Canaveral National Seashore

From the high-tech to the un-tech – that sort of describes the difference of having the super high-tech world of NASA overlapping the absolutely un-tech world of Canaveral National Lakeshore and the wildlife refuge right next to it.  It’s an amazing place to visit, and my brain had a hard time thinking of all the rockets, etc., being built, assembled and launched just a short little ways down the shoreline.

The road along the Seashore had several stops where we could park our Jeep, and take a board walk over the sand dunes to see the shoreline.  It was amazing to me that so few people, relatively speaking, were enjoying the beach.  I also loved the plants growing on the dunes – so glad someone had enough foresight to protect them from folks like us, who would unwittingly trample and kill them.  I think it would also be quite the front-row seat to any sort of launch from the Space Center, just down the beach from here.

There were also shorebirds that were enjoying themselves, looking for food, along the shore.  They seemed to be totally absorbed in their task, but they did keep an eye out for people, and would scatter when someone got too close, only to reconvene a bit further down the way!

It was that time of year in Florida – the prickly pear cactus were in full bloom!  I’m always surprised to see how this particular cactus seem to be at home both in the desert climate, where we live, and here, in very warm, humid weather!  I always thought cactus liked it dry – I guess they are very versatile!  

As we drove along, the seashore was initially on our right.  However, if we looked above us or to the right, we caught a glimpse of what there was to see in the wildlife refuge next to it.  The heron was happily perched atop some dead branches of a tree, and the eagle found the power line pole to his liking!

As we left the seashore and headed into the wildlife refuge, birds really began to make their appearance.  I loved how wonderfully alone the egret in the lower image was – in such a lovely paradise!  And, I was especially thrilled to be able to capture an ibis in flight (top image) – I’d never seen that before! 

We also got to see a different type of “bird” – although it was a reminder of how close we were to “civilization”, none of the wildlife was phased when one of these birds would fly by on a training flight of some sort.

We found a lovely little dirt road in the wildlife refuge that took us along Black Point Drive.  It was a small loop drive, but full of wildlife!  We came along different birds than we’d seen before, calming looking for lunch, oblivious to the jet overhead.

And, of course, it’s Florida, so there were more gators!  I especially like the top image, where you can see how most of the gator is underwater – sort of reminds me of an iceberg!

The road we were driving on was very scenic, although I never lost sight of the fact that in those still waters, gators could be found!  It was also remarkably quiet – one could easily forget that a city – and space center – were just a short drive away!

And, I will leave you with this last view of nature at its calming best.  This lovely egret nestled serenely in the branches of a low shrub, growing right along the shore of a pond.

Enjoy!