Space Coast to New Smyrna Beach

Today we cruised up the Indian River Lagoon, through the Haulover Canal and up the Mosquito Lagoon to New Smyrna Beach. 

Here we anchored and dinghy'd to shore to explore.   

We walked 12,800+ steps (many of them up and down in a lighthouse) exploring the town.  We also dinghy'd out to the Ponce De'Leon inlet and went to dinner, a lighthouse and a museum.   

Crossing the lagoons there was a ton of wildlife.   Manatees and dolphins galore.  

You can't see much in this photos but all of the movement is manatees 'wrestling'.  There had to be a dozen of them.   We actually saw a ton of wildlife today.  These preserves are pretty amazing to boat through.   We went several hours and only saw a few kayaks and maybe two or three other boats...

The Haulover Canal was the only really tight spot and absolutely full of wildlife.  Pure idle mode and fascinating.  Unfortunately hard to catch stuff on video and stay in the center of the channel.  :). So I did the latter...

Here's the setting where we are anchored (both bow and stern anchors because of strong currents, tides and wind).   This is fairly protected but water flows in and out pretty fast. 

Our first order of business was to walk.  In the wrong direction.  For a while.  So much for technology (or the humans). 

We did pass an old gas station though.  I love old gas pumps. 

Then we walked the right direction and found an old fort/hotel that was destroyed by union gunships in the civil war.   

More importantly we walked a mile out (and therefore a mile back, a different route) to get some Dairy Queen.     This one has an old sign....  

But the ice cream was new....

The tide went out while dinghy was parked.  We didn't realize how much until we were back in it and realized we were hanging by the lock rather than floating.    Out we go (onto the dock), lift the dinghy to relieve some pressure and then unlock.  Success!

Next we took a dinghy ride to the Ponce de Leon inlet lighthouse and a nearby restaurant (to avoid a long trip on road which wouldn't be possible).  Even on water it was several miles.  

This lighthouse is really cool and the museum had a ton of history.  I never understood the history of the Seminole people (they weren't just natives but also descendents of escaped slaves too).   I also didn't realize Florida was never really a British colony.  The Spanish had it until 20 years before the revolutionary war and then the Brits had it as a territory for those 20 years before the US was founded.   I also didn't know citizens here literally created private militaries even back then and contracted them out.  They helped Cuba obtain independence from Spain, even though the US govt attempted to stop them.   

The scene from the top is spectacular and I love the old fresnel lenses.

We also climbed to the top.   Lots of steps.  203 to be specific.  Up, and down....  

The view was worth it though.    Lots of navigation hazards here....

We went to a restaurant where we had parked the dinghy for dinner.  Katie had a salad and I had an amazing shrimp dinner.  An egret they call Joey actually stands in the middle of the restaurant on a tree and begs for food.  He apparently gets a lot of shrimp.... 

By the time we got done with dinner the sun was getting ready to set and the temps were dropping.   Katie was getting pretty cold so we motored as fast as we could until we got to the no wake zones...

It was actually a beautiful night for a dingy ride.  

Her blood must be getting thin because it was still almost 70°.... 

I must admit after a long day in the sun I was cool as well even with a jacket on.   

Here's our trip for the day.  We will wake early in the morning because we have to be in Daytona by 11am to meet with friends to do lunch and shopping.   Fortunately Daytona is fifteen or so miles away so we should be able to get there in the morning without issue...