Great time walking the halls and decks of "The Gray Ghost of the Vietnam War"…read more Cost was $22 for my wife and I combined to go on a self guided tour through the ship. The staff was friendly, knowledgeable, and kind. You could be through and done in 20 min or take your time and be there a couple hours.

The USS Orleck Naval Museum is definitely a must when visiting Jacksonville!…read more This amazing museum is located at the old shipyard (pretty close to the baseball stadium). They have their own free parking for up to two hours. However, there's not many spots so I would recommend coming early. We visited on a Saturday morning and we were the first ones there. The people volunteering were amazing and gave us the full story behind the ship. After learning from them, I felt like we had an even better understanding of the things we were learning from the self-guided tour. One cool thing compared to other ships turned into museums, if that this one actually had a lot of interactive elements. However, keep in mind that some of the videos and sounds can be very loud, so if you are with someone sensitive to loud sounds, perhaps skip those. At the end of the tour they have a small gift shop with some cool items, included ship coins (in case there are any collectors out there). They also had the Navy 250th anniversary coin, which I thought was really cool.

First time taking Salsa lessons and this was such a great experience…read more Alley made it easy to follow along and went over each section step by step, I will be be back and eventually be a pro:) Met some of ten students and everyone is super nice and welcoming for some it was also their first time.

I've tried several dance studios around town and Dance Salsa Jax is easily my favorite. It has,…read moreunequivocally, the best group lessons in town, and they're the cheapest too. They also have three fun social events a month: a dance party, a non-dance activity (e.g. karaoke, indoor rock climbing, or go-karts), and Rueda in the Park (a group dance in Memorial Park). The Director, Ally, has created a warm, friendly atmosphere. I remember once, in my early days at the studio, going out the door after a group lesson when I heard her shout "no one leaves without a hug." I turned around, went back in, and got my hug. Dance Salsa Jax is a nonprofit that rents space at two studios. They teach the most common Latin dances, Salsa (Sunday afternoons in Avondale) and Bachata (Wednesday evenings on Old St. Augustine Rd.). Ally also offers reasonably-priced private lessons. I'm glad I found this place, my home dance studio.

Went to their Wedding Crashers Party on 8/12--SO fun, and I met so many new people! JaxScene also…read morehas sports leagues, which are a fun way to meet people you otherwise probably wouldn't come into contact with, but are super cool to hang out with. Jacksonville has needed this for so long!!

I have been to a few events here and really enjoyed all of them!…read more First they do a Turkish Festival which shows off their culture and food, so good! Next was a calligraphy class which I really enjoyed and was so impressed with his skills! We attended a celebration of Ramadan where you broke fast and got to talk and ask questions and just enjoy a meal together, I really loved it, it warmed my heart we sat at a big table and all just talked I felt the girls hosting were so warm. I also enjoyed learning about their culture. They host a lot of events and look forward to going to more!

It's been years since i wrote my review and I've been back several times. They regularly hold…read morefestivals and events here. Sometimes they offer cooking classes (i learned how to make köfte [kind of like meatloaf but with tastier spices] and a few other dishes), forums (coffee and discussion sessions), Turkish language classes, etc. I also took my son to a few of their festivals throughout the years (i even have a photo of him drinking Camlica lol). They sometimes held the festivals at other locations. One year they held it at fscj. That year, my son and i made pictures using the paint on water surface technique called ebru. It's now displayed in my house with one being of Jacksonville and the other being of Istanbul, (which are coincidentally where my hubby and i grew up). They have also changed locations into a much bigger stand alone building. (Address is correct on yelp.) I like what istanbul cultural center is doing for the Turkish community in Jacksonville (namely because they welcome outsiders to join and learn about their culture instead of making it exclusive). If it wasn't for this organization, i would not know anything at all about this beautiful culture. it must have left an impact on me, because my hubby is Türk! Bu yerde harika! (Now, it would be great if Jville got an equivalent Manila Cultural Center!!!)

My first ever Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp game! It was so much fun! I went with a few friends and we…read moregot great seats. It was for Filipino Heritage Night and I loved how they represented the Filipino culture with the Filipino honorary consult getting to throw the first pitch and then having the Filipino national anthem song as well. They also had a Filipino food truck there called Sa Mesa, which is always so delicious so we got that for dinner and watched the game. The seats were nice and shaded, which I appreciated and the stadium is clean and nice. I ended up catching a ball, which was so exciting and very memorable! We ended up winning and it was so much fun and I will definitely be back for another fun night here!

1st game of the season for us as they faced off the Nashville Sounds on June 4th and it was fun,…read morethe fans really enjoyed it even though our home team did not win. The staff is very organized, quite friendly as they guided guests to their seats and the bar was quick on ordering our food and drinks. Everything was delicious :) Parking was easy as well and we will definitely come back soon.

Found this business via Local Flavor or probably wouldn't have known about it…read more Cute little shop in the heart of Edgewood, owned by a mother and daughter duo. They were both so sweet & helpful! They have hundreds of designs to choose from or they can pretty much create just about anything you want. They also have tons of different shapes and sizes of boards from which to choose. The daughter explained the whole process to us and let us roll. You start by staining the board then blow drying it so you can get to the next step. That would be applying the sticker stencil then painting with a good 3 or so coats. Let that baby dry then voila! Masterpiece done. I highly recommend this business! Support locals, have a blast (ummm BYOB!!), and create a gift (or keep for yourself )

I had purchased a Groupon for this crafting session- and had to email back and forth to schedule…read moreand redeem the groupons. There was a break in communication over several days- so I reached out again to make sure we were booked and it was as though I had never emailed in the first place- although the email chain was all below. The shop is located in Murray Hill and it looks run down outside- we happened to pick the same night as Octoberfest was being celebrated by another business and parking was a bear. Once through the door our instructor was very chatty and thoroughly gave instruction- our group consisted of three of us and we are all crafters, who also all work at Michael's. Which we did tell our lovely instructor- we probably could have sped up the process a bit because of it- but we kept at the pace set by our leader. This is not a franchise- but an honest Jacksonville start up business. I do appreciate that. We stained our wood, set our stencils on our boards and were off to pick paints. They only do chalk paints and I learned a valuable lesson using these paints. They stink! I am going to assume that chalk paints can go bad- because I can't imagine anyone buying and using paints that smelled like dead animals- but that's exactly what some of these jars smelled like when I cracked them open. Tiff - my friend- works a ranch and completely agreed with my assessment! I am hyper sensitive to smells and this threw me. I pushed on and finished painting. Our instructor tried to give us tips- haha- I say try because us stubborn crafters barely followed her suggestions. I wanted my paint to still show the wood grain beneath- she thought I should've put more paint on- but I ended up with exactly the desired look. My one friend- Naomi didn't want any bright colors that would clash with her home- not even on her Halloween sign! I thought it was cute- she was so set on just black, white and gray. Tiff- she slathered the most paint on and hers was tacky-damp even as she left my house an hour after! Instruction = 4 stars (slow but thorough) Paint = 2 stars for the ones almost empty- they were noxious Final product = 5 stars we all had fun and left happy

My friends and I came here to celebrate one of our friends who is moving away from us - bitter…read moresweet. We had such a blast! I did not experience the registration process, another member of our friend group did that part. Getting suited up and ready to go was easy, the staff were friendly and helpful. They have their rules of play, but it's still very chill. Very family friendly. We had such a good time! They have the space to get cleaned up afterward if you get really messy like we did. They take pictures for you, I didn't take any of these pictures and none of our friend group did. They do everything for you. So easy, so fun, very stress free. Loved it! They have a lot of other craft options, so I would love to go back and try something new. Do check them out! They have a lot to offer aside from splatter paint (if getting messy isn't your thing). Will be back soon!

My daughter has been to several birthday parties here and has been asking me to take her back, she…read morereally enjoys it. However, I am taking one star off because the last time she visited (just for a pop in craft, not a party) she came home very distraught that whoever was helping her insisted on drawing her jellyfish a certain way that my daughter did not like - she wouldn't just let her do it herself and my daughter was not happy with the end result. They also made her put her name on the front which my daughter was super upset about as well. Not the end of the world, but if I'm paying for my child to be creative, I think they should not be forced to do it any way other than how they envision it.

This is just what the city needed... a place to get together, learn new things, meet new people,…read moreand grow as a person. Went here for one of their craft nights and Rebecca was a wonderful host and instructor. We made some fun coasters and terrarium and got to talk to interesting people and made a few friends. It's a great space and location and I'm looking forward to coming here again; maybe even for one of their acting classes... that sounds like fun!

Very nice Staff! And the students that have been there for a while are super welcoming like Gabby,…read moreNoah, and also the instructor Ms. Alanna so insightful and eloquent Ava's a way to convey how to get ro the want!