Get online to reach the beach

Jacksonville Beach Pier

Heading to the beach is just one of the great advantages of living here in northeast Florida. On any given day, you can head over to Jacksonville Beach, with its busy pier and boardwalk, or head south to St. Augustine beach.

But what if you’re looking for beach access a little more off the beaten path, or just a little closer to home? Well, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has developed an interactive map to help you find a public beach access point, wherever you are in Florida. It’s an easy way to find your way to your local beach.

Here’s the URL: http://ca.dep.state.fl.us/mapdirect/?focus=coastalaccess

Personally, I’m partial to the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve access points (follow @GTMReserve on Twitter), due to the undeveloped nature of the beach in that area, but there are lots of other access points on the map I plan on checking out. I hope you will, too…