Things to Do in Palm Valley

With help from a staff of paddleboarders, surfers, environmental scientists, and a dog named Dillon, Kayak Amelia founders Jody and Ray Hetchka combine their love for outdoor sports with environmental conservation. Ray, a certified naturalist and self-described tree hugger, peppers guided kayak, bicycle, and paddleboard eco tours with facts on flora, fauna, and all the best smells circulating throughout the island's delicate ecosystem. In addition to guided tours, Kayak Amelia teaches paddleboard and kayak lessons, and leads fishing trips and overnight kayak excursions. Guests can sign up for tours, or rent equipment for the day, at Kayak Amelia's storefront, Y.B. Green's General Store, which carries eco-friendly gifts such as beeswax candles, carved bone necklaces, and clay-dyed clothing.

Kristin Hendrix teaches students to create functional and decorative ceramics during Morning Glory Fire Arts' classes, field trips, and other hand-crafting adventures. All materials are included in the two-hour clay classes ($24/child, $30/adult) where students can sculpt a bowl, vase, or replacement sock before returning a week later to glaze the fired piece. Clay players can also put together a pottery-to-go kit ($7+ depending on selected item) packed with a custom set of brushes, glazes, and other materials to create and fire ceramics at their own pace. Hendrix will tote glazes, tools, and clay or bisque to a location of the customer’s choice for a reverse field trip ($5/person for groups of 12 or more), sparing supervisors the trouble of collecting notarized permission slips.

Surfing savant Tiffany Layton caught her first wave more than two decades ago and has been launching her board into open waters ever since. Tiffany's pastime evolved into a way of life about six years ago when she began surfing competitively and racking up an impressive list of championship titles. It was around the same time that Tiffany became certified to teach surfing, and today she shares her knowledge of the ocean at Jacksonville Surf Training.

Tiffany and her team of talented surfers welcome pupils of all ages and skill levels, encouraging healthy lifestyles through surfing lessons and camps, standup-paddleboarding lessons, and yoga and fitness classes on sand and water. They even host surf and yoga retreats in exotic lands—the next trip journeys to Costa Rica, the famous location where the ocean made its first wave while attending a rowdy futbol game.

Culled from samples found in her own backyard, Madge Wallace exhibited her first small naturalist collection in her New Riverside School classroom in 1910. Her museum relocated to a Victorian mansion in the decades to follow before settling on its current location on the south bank of the St. Johns River. Known as Museum of Science & History since 1988, the facility currently hosts changing and core exhibits that feature towering marine skeletons and interactive stations strewn through a mock digestive tract where visitors learn about bodily functions. At Currents of Time, history buffs can amass nuggets of local knowledge as they trace Jacksonville's history to more than 12,000 years ago. Elsewhere, The Bryan-Gooding Planetarium's 35,000-watt sound system enthralls guests at Cosmic Concert laser shows every Friday night, and monthly MOSH After Dark sessions educate adults with hands-on workshops and scientific lectures.

Known locally as MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville boasts a collection of almost 800 works of art in media ranging from paintings and prints to sculpture and photography, spanning the decades from 1960 to the present. Members of MOCA enjoy free admission to the museum as well as previews of temporary exhibitions and special promotions from interest groups, and more than 200 North American museums reciprocate benefits, offering members free admission and teaching them their unique secret handshakes. The curators of the museum harness their artistic expertise to help educate kids on the pros and cons of finger-painting on dogs, and infuse local classrooms with art-education programs with the help of a long list of volunteers and docents.

Jacks or Better Casino explores the waters stretching from the Mayport area down the coast. The boat stretches 155 feet from stem to sternum and contains a whale-sized supply of Vegas-style casino gaming. Deft dealers engage lucky streaks on a variety of table games, from blackjack and roulette to traditional poker, video poker, and fireplace poker. With visions of cherries and triple-bars dancing in their heads, slots fanatics sidle up to dual-screen Modern Gaming slots such as Four Leaf Fortunes and Jackpot Galaxy. Jacks or Better's slots paid out jackpots totaling $3 million in 2011. Special events and attractions include a craps tutorial with limits ranging from $5 to $1,000, ensuring comfortable stakes for anyone, from the novice dice slinger to the local Yahtzee grandmaster.