Florida or Bust: Cape Canaveral National Seashore

Florida/Cape Canaveral

March 1st 2022

I woke up to view the sunrise along the beach and have my breakfast. Unfortunately, the clouds covered the sun coming up, but it was still an amazing way to enjoy the first meal of the day.

I am looking forward to the day when I will be able to do this on the regular. I might not be able to walk outside my hotel to the beach, but our new home will be about a 10 minute drive to the beach. I am super excited.

Today we had plans to visit Canaveral National Seashore and I was ready for a day of sun and beach. We met up with Ben and headed North from our hotel towards the longest unspoiled beach in Florida. In total there are 24 miles of beach boasting wildlife, lagoons, mounds made of shells of the past and soft sand dunes. 

 It took less then 1 hour to get to the Southern entrance of the park This is located in the city of Titusville at Playlinda Beach. The admission price to the park is $20 per car, but we had a park pass. 

Today was overcast and it off season, but these shorelines are incredible. There are multiple stops along the main road for parking and walking to the beach.  

I can imagine that even on the most beautiful warm days, you could easily find your own little area all to yourself. 

I wish it wasn't so cold. These waves look amazing. There are several areas that identify NUDE beach areas. I did get a glance at a man in such attire down the way, but when I suggested it to my husband, my son was not happy. He was honestly concerned that I might actually undress and take a dip. (I haven't "skinny" dipped since High School days and it was almost always dark out. It's highly unlikely I would strip down now. But,,,I did enjoy Ben getting a little anxious about the idea. 

                                                                                                                   

After several stops along the shores and some enjoyment of the waves, we exited this area of the park. There is no road within the park to get to the north side of the National Seashore. This side of the park is mainly beach areas. However, although not affiliated with the National Seashore, there is a nature preserve and educational center along the road back to Titusville. It is along this road where we caught sight of multiple alligators. We saw them basking in the sun along the road. If leaving the seashore look to your right, you will defiantly see at least one. They were not very large, but it's always neat to see one in the wild. 

The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is an opportunity to learn a little more about the animals found along the marshes and brackish seashore. Formed in 1963 as a refuge for these animals from the space flight operation of John F Kenedy Space Center. The area is filled with activities, that include fishing, boating, birding, hiking, wildlife watching and photography. 

Although we did stray to far from the refuge center itself there are several trails, roads and a manatee observation deck within the area. It appears there are some amazing wildlife photo opportunities along the trails, I will definitely be visiting this area again in the future. 

We left the Wildlife refuge and headed back to the main road to get to the Northern part of the National Seashore located at Apollo Beach. Our 1st stop was the Visitor Center. I got my passport stamp and a few souvenir items before we started down the trail to the Eldora house.

The Eldora house sits along the shoreline as a reminder of a time long ago. Once a village with a population of about 100 people, this small agricultural village housed a post office a store and even a small school. It was once a stop for the steamboats as they arrived through Mosquito Lagoon. This 1890's house offers a look back to that time. The village began to lessen with the increase in railroad travel and these embankments became cottages or second homes for vacationers and hunter cabins. As leisure and vacation travels changed this area became less populated and eventually became part of the National Seashore. 

We wandered around the house and walked out by the bay. 

I found this cute little shell on a bench nearby. 

It was a nice little walk back to the parking area, where we continued down to the next identified location in the national parks map. As we were driving we spotted this little armadillo. He didn't seem bothered by me, but he was not going to show me his little head for a good picture. 

I think this is the 1st ever one I have seen in the wild. I was just a tad bit excited.

Up next we took one of the little trails that led out into the bay area. Turtle Mound is what the map had told us it was leading to. I thought that this was some kind of turtle shaped Island somewhere out in the lagoon, but the mound is actually made up of shells and waste from the people that had once lived here. The Timucuan people lived her along the river banks in the years of 800-1400 CE and this turtle shaped mound is full of oyster shells and artifacts. A 1,200 year old piece of pottery has been found at the site. The height of the mound is around 50 feet high and can be seen up to seven miles out to sea and was used as a navagation device. It is believed that the mound was built as a means to survive hurricanes.   

(I am not positive, but I believe the mound is somewhere out there. )

At any rate it was very pretty.

Somewhere out here we saw the tails of two dolphins swimming. I thought I had caught a picture of it, but I sadly do not. 

A view of the ocean side of the land strip. We did a little hike around the area and there were actual shells all over the ground. I am not sure if they are from the mounds or not. 

There were lots of waterways to look at, I wasn't sure what was what.

We also walked on some trails overlooking Mosquito Lagoon.

Im still not sure what is what here, but the day was beautiful as were the sites.

We had a wonderful time exploring the National Seashore. We ventured out of the park and headed back to the hotel. Later that evening Mark and I had dinner and drinks at this local pub called The Monkey Bar. 

Dinner was Taco's. Because it was taco Tuesday and Pizza. It was one of my favorite meals while on our visit. The bar was super fun too, there were games on the tables and a great friendly atmosphere. They also gave us little monkey's to cash in for a free drink. Had a great time. I can not wait to be living in the area. I have more exploring to do.

TTFN.