Tide Views Preserve — Attraction in Atlantic Beach

Novemeber 30, 2018, approx. 12:15 pm

Tide Views Nature Preserve is located north and east of the Atlantic Blvd Bridge. It mainly consists of a sandy walkway and a rather intricate connection of boardwalks and fishing piers.

The main entrance has a parking lot and a sign describing the area and some of the animals that are commonly found there. It seemed to focus very heavily on snakes for some reason. There are two paths as you enter. The one to the left is sandy/muddy and the one to the right is paved. I took the one to the left. It winds through trees and over little tributaries of the intracoastal waterway before eventually merging onto a boardwalk. The boardwalk meanders over marsh and provides some really scenic views of the estuaries of the Intracoastal Waterway.

The boardwalk then splits and one part ends in a fishing pier that has a gazeebo. There is a sign there that lists the different fish and sizes that are allowed to be kept. The other part of the boardwalk's split winds back over the marsh and toward the shoreline. There, it meets the paved path that I opted not to take upon first entering the preserve. You can walk back to the parking lot or continue along the bank of the waterway, northward.

I chose the latter course, which quickly became unpaved, worked through some trees for a few hundred yards, and then opened up into a grassy area with a couple of large ponds. There was another boardwalk/fishing pier, but it was not in great shape. There was a very informative sign about the history of the Intracoastal Waterway and some of the other preserves and parks in the Atlantic Beach area.

There were a handful of picnic tables and trash cans on the opposite edge of the grassy area. Just beyond the picnic tables is a small parking area, not a parking lot, but a few spaces in a gravel lot at the end of a residential street. Unfortunately, there was no wildlife of note, just the usual birds, squirrels...

Lots of green. Beautiful views of the river / marshes, trees and plants. You'll see plenty of little crabs below the piers as you walk, lizards and birds too. There's a sign at the start of the trail that warns about like 8 different kinds of snakes and the dirt trails do have holes (snake holes, I think).

The trails are wide and clear and there are maybe 12 parking spots, but a few more cars could park parallel along the other side. Just watch out for yellow flies along some of the trails, especially at the start. They chased us quite a ways at first.

You can fish from the piers and There's a dock and ramp where you can launch a canoe or kayak. Bring your camera, especially if it's a beautiful day. The trails aren't overly long, so it's a shorter walk than some...

Well beautiful area we looked foward to fishing n enjoying a sunset view : RUINED by homless men. It starting raining & the only place sheltered was a nice gazibo , in which was fully occupied by 3 homeless men with load annoying music. I tripped over an old rusted tire they had as entertainment and had to endure comments about hooters, my pretty towel wrapped on me, and did i like crack . I left disappointed wishing i would have been able to sit down on my day off , again they took all the benches in gazibo too. On my way out, i would have loved to use restroom before my long walk home. It was locked before sunset...kinda...