With everything in Michigan cancelled - including sports, school, private businesses - there seemed to be no better time to LEAVE! I don't remember exactly how it happened, but in a flurry of text messages and $34 airline tickets (no joke, they were really that cheap) 17 of us were headed to Melbourne Beach, Florida!
We used VRBO to rent a house that was on an inlet, and the reviews all talked about manatees, dolphins, and birds coming by the dock every day. I thought it sounded awesome, but since you can never count on wildlife to show up, I wasn't banking on seeing anything.
Manatees
As soon as we got there, we saw manatees sticking their heads up right by our dock. I couldn't believe it. I'd never seen them before, and there were so many of them! People came by on a little rowboat and a bunch of manatee made the water church under them. They were scared and laughed and we did too! Later the same thing happened to me when I was in a kayak, and I was so glad. Usually you could just see their heads surfacing for air, but a couple of times I saw their tails, too.
Later I talked to a woman in Matt's office who grew up on the beach here. She said when they were kids they would feed the manatees heads of lettuce from their hands while in the water with them.
Dolphins
I never knew you could HEAR dolphins, but it was so quiet in the inlet that you would just listen for them surfacing, and you could hear an exhale and inhale. Then you could watch them. They swam right next to my kayak many times, and right by our dock all the time. YOU CAN HEAR DOLPHINS. Thanks, Melbourne!
Birds
We were surrounded by so many pelicans, tons of different herons, and even flamingoes. People did a lot of fishing, and when the fish were big enough, Matt or Niles would filet them, Kate would cook them up, and we'd eat them minutes later. If they were too small, we sometimes threw them to the heron that was waiting in our lawn for just that reason.
Roffs
My friends own a business in Melbourne that provides fishing forecasting analysis. We visited the actual building (cool) and met his coworkers (also cool.) We also ate outside at a lovely outdoor restaurant nearby - The Mansion.
Beach
We stayed on Arrowhead Lane in Melbourne Beach, and as far as I could tell, all the houses along the inlet would have the same opportunities. One downside was the tiny black flies that were there at dusk and in the morning. We really got bitten up before we got bug spray, but I'm sure these are seasonal. There were no flies at the beach - we spent a lot of time at the private (Sunnyland Beach) that we had access to with the house. It was one mile away. The ocean was fantastic, as always. The sand was white, it was really empty, the waves were huge, and I loved it like I love most beaches. We came here every day to run and swim and play.
I've been to Florida many times, but never here - really loved it. Maybe we'll do it again next year - and pack bug spray!
No comments:
Post a Comment