Winter here averages a 64.3°F high in January with the lowest rainfall and the lowest demand of the year. The ocean is 57.9°F, so this is a walking, shelling and whale-watching season — and Fort Clinch and the Egans Creek Greenway are at their most pleasant.
A 1,400-acre state park on Amelia Island's northern tip holding a well-preserved masonry fort begun in 1847, two beaches, a fishing pier, a mile-long oak-canopy entrance drive, campgrounds and trails. The island's single best half-day out.
About 300 acres of salt marsh, tidal creek and maritime hammock threaded with flat crushed-shell trails between Atlantic Avenue and Jasmine Street in Fernandina Beach. The island's best free wildlife walk, and reliably good for alligators and wading birds.
Details unconfirmed
The island's history museum, housed in the former Nassau County jail on South 3rd Street in downtown Fernandina Beach. Interprets the Isle of Eight Flags story, the Timucua, the railroad and shrimping eras, and runs guided walking tours of the historic district.
Florida's oldest surviving lighthouse, standing on a bluff above Egans Creek off Lighthouse Circle in Fernandina Beach. Still an active aid to navigation and on private grounds — viewable from the street, with interior access only on limited scheduled tours.
The stretch of Amelia Island shoreline north of Main Beach toward the Fort Clinch jetties, reached from the northern Fletcher Avenue accesses. Wide, quiet sand with a working-port view, no facilities, and the island's strongest currents near the jetties.
The working marina at the foot of Centre Street on the Amelia River, with the shrimp fleet, boat tours and charters, a public boardwalk and the island's best sunset view. The reason downtown Fernandina Beach faces the water it does.
The museum interpreting American Beach, the oceanfront community founded in 1935 by the Afro-American Life Insurance Company so that Black Floridians could reach a beach under segregation. Includes the story of Evans' Rendezvous and the protected NaNa dune.
Details unconfirmed
Amelia Island's old burial ground north of downtown, established in the Spanish colonial period and still in use. Live oaks, Spanish moss and graves spanning the island's several nationalities — one of the quietest places on the island.
Details unconfirmed
Two beaches inside Fort Clinch State Park at Amelia Island's northern tip: Atlantic surf on the east side and calmer water by the jetties on the north, plus a fishing pier looking across Cumberland Sound to Georgia. Inside the park entry fee.
Details unconfirmed
Winter is the island at its most local, and the season most visitors write off for the wrong reason. The sea is genuinely cold — 57.9°F in January — but the air averages a 64.3°F high, November and December are two of the three driest months of the year, and everything that is unpleasant in July is excellent in January.
The fort, with nobody in it. Fort Clinch is a brick fort in full sun on a peninsula. In July that is an endurance event; in January the brick holds the warmth, the ramparts are empty, and the campground loops under the live oaks are the most pleasant they get all year.
The Greenway without the heat or the insects. Egans Creek Greenway is three hundred acres of flat marsh trail with no shade at all. Winter is the only season you can walk the whole thing in the middle of the day.
Right whales. North Atlantic right whales calve off this coast from roughly mid-November to mid-April — this is the only known calving ground for the species. Sightings from shore are luck rather than a schedule, but the fort shoreline and the piers are where people scan from. See when is right whale season.
The clearest water of the year. Less biology in it, fewer storms stirring the bottom, and the marsh draining less. It is still too cold to swim.
Shelling and shark teeth. Winter storms dig into the bottom and throw older material up the beach, and there are fewer people working the shell beds. The morning after a blow is the single most productive time to look — see where to find shark teeth.
Downtown, decorated. The Victorian historic district does Christmas unusually well, and Dickens on Centre and the New Year's Eve Shrimp Drop bracket December.
| Average high | Average low | Rain | Ocean | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December | 66.3°F | 49.4°F | 3.12″ | 62.0°F |
| January | 64.3°F | 45.4°F | 3.20″ | 57.9°F |
| February | 66.6°F | 48.6°F | 3.13″ | 60.3°F |
A clear day feels warmer than the number suggests, because there is no humidity in the air at all. A grey day with wind off the water feels considerably colder. Expect a handful of nights near freezing; it does not snow here.
Some kitchens close. Several downtown restaurants shut two days a week from autumn through spring, and a few close entirely for a stretch in the new year. We hold no confirmed opening hours for any venue on this site, so call ahead rather than trusting a listing.
Demand is at its annual low. This is the cheapest and quietest time to be here, outside the festival weekends.
Bring a real jacket. Not a windbreaker. Evenings are in the forties.
Part of Things to do on Amelia Island.