- 51.7 miles
- 6 hours 18 minutes
- 8.2 mph average speed
- 2-3 mph winds
Of all the “no wake manatee zones” we have been through the last several years we don’t think we’ve ever actually seen a manatee in these zones! But that certainly changed on our trip to New Smyrna Beach! We first started spotting them in the Haulover Canal north of Titusville and estimate we saw upwards of 30 manatee from there to New Smyrna Beach. They are heading back south after migrating to warmer waters for the winter. We are headed to Blue Springs State Park on the St. John’s River which is a popular spot where hundreds of Manatee choose to winter. We are hoping that some will still be there when we get there in a week but are beginning to doubt that after hearing the dock master here tell us that he was there a week ago and saw around 60 of these beautiful gentle giants.
We were excited to revisit New Smyrna Beach as we only had one full day there last year so we decided to stay several days this time around. We had a great time visiting Canaveral National Park! It was so beautiful! The park is situated on a barrier island which is the longest stretch of undeveloped Atlantic Coastline in Florida and covers 58,000 acres with 24 miles of pristine beaches. We walked around the Turtle Mound National Historic Site which is the largest shell midden on the mainland U.S. This turtle-shaped mound contains oyster shells and refuse from the prehistoric Timucuan people and extends 600 feet and along the Indian River shoreline. It was constructed between 800 and 1,400 A.D. but recent radiocarbon testing dates it at around 1,000 B.C. Archeologists have recently found 1,200-year-old pottery on the site. It is estimated that the mound was originally 75 feet high but it is now 40 feet high as a result of shell rock mining in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was difficult to get a good photo capturing the sheer size of the mound as it is now covered with trees but we were able to walk a boardwalk surrounding and up to the top of the mound.
We then visited the Eldora State House was built in 1913 and is the only house that remains in the Park. The small citrus farming and fishing community of Eldora was established around 1876.
Finally, we headed to visit one of the beautiful beaches. We were shocked to learn that one of the beaches was a nude beach – in a National Park! This is because the nude beach was already established prior to the National Park’s establishment in 1975. The beach was beautiful and it was so nice to visit a beach without any nearby hotels, restaurants or condos and see it much the same as it was thousands of years ago.
After leaving Canaveral National Park, our next stop was to visit the New Smyrna Sugar Mill Ruins. Once part of the Cruger-de Peyster Plantation, the steam-operated sugar cane mill and saw mill were built in 1830. The 17-acre site contains the ruins of the coquina sugar factory that was raided by the Seminole Indians in 1835.
We ate at several good restaurants while we were in New Smyrna Beach but were glad we were able to return to Riverpark Terrace which we had enjoyed so much on our first trip here.
We also enjoyed meeting new friends, Stuart and Rod, on Sea Turtle who are from the Birmingham area and have recently started their Loop adventure.
