Things to Do in Palm Coast

Each summer, beer-toting mini-golf enthusiasts congregate for Putt N' Crawl, a golf-themed beachside bar crawl. Clad in golfing garments, teams compete on home-built mini-golf putting greens, and dodge windmills and fiberglass stegosauruses on their way to a dozen different bars. In addition to quality time with golfing buddies, the event promises prizes for exceptional teams and plenty of specials on frosty pints.

A 39-foot ninjasaur snarls in the corner of Big Air, bearing white fangs and a coiled, sloping tail that broadens to a two-lane slide. This inflatable monster shares a habitat with castles, volcanoes, and princess towers, as well as bouncy football fields and sports arenas. Together, these inflatables occupy a 12,000-square-foot arena that adjoins to a 1,700-square-foot "parent's space." As sock-footed kids frolic amidst the bounce houses and slides, parents enjoy grownup distractions such as free WiFi, pool tables, and novelty-sized checkbooks. Big Air welcomes guests for open play, field trips, and parties.

As the head trainer of Cactus Jack's Trail Rides, Debbie Zito cares for a fleet of healthy, happy, and well-trained horses, which she also pairs with beginners and experienced riders for leisurely tours. Debbie and her other guides call upon their seasoned riding experiences as they lead visitors throughout the shade-speckled trails of the Florida Horse Park and the 110-mile Cross Florida Greenway trail system. While groups trot along, the guides point out historic sites and natural inhabitants, such as great horned owls, red-tailed hawks, coyotes, cardinals, and armadillos. Debbie and her team also offer lessons to increase riders' confidence and help them communicate with horses effectively rather than sending them commands through email.

Wooded areas filled with abandoned automobiles, empty houses, and overturned barrels might evoke the set of a gritty war movie, except for one detail: they’re all covered in colorful splotches. These are some of the sights on the six unique fields at GTF Paintball, which host colorful mock battles on their expansive outdoor property. Whether participants stage urban combat on The Houses, or take to The Village to engage in fast-paced rounds, they can lose themselves in settings that simulate both real-life battle and pranks played by expressionist painters. No matter what the scenario, GTF places an emphasis on safety by chronographing markers and requiring goggles in all playing areas.

The Amelia Island Museum of History is the fortuitous result of circumstance. In 1975, a committee from the Duncan Lamont Clinch Historical Society gathered to found a history museum for Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island. Meanwhile, local collector William Decker was studiously acquiring historical documents and artifacts from the area—a lot whose pieces numbered in the thousands. When Decker died, the collection passed on to his son, a noted altruist, and just like that the Amelia Island Museum had its bones.

Today, the museum's exhibits examine local culture of the Timucua Native American tribe, Spanish and French explorers, pirates, and Victorian-era residents. Curators have assembled the Women of the Port photography display to highlight women working in the local maritime industry.

Museum guides are not restricted to the grounds, and often helm tours of the island's haunted locales, historic Centre Street, and Fernandina Beach's north end—with a focus on history from the mid-18th to 19th centuries.

The seasoned jumpers on staff at Skydive Amelia Island have all successfully completed thousands of jumps. The dedicated professionals securely strap themselves to beginning skydivers and plunge from a plane to enter a freefall of up to 120 miles per hour. These experienced skydivers hope their enthusiasm for diving is catching, as one of them says: “The falling is so exhilarating, I just wanted to keep on doing it”.