.

11. Davenport Park Carousel

This is a good place to bring the kids to run off some energy. Entrance to this city park is free and there's plenty of playground equipment to keep the kids occupied. The 1927 restored carousel is $1/ride … almost free.

12. Lighthouse Park

If you continue across the Bridge of Lions along A1A, you can walk to Lighthouse Park. Entrance to the lighthouse is not free, but you can easily view the lighthouse, check out the displays and shop in the Visitor's Center, view the lighthouse keeper's house and walk down to the beach without charge. Wandering the neighborhood and checking out the historic houses (19th/20th c) around the lighthouse is pleasant walking along shady, flowery streets.

13. Magnolia Street

This street, where the Fountain of Youth Park is located, is misnamed. Instead of magnolias, it is lined with magnificent live oak trees. Spanish moss, aka old man's beard, hangs from the branches and provides a great opportunity to take advantage of one of St. Augustine's most photographed streets.

14. Churches, cathedrals and old hotels

The St. Augustine Cathedral Basilica and the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church are just two of several churches that can be visited in St. Augustine. You don't have to be religious to appreciate the architecture and detail of these buildings.

Though tours and museums are available for the old hotels, you can wander the luxurious grounds and take in the delightful decadence without admission. The old Ponce de Leon Hotel, one of Flagler's flagship hotels, is now Flagler College. Walk past Flagler's statue and through the arches and enjoy the lavish surroundings and detail. A tour is available if you're interested.

Across the street, the Lightner Museum and City Hall are located in the old Alcazar Hotel, also one of Flagler's hotels developed for the rich and famous in the 1920s. Past Pedro Menendez de Aviles' statue, again you can enter the lavish courtyard and cross the bridge to view the huge koi in the pond. There's a small bistro and several shops surrounding the gardened courtyard. The Lightner Museum, one of the city's premiere museums, is located here and, in our opinions, is well worth the admission price ($10/pp).

There are coupon books and city maps galore available at the Visitor's Center, many retail stores and the trolley/train ticket outlets. The coupon books offer discounts for restaurants, tours and most attractions allowing you to save a few bucks when you do opt to splurge. Senior discounts are offered at most attractions.

Eclectic St. Augustine

As we wandered and explored St. Augustine, I snapped photos of anything that caught my fancy and many times these pix just don't fit anywhere into a blog post. Still, I wanted to share them with you. This post is a pictorial catch-all for those photos that previously didn't have a place. Hope you enjoy.

The Blue View - Finding the Gulf Stream

We are very conservative sailors. We reef down before we need to when we see potentially bad weather approaching or in the evenings when we can't always see a squall coming our way until it is on top of us. Likewise, we use less sail than we did a few years ago - we'd rather trade a few miles of distance each day for a more comfortable ride. We call it 'leisurely sailing' (although in our younger years we undoubtedly called it 'old fart sailing'). A good day for us now is 150 nautical miles, just over an average of six knots.

That said, we are certainly not opposed to going out of our way a bit to find a friendly current or avoiding an adverse one. We had a fast passage from Brisbane to Sydney Australia one year by taking a free ride on the the East Australia Current. Our only 200+ nm day was thanks to the extra 3+ knots that we picked up from the Agulhas Current off South Africa. On the other hand, we tried our best to avoid as much of the Humboldt current as we could, as it was against us for most of our trip down the west coast of South America.

Now as we head up the east coast of the U.S., we are hoping to add 50-75 nm to our daily passages by taking advantage of the mighty Gulf Stream, just as mariners for the past 400 years have done. Its location is fairly constant along the south Florida coast, but the course it follows varies as it travels further north. For the modern day sailor, however, locating the Gulf Stream is much easier than it was even thirty years ago.

A hundred and fifty years ago, mariners would use Maury's Pilot charts and the captain's acquired knowledge to follow the most likely course of the Gulf Stream. By taking periodic sun and star sights using a sextant, the navigator would compare the distance made good to the dead reckoning position and get an idea of how much current was present. In the twentieth century, but before GPSs and satellite imaging, the offshore sailor would head eastward to the 100 fathom depth contour. He would then set a course to follow a few miles east of this contour. (This is the edge of the continental shelf, where the depths quickly drop from a few hundred feet to several thousand feet. (Interestingly, the Agulhas Current follows a similar depth profile off the South African coast.) He might also measure the water temperature to adjust his course, as the temperature of the water in the Gulf Stream is several degrees higher than the surrounding water.

These days, locating the Gulf Stream is quite straightforward. There are daily updates of the thermal satellite images of the Atlantic coastal waters. By going online prior to our departure, I can download the latest images showing the precise location of the Gulf Stream. I use these images to plot a series of waypoints on our chartplotter that will get us to and follow the current. Once we are in the Gulf Stream, we can measure the strength of the current by comparing our 'Speed Over Ground' as measured by our GPS to our 'Speed Through the Water' as measured by the speed transducer on the hull. The difference between the two is the speed of the current.

Technology is wonderful. No doubt, in another thirty years, on-board computers will monitor weather conditions and adjust the sails to maximize our velocity made good, smart radar sets and AISs will monitor other vessels and automatically avoid collisions, and satellite imagery will plan the fastest route. I'll opt for a system that includes a setting that adjusts the ride - where a setting of 1 is the most comfortable and a setting of 10 is the fastest.

Then all I'll be needed for, assuming we are still around and capable of climbing aboard, is to compile the list of repairs to be done at the next exotic port of call.