Hmmm, what can I say… All black pavement! Really? Spaghetti factory of streets, mostly  pull through, few level campsites, careful not to drive through someones campsite! Watch for the arrows, they mark the streets!

Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine  is a great resource in an area where the other campgrounds at the beach cost more than twice as much. That’s why it’s usually rather full.

Traffic isn’t much of a problem on SR A1A but there’s some confusion at the turnoff to the park; the turn onto the park road and the turn to the road going to the lighthouse museum are really close together and they’re both marked by brown signs. The park road is at the south sign.

Once checked in we drive down a long road; at the end of that road is the beach parking lot and the snack bar. There’s said to be wifi at the snack bar but we couldn’t catch even a glimmer of it in the parking lot.

Somewhat before the end of the beach road we take a right turn to the campground and come to a crossroads; take a left to Coquina loop and a right to the other loops. Coquina is the only loop within walking distance to the beach.

St. Augustine Beach from the southern park boundary to the inlet is a nice unspoiled beach.

Here's another view from the same location looking towards Salt Run and the St. Augustine lighthouse.

All the campsites we saw were level and plenty long; the real problem that makes them really tight is that the’re fairly perpendicular to the road, wooded right out to the edge of the road, the road is one-lane and there’s no clearance on the other side of the road. For those reasons getting in or out can be mighty difficult.

Of course most come to St. Augustine for the sightseeing; we’ve been here several times so didn’t do much. One thing right nearby within bicycling distance is the lighthouse museum. You can enjoy the keeper’s house museum and then climb to the top of the tower and step out to the rail.

The lighthouse and keeper's house.

Across the street from the lighthouse is a parking lot with RV and bus parking; don’t park in the other boat ramp parking lot.

To go into town, supposedly there’s a shuttle bus for one of the trolley tour companies  that’ll pick up at the park entrance. The rangers absolutely will not say one word about it, probably for good reason, and we weren’t really interested anyway because with tax and all it would’ve cost about $50 and we had no way to get to the park entrance without a really, really, really long walk.

We drove around a little and found that the trolley tour that operates at the Old Jail has lots of free parking and it’s a big parking lot; I saw one big C+ in there when we rode by.

We found an alternative, which turned out to be free and within reasonable walking distance of the fort and St. George Street. There’s a huge parking garage west of the visitor’s center and west of that parking garage is a lot for RVs and buses. It’s free of charge during the day and evening while overnight parking requires a permit and costs $26; no camping is permitted. From US 1 turn on West Castillo Dr. and turn right on Riberia St. or from SR A1A just north of the fort turn on West Castillo Dr. and turn left on Riberia St.

Here's Mom standing guard at the ancient city gate.

Entrance to Anastasia State Park

Sand dunes at Anastasia S.P. by the ocean!

This is a really nice park and it has a lot to offer! Not only is it convenient to all the local attractions, my Virgin Mobile card works and I can blog, yea! I wasn’t to happy about the Dish Network but since we’re gonna spend the next two days starting tomorrow on tours of St. Augustine, there won’t be any time for tv. Isn’t it funny how I always blog about my Internet and TV! It may sound like I’m not in to camping but, really I am! But, I do like to keep track of the places we’ve traveled so when we return, if there was anything I didn’t like about it, I know I’m gonna forget unless I blog about it. This is one park I know I’ll want to come back too! There is so much to do in St. Augustine and there is a tour bus that will come and get you at the Rangers station, but you gotta  be back on that tour bus before 4pm or you’ll need a taxi. That’s when it comes in handy to have a car hitched behind your RV.

Go to http://floridastateparks.org or Call (904) 460-9111 for more information.

ANASTASIA SP 1340A A1A SOUTH ST. AUGUSTINE FL 32080-5422

GPS Info. (Latitude, Longitude): 29.87722, -81.28028 29°52’38″N, 81°16’49″W