Coco Beach

This morning we surprised the kids with a trip to Coco Beach and the Cape Canaveral area.  We invited Mom and Dad, but they were so worn out from the trips to the two Disney Kingdoms that they opted for a day at the condo instead, and offered to keep Elliott with them.  The kayak tour we had planned had a minimum age that did not include Elliott, so he and Matt (or I) were going to have to sit out and wait anyway, so we had a change of plans and it was just Matt, myself, and the two girls heading out.  As it turns out, having that focused time with his grandparents was just perfect for Elliott, and they all seemed to enjoy that time together.

Coco Beach is a great beach, and just an hour drive from Orlando.  We passed right by a space shuttle on public display which we all found super interesting.  We were right on time for our 10:00am expedition.  We slathered on the sun screen and zipped on the life jackets and away we went!

Charlotte rode with me, and Madeline went with Matt.

We were looking for manatees, which are now returning to the areas after 'winter', and for dolphins.

The area we went to is the mangrove area in the brackish water (half fresh water, half salt water inlets) just in from Coco Beach (literally it was about five blocks away).  This photo is hard to see, but a fleet of about 12 to 14 pelicans just landed in the mangroves here. 

A couple of times during the tour Madeline got to try her first solo kayak paddles. We have a kayak at home, but in our tandem kayak the passengers sit deeply in the hull.  These sit-on-top kayaks are much easier to paddle and steer on.  She was SO proud of herself!  (And we were proud of her, too!)

This is a photo of our group (six kayaks plus a tour guide's kayak) manuvering through one of the many hidden traisl within the mangrove forests.  Mangroves are really interesting plants.  There are three varieties in the Coco Beach area, which is the northernmost region in which they are found here in Florida.  There's a red, a white, and a black mangrove species.  Mangroves grow "drop roots" from higher branches, which are hollow like straws.  They suck up the brackish water, and then eliminiate the excess salt through their leaves.  They do not need dry land to survive, and as a result many 'islands' here are actually just mangrove forests.  This picture makes the drop roots easy to see.  The tunnel we went through was really narrow and quite shallow, making for a pretty good challenge for Matt and I and our two-person kayaks.  But we made it. 

By now the girls were getting too much sun and Charlotte, although we sunblocked her, was starting to burn, so we covered them with beach towels and hoped for the best.  Poor babies.  The sun here this time of year is SO much stronger than Michigan sun!

Our guide wasn't able to find any of the resident manitees for us to observe, but she was able to find and pull up a horseshoe crab for us to see and teach us about.  They are VERY interesting animals.

We saw flying fish (mullet) jumping 1 to 5 feet out of the water right by our kayaks, which was VERY cool and also VERY hard to photograph.  We also saw a pink spoonbill bird, ibis, cranes, pelicans, cormorants (both green and black species), and some neat butterflies.  Unfortunately, no manatees or dolphins, which bummed the girls and I out a bit, but the trip still scored a "thumbs up" from all of us, and Matt and I really loved being in kayaks again.  It's something we did a LOT of before we had kids.

We also learned a LOT about the local wildlife from an expert who is also a native.  Something we all appreciated, as we are falling in love with this area of the country.

After a brief stop at the local Pizza Hut for a lunch buffet, we headed to the beach!  This was a very first ocean experience for both girls and some very special bonding time for us, as we were able to pair off one-on-one which is something that is hard to do frequently with our three children. 

                 

Madeline couldn't wait to get out in the surf!

And Charlotte went straight to collecting sea shells.

Madeline (left), Matthew (center) and Charlotte (right)

Sweetness!



We have a huge bucket of partially broken, sand-coated seashells coming home with us - Charlotte was a busy girl!  I love how nature-oriented she is.

There was a storm brewing just off the coastline, and we could actually see the rain in the far distance.  It made for some really tall waves for about the last 45 minutes we were there.  The surfers came out of the woodwork when that happened, and we had quite a little show to watch while we jumped and bodysurfed the waves together.

We spent about 3 hours on the kayak tour and about 3 on the beach, so by dinnertime we were ready to head home again.  Charlotte was asleep in the van after the first 5 minutes of the drive.  We spent the rest of the evening just relaxing in the condo after dinner, and watched a movie with popcorn.  A great end to another perfect day!