Florida: New Smyrna Beach

Day 299
NM Today: 45
NM To Date: 4738
Travel Time: 6 hours

We had a long travel day today as we continue to make our way north to our next major stop of St. Augustine. To make our destination for today of New Smyrna Beach, we traveled approximately 50 miles of the ICW (IntraCoastal Waterway) from Cocoa, Florida. Moving along the ICW we saw similar sights to those we saw on the Gulf ICW.

We saw ...

Slow Speed - Manatee Zones

Narrow Waterways and Bridges

Kayaks and People on Beaches

Pelicans Fishing from Bridges

Manatee Habitats

Built up areas

Sunken Boats
(Sign on boat said "to be removed in February" ...
they did not specify the year!)

Residences on the Water

and Egrets & Cranes

We arrived in New Smyrna Beach just after 3:00. Dream Catcher arrived half an hour before us and had difficulty with the wind pushing them around as they entered their slip one over from ours. We had no difficulties as the wind stopped gusting long enough for us to dock.

I did a quick fresh-water rinse of windows and railings to get the thick salt off the boat. For a lot of slow speed travel we sure got a lot of spray today. The wind kicked it up something fierce, and the windows and railings were thick with salt. After my quick cleanup we walked into town to see what the town had to offer.

Canal Street is the "main" street in town

We found the "Canal Creamery" where we got ice cream cones to eat as we explored town. Once we finished eating them we went into the town butcher shop and bought some meat for the freezer. After that we stopped at the local drug store which is laid out inside like an old-time soda fountain.

Local Drug Store / Soda Fountain

Clark's favorite loop shopping is window shopping, and we never know what we'll find when we look in the windows. Today we found CIBU - Office Supply Store with a pretty amazing window display.

Old-time "Personal Writing Machines" and Adding Machines

More "personal writing machines" ahem I mean typewriters.

Just down the street we found a home decor shop with a sailboat on display in the window. If you look closely you can even see the anchor hanging from the bow.

Window Shopping - Sailboats

Since we bought meat at the butcher shop and the sun was beating down on my bag with the meat in it, we had to head back to the boat rather quickly. We passed the New Smyrna Museum of History on the walk back, but it closed at 4:00, and we were looking at 5:00 as we passed by.

Occupies the site of the original school in town.
The building cost $42 to build in 1872
and was used to teach children of all ages.

After we dropped off the meat at the boat, Clark decided we should pull out our bicycles and head towards the ocean to find today's Cinco de Mayo celebration taking place there. I thought we just had to cross over a bridge and we would find the location of the celebration. Instead we crossed three bridges (only one big one) and biked a couple of miles to get there.

Nice Bike Trail from Marina Area all the way to the beach

Oops! We got stopped by the bridge opening!

We went through town which was busy for the Cinco de Mayo Celebration
Every bar on the street seemed to have "tastings" going on - beer, tequila, wine.
If folks attended every "tasting" I expect they went home pretty happy tonight.

 After passing through town and past all the bars just starting to get revved up for Cinco de Mayo, we came to the ocean. Man I love the ocean. I never get tired of looking at it!

Entrance to Ocean / Beach

 I read that cars have been driving on the beaches at Daytona Beach for years as that is where the first Daytona Beach car races were held years upon years ago. I did not know that other beaches in the area also supported vehicular traffic as a matter of course. Note the traffic signs for speed limits and travel lane markings.

Jeep driving on beach.

Cars of all types parked on the beach.
(Road signs advise people not to set up their beach gear between cars.)

We had set a date with Dick and Pat on Dream Catcher to go out to dinner with them at 6:00 tonight. At 5:40 we were still at the beach and had to hustle to get ourselves back to the marina in time to join them. At 5:58 we arrived at the marina and found Dick and Pat just getting ready to head out to the restaurant. We quick dropped off our bikes and caught up with them to walk into town. Abby, their dog, came along as the restaurant they selected was noted as being 'dog friendly'.

Although the restaurant was very dog friendly, it was not particularly Clark friendly. Dick had asked the marina staff for a recommendation for a place to get a good burger and beer. The Yellow Dog, where they sent us, does not sell burgers. Every item on the menu was either pork-product based (95% of menu) or smoked. Clark cannot eat the first, since he gets hives from pork, and he dislikes the second.

Since the menu did not have the promised burger selection, we were all disappointed, and we collectively decided to move to a different restaurant that did have something we wanted / could eat. The one potential problem was Abby. We had to find another dog-friendly restaurant. We found exactly what we were looking for at 'The Half Wall'. They even brought out a dog bowl for Abby to have a drink with dinner!

We had a lovely meal seated at a table on the sidewalk where Abby could join us. Since we have not had the opportunity to spend much time with Dick and Pat in the past, it was good getting to know them better over a good meal.

Later tonight / early tomorrow morning we have the potential for some excitement. Unless it gets canceled there is supposed to be a space launch at 1:30 a.m. (Friday). Dick and Pat said they plan to set an alarm for 1:00 to get up and watch for the launch from the fly bridge on their boat. I have already set my alarm to do the same. Hopefully it won't be cancelled and we will be able to see it go as we are quite close to Cape Canaveral here.