Jacksonville Beach resident recalls pier jumps, skate park and 'Sinky Sands' in meeting remarks

A Jacksonville Beach resident recounted childhood memories of a skate park, an amusement-park slide, a Sun and Surf Shop, and a crabbing spot called “Sinky Sands” in remarks captured in the meeting transcript.

The speaker said the community once had a small skate park “about 50 by 50” and a simple square that sometimes sent riders flying into nearby streets. “We used to just skateboard up there for hours,” the resident said. The speaker recalled an amusement-park slide where riders used mats and occasionally rode two abreast until staff tightened rules after a near-miss involving a friend.

The remarks described a bandstand and a Sun and Surf Shop in the same building that the speaker said now houses the pavilion and an Embassy Suites. The speaker said Sinky Sands, a rocky area in front of the hotel, held large granite rocks “probably 10 feet, maybe 12 feet high” and was full of blue crabs and stone crabs; the speaker said they would take a cooler of blue crabs and remove one claw from stone crabs so the animals would live and regrow it.

The resident also described a lifeguard shack located “about maybe 50 or 75 yards down” from the green shack by the pier and recollected that, when waves were big, they and friends would sprint down the pier and jump into the water. The speaker said beach driving later stopped and a ramp that had provided access was removed, leaving a narrower beach in some spots.

The speaker named acquaintances including John Milliken and Robert Milliken and mentioned Curtis Loftus among friends from Sixteenth Street. The speaker said the memories were of a low-key local scene where “everybody looked out for each other.”

No formal actions or proposals were made during the remarks; the transcript records a personal recollection rather than a request for official action.