Drew Dixon
The St. Johns County Ocean and Fishing Pier is getting a better start to 2025 than the way it finished out 2024.
County officials have started issuing paid passes for visitors to fish off the structure in St. Augustine Beach again this week. Sightseeing on the pier, which also requires a paid ticket, will be permitted, too. Of course, both activities will be optimal depending on the stage of ocean tides.
While most of the structure will be open to the public, the last 100 feet of the pier stretching into the Atlantic Ocean will remain closed until further notice.
The pier in the popular tourist county went through some tough times last year so any additional access is a significant improvement.
In July, the St. Johns County pier became basically defunct after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a sand replenishing project on the beach around the pier. Years of erosion had depleted the shoreline of sand and the beach renourishment effort was designed to restore the area of much-needed beach.
The problem was the replenishment added so much sand that the pier was no longer over water because the beach stretched so much further east into the Atlantic. Army Corps officials advised the public that the pier would eventually be back over water again once some of the replacement sand washed into the ocean, which was by design.
But then in early August, elements of Hurricane Debby impacted Florida’s First Coast and much of that sand was washed out to sea. Then county engineers inspecting the pier found that water still wasn’t deep enough for fishing.
And even a few weeks after that, government engineers then found that some of the pilings were compromised and damaged, causing major portions of the structure to remain closed.
The return of fishing to the structure is a major development. The pier is located on 4 acres of beachfront park on State Road A1A and it’s the center of multiple events including farmers markets and other activities.
Pier visitors are required to pay $4 to go on the pier for St. Johns County residents and $6 for non-residents. There are discounts for military veterans and the disabled and senior citizens over 60 along with children under 6 can access the structure for free.
