If you want one outfit to handle the beach chairs, the bikes and a guided tour or two, Riptide Watersports covers all of it from its shop at 5012 First Coast Highway at the south end. Owner Toby Brown came to Amelia Island after working on the recreation team at the Ritz-Carlton at Reynolds Plantation, and he built Riptide with his wife, Ashleigh. The shop is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and rental gear is delivered to your hotel or rental at no charge.
On the water, guided kayak tours last about two and a half hours, with no minimum age as long as you can sit for the whole trip. Tour locations range from Simpson Creek and Alimacani to Egans Creek, Lofton Creek and Kingsley Plantation. CraigCat tours put you behind the wheel of a two-seat catamaran that tops out around 25 mph (drivers 18 and up, passengers 5 and up), and there are paddleboard tours, private sunset boat tours, and 90-minute surf and paddleboard lessons. On land, a two-hour guided bike tour rolls through the 50-block historic district downtown, and there's an e-bike version.
Two services help most if you're staying near the sand:
- Chair and umbrella setup: two resort chairs and a 7.5-foot umbrella are placed at your beach access by 10 a.m. and picked up after 5 p.m. (4 p.m. at the Omni). Cancel by noon the day before.
- Beach bonfires: a two-hour fire with up to eight chairs, tiki torches, a speaker and an attendant, set up on the south end or at public accesses like Peters Point, Scott Road, American Beach and Burney Park. Because of sea turtle hatching season, bonfires run only from November 1 through April 30.
Tours need 24 hours' notice to cancel. Backwater Cat Adventure runs a similar drive-it-yourself catamaran tour from the downtown harbor. If you're heading down to your own place on the south end, arrival and departure services will set the AC and stock the fridge before you land.