Our first stop was, as always, the Visitor Center.
Exhibits about the marine life and waterfowl that reside on the island were on display.
A kayak/canoe launch area can be found behind the Visitor Center as well as rental watercraft. Leashed pets are permitted on the lagoon side of the park, but not on the beach side (Atlantic). Our girl, Sadie, was thrilled to go for a swim in the lagoon on this hot day.
Driving south we first stopped at the Eldora Hammock where there is a trail to the doc and the only remaining structure in the village, Eldora House. Be sure to bring bug spray as there were lots of mosquitoes!
This has been a popular area for clamming, fishing, and crabbing in the Mosquito Lagoon for centuries, as evidenced by Timucuan artifacts found here. Eldora village had a population of about 100 people between 1877 and 1900. You can enjoy the breeze an view from the porch on a rocking chair.
There are five beach access points with parking areas and bathhouses on the left as we continued south on the only road on the island. Boardwalks, with an observation deck, lead to the beautiful beaches here (24 undeveloped miles of them!)
We stopped at Boardwalks 1 and 3 on Apollo Beach. Both beaches were beautiful with very few people (during our visit on a weekday).
We saw this sign before reaching Boardwalk 5 on Klondike Beach. What!?! More people were here than any other beach. And, yes, we did see a few nudists. It was certainly hot enough... Sea oats and other plant life hold the dunes in place on Merritt Island, but hurricanes are devastating to the beaches.
Because our doggie, Sadie, could not join us on the beach, we did not spend as much time on them as we would have. The road ends after Boardwalk 5 at the boundary to the JFK Space Center. We retraced our route north, and stopped to check out Turtle Mound, a Timucuan archeological site, on the lagoon side of the island. A boardwalk leads to a picnic area overlooking the lagoon.
Turtle Mound is the tallest (35’) shell mound in Florida. Called a midden (refuse pile), it was created between AD 800-1400 by the Timucuans and is comprised mostly of oyster shells. A narrow trail at the base of the shell mound runs along the shore. And Sadie got to cool off in the water, too.
It’s always fun to get an up-close view of the mangrove trees.
An elevated boardwalk above the shell mound provides views of Mosquito Lagoon while protecting the midden (that continues to erode).
Dolphins and manatees are often spotted here. We were thrilled to see several manatee, but I did not get any good pictures of them!
As we were leaving the national seashore, we spotted this osprey and turtle.
This is the 7th of the 10 National Seashores we have visited. And we have loved all of them. Visit any of them for an interesting day on the coast. We hope to get to all of them, eventually. For additional information about Canaveral National Seashore, go to www.nps.gov/cana.
we will be there in a week or so will have to check out some of your spots...
ReplyDeleteWe have been following your travels, too, from NC, to Charleston, and Savannah. Your daughter’s wedding was just beautiful! And she was a stunning bride. Thanks for sharing photos. We are in Marathon in the Keys (for the first time) and loving it. Safe travels.
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