Cocoa Beach

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We all slept in until 10am, not surprisingly. Not a big deal as we had a "lazy" day today and we soon found out that there's not a lot to see around Cocoa Beach without travelling a long way. After breakfast Penny and the kids went with Jacki to buy some gear for the pool/beach and we took the minivan to explore the souvenir shops for lack of anything else to see.

The cars here are big. So you can imagine how big the minivans are! Still, it didn't take too long to get back into the groove of driving on the wrong side of the road again. We didn't have far to go - only a few minutes up the road until we happened across the famous "Ron Jons" surf shop amidst a few similar touristy shops. After browsing the latter we walked into the largest surf shop I have ever seen. Karina bought the obligatory souvenirs and themed christmas decoration for our tree, while I wandered around looking at stuff that I thought was pretty cool, but not cool enough to justify buying. After about 1/2 hour Karina was ready to leave - and I'm still not sure she realised that there was a 2nd floor in the building!

We then headed towards the beach to see what there was to see around this point. Pretty much the same as immediately in front of the apartments. Cocoa Beach is absolutely huge - it goes for miles and miles in either direction as far as the eye can see - and pretty much in a straight line too. The beach itself is dotted with a relatively uniform distribution of people from one end to the other - no one part any more popular than any other - except for the pier which we could see perhaps a few km away. Immediately behind the beach, across small dunes, the entire length is pretty much low-rise condos, all holiday rentals, most no more than 5 or 6 stories high. The streets behind the, and for about 6 blocks right back until the main road, is 1-3 story condos and holiday houses. No shops, no service, no industry - just holiday accommodation.

We took a few photos and headed back towards the car. We decided it was time for lunch, even though we had a late breakfast, and found a "deli & bakery" across the main road. Translation - huge supermarket with a bakery & deli section. We grabbed a huge $5 sub to share and a coke, and a six-pack of Boston Lager to replace Charlie's beer and headed back to eat it at the apartment.

The girls had just arrived back and were eating corn dogs and hot dogs for lunch. We joined them and I tried a corn dog - similar to a "pluto pup" we get at the Easter show. I actually thought it was a little more palatable than that, being a "weiner" wrapped in corn bread and fried rahter than batter, but Karina reckoned that they were the same.

After lunch we decided to check out Daytona Beach. Driving out of the condo Karina spotted a sea turtle across the road (it's nesting season) so we stopped for some photos. About 10 minutes down the road, faced with over an hour's drive with nothing to see and the chance it would start to get dark before we got there, we decided to turn around and go back to Cocoa Beach and check out the pier.

The pier is now privately owned, and you can't even get out to the end without paying. At the beach end are the obligatory food & souvenir shops, and a couple of bars which were reasonably well patronised. The beach itself was busy with surfers, swimmers, sun bathers and a couple of games of volleyball on the permanent courts there. We walked out as far as you could get for free, whichh wasn't far into the water, but afforded a good view both up and down the beach. After about 20 minutes we decided to head back to the condo and join the girls for a swim.

We could see from our room that the girls had finished with the pool and were on the beach now, so we changed into our swimmers and headed down. They were all swimming on the water's edge when we got there. Karina & I played with the girls for about an hour until Mikaley & I were the only ones still in the water. I was teaching Mikaley how to body surf, and all up Penny reckons we were in the water for over 2 hours!!! Mikaley still didn't want to leave but it was getting late - turned out it was close to 8pm by the time we got back to the room.

Jacki started on the salad whilst we all had showers and got ready for dinner. I had a short nap while the girls ate and got ready for bed. Karina woke me in time for some lasagna and garlic bread. Charlie still wasn't due in for an hour or so, so we sat and chatted over a few drinks. Charlie eventually arrived with Tina his assistant, and they sat down for a late dinner while we chatted. As they discussed tomorrow's events I still had to pinch myself that it was all real! Around midnight we called it quits, making doubly sure that our cameras were all charged and ready for an incredible day tomorrow.

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Photos

Cocoa Beach
The view from our balcony over Cocoa Beach

Volleyball
Americans doing what they do on the beach

Cocoa Beach Pier
Karina looking relaxed on Cocoa Beach Pier