“Cocoa Beach Cocoa Beach was so Low Rent that nothing on this earth could ever change it…Even the beach at Cocoa Beach Cocoa Beach
That was also one reason why we chose Cocoa Beach - in the area now called Space Coast - as our basecamp for this two weeks holiday in Florida, USA. If it was good for the Mercury astronaut like Alan Shepard, John Glenn, and the rest... then it should be good for us!
Wednesday, 3rd July 2013
We arrived at Sanford Airport about one in the afternnon, went to the car rental Alamo. Friendly salesman Alex assisted us to upgrade to bigger car for $29 a day. We went out to the parking lot and a staff told us to choose. We choose Chevy (Chevrolet) Impala, four doors. It’s bigger than our car at home, and it’s all so automatic and hi-tech! On the way to the condo we rented, I found out that the roof can be open! I know it sounds silly, but I’ve never been in a car so modern…
Before the trip I booked the accommodation through a website called VRBO (vacation rentals by owner). It’s a ground floor ocean view two bedroom two bathroom condo in Cocoa Beach.
We arrived tired and hungry (because we only realised on the aeroplane that they only served main meal, the snacks in between are horribly expensive!). So Andy and I went to the nearest WalMart, and bought snacks, beers, etc. We went for dinner in Sonny’s diners where I had mac n cheese and fried okra (my new favourite snacks!)
Thursday, 4th July 2013
It’s American Independence Day! Everyone we met said, “Happy fourth!” and we caught up with the spirit…
Andy and I started the day with sunrise walk on the beach. As Cocoa Beach is on the East coast of Florida, we watched the beautiful sunrise at 6:30am. We had toasts for breakfast and then a long drive to Kissimmee area to collect tickets for SeaWorld and Kennedy Space Centre. The free satellite navigation app was very useful! We then had a drive to Merritt Island’s Manatee Cove. It looked very nice to kayak around the river there, but apparently we had to book in advance. So we pencil this for another day.
We had lunch at a riverside place (I never know when a place is a restaurant or café or diners!) called “The Island Waterfront Bar and Grill”. Another new meal to try to cook at home: fish taco! Hmmmm
Part of the 4th of July tradition – as I learned from books and films – is the fireworks. Jack did a good online research and found a place where there would be concert by Brevard Symphony Orchestra and fireworks on the riverfront. It’s in Cocoa Village’s Riverfront Park. The website said, “come early”. We arrived two hours before and the park was already full of families on their blankets and chairs, but we managed to get a good place to sit. Though we could barely heard the orchestra, we did hear and stand for the Star Spangled Banner. I admire the American nationalism where they all stood solemnly, some with hands on their chest, singing along to the national anthem. We don’t have this patriotic attitude in Britain, we don’t even have any national day when we could proudly fly the Union Jack.
As expected, the fireworks on the riverfront was SPECTACULAR! I have no word to describe it, you just have to be there to experience this.
Friday, 5th July 2013
Kennedy Space Centre…!!!
We started with the bus tour passed the vehicle assembly building (VAB), then stopped at the observation tower overseeing Launch Pad 39A and 39B, and stopped at the Saturn/Apollo exhibition hall. One of the many things to see at the Apollo hall was a wall full of newspaper headlines from all over the world featuring Armstrong and Aldrin's land on the Moon in 1969, and guess what, an Indonesian newspaper Merdeka was there....!
Atlantis, the new exhibition featuring the retired space shuttle Atlantis.
The rocket garden features Mercury capsule as well as the latest Orion...
There are much more memories from this visit that words fail to describe. I was almost in tears watching some films about the early space exporations from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, to the latest Space Shuttle. I don't think any of the modern sophisticated computerised system can ever replace the human spirit of exploration and the bravery of the first astronauts. As Tom Wolfe rightly described, it took "the right stuff" to wear those historical NASA badges...
Saturday, 6th July 2013
Even though yesterday was a full space day, we were not finished with manned space travel history yet. With Tom Wolfe’s “The Right Stuff” in my head, we visited the Astronaut Hall of Fame. I guess it’s very good for me who almost remember every single detail about Alan Shepard, John Glenn and the other Mercury astronauts. It might not be as exciting for the boys. I have Andy and Jack to thank for putting up with my ‘pilgrimage’ to the early space exploration….
As the hall of fame in Titusville not open until 12 that day, we detoured to Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge visitor centre to gather information about the area. A day walking with nature is planned….
We were going to see what’s on Cocoa Beach pier, but as it was Saturday and a 4th July weekend, there was no place to park the rented car. So instead we went back to our condo and walked to the beach in front.
We had dinner at Sunset bar and grill, where as its name, it’s a good place to see the sun setting, facing the Banana River…
Sunday, 7th July 2013
A sunrise walk on the beach, up north to Cocoa Beach pier. It was 3 miles away from our condo. We had coffee at the pier where some people went fishing. A guy caught a big king fish.
We walked into Ron Jon Surf shop that opens 24 hours. Imagine working there as a shop attendance at three in the morning… who would come and shop? We had breakfast at “IHOP”, International House of Pancake. The waitress called Andy ‘young man’ and called me ‘young lady’. I think she was rather impressed with Andy’s British accent that she gave him extra hash brown potato 😉
After our long morning walk, we had a chill out day on the beach. It was HOT HOT HOT…! I think I got more tan in a day here than a full year back in the UK.
Whilst on the beach, a small aeroplane flying pass towing banner advertising special menu on a bar/grill restaurant.
We had dinner at a place called “Slow & Low Barbeque”.
The food was delicious, the beer was good (I had Hawaiian beer Big Wave), and the waitress was very friendly and helpful. She told us all the choices of dips and sides in a very fast American accent. I really enjoy listening to the American accent around here, and even more because most people talked with friendly smiles! I did not miss the miserable British attitude (and weather) at all…!
Monday 8th July 2013 – SeaWorld, Orlando
The highlight was the Shamu show! Shamu is the famous name for SeaWorld’s main orca or killer whale. According to Wikipedia, the original Shamu died in 1971, but the tradition continue: main star of the show is always named Shamu. What really impressed me was at the beginning of the show, the master ceremony dedicated the show to all servicemen and women and invited all US, Canadian and British military and veterans to stand up as the stadium filled with applause.
The dolphin show was spectacular. Actors ‘flying’ around on harness and wires, riding the dolphins, and also colourful tropical birds.
Then there’s the sea lion and the walrus show….
We also tried the Manta, Kraken, and Atlantis rides. To overcome my fear of the roller coasters, I imagined being a passenger on one of the Red Arrow Hawks and guessing the gravity force that we’re experiencing.
SeaWorld has a silly policy of not allowing any food or drink from outside into the park. Our bags were searched at the gate. Good job Andy read the whole ‘no food’ sign and said one word to the staff who looked into our bags, “Gluten.” The staff gave us a sigh and let us walked in with sandwiches, bottles of cold water, banana and crisps. Apparently there was some exceptions such as baby food, special food for allergies of medical conditions, and gluten-free. Though our sandwiches were not gluten-free, Andy did not lie by saying “gluten”. Indeed he was very correct, our lunches were full of gluten!
It was a long day at SeaWorld, with the one and a half hours drive back to the Space Coast area where we stayed, we were tired and hungry. We decided to find a restaurant nearer to Cocoa Beach and went to Cocoa Village, about 15 minutes from where we stayed. We found this gorgeous Thai and Japanese restaurant called “Thai Thai Cocoa Village”. The waiter who served us was very friendly, chatty and American. He was from Thailand and said that his wife is Indonesian, but what amazed us is the pursue of the American dream in him. There was big pride when he said, “I am American.” I wish British of all origin could say the same thing with pride, “I am British!”
Tuesday 9th July 2013
As our condo is not too far from Patrick Air Force Base - and Patrick AFB was mentioned several times in the history of the first Mercury Astronauts by Tom Wolfe - there is no excuse not to check it out. I was hoping to see some fighters or any exciting military aircrafts. So Andy and I had a drive south. We passed the base – it was a big complex! But all we saw was three Lockheed C-130 Hercules. And there was no place to park the car and watch the runway – there was no sign of flight activity anyway.
We drove further to Melbourne village, found a public park, Wickham Park. It was impressive how such public leisure facility was equipped with barbeque facilities, even a stone oven to heat pizza! We could only imagine how wonderful it should be to have family barbeque weekend at a park like this….
The park has lakes, camping ground and toilet facilities, and some hiking trails. We went for a walk (or hiking in American term)…
With Mac the Macaque of course...
Next was a chill out afternoon, beach, lots of reading and looking at photos from SeaWorld and Wickham Park…
Wednesday, 10th July 2013
A walk on the wildside....! Andy and I visited Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge
Start with watching manatees at the Bairs Cove, we learned from volunteers some interesting facts about the 'sea cows'. They are closer relatives to elephants than to other sea mammals, their teeth are all mollars and keep on growing new teeth. Fancy never need go to dentist and brush your teeth...!
Walk on the Scrub Fire Trail was probably the huglight of today's trip. Scrub jays nest here and there was one that was very friendly – or shall I say: obsessed with hats? (Or maybe just defending its nest)
This one flew onto Andy’s hat and posed for a long while, letting me snapped pictures from very very near. Then I put on the hat and this scrub jay flew onto my hat! Andy was very sure that this one bird was trained by Florida tourism board…!
We went to the visitor information centre and took the ¼ mile boardwalk. I finally saw a real life hummingbird. I did hear and read about this amazing bird since I was a child, I even wrote an article about humminbird and the principle of helicopters' rotary wing. Seeing the real life one was sooo amazing!
We continued the day with the seven miles Black Point wildlife drive
We then drove to the beach (Playalinda Beach on the Canaveral Coastline), had a rest in the hot sun and called it a day.
Thursday, 11th July 2013 - Disney World Magic Kingdom
Full day of childhood dreams ended with fireworks in front of the signature castle….
Friday, 12th July 2013
After 16 hours in Disney World yesterday, we slept until late. I still felt giddy of all the excitement Afternoon of rain. At least the tropical storm Chantal did come full power…. We had a late breakfast at the International House of Pancake – I had the blueberry pancake and it was gorgeous!
In the evening we went for dinner at the “Slow n Low barbeque” again. There was live music.
The dessert of peanut butter pie was delicious! Just as recommended by our friend/waitress Nicole.
Saturday, 13th July 2013
A drive to Melbourne Beach. It was a nice beach with calmer water. But... big cloud came suddenly bringing rain and wind. We decided it's time to get lunch then back to our beach, Cocoa Beach, in front of our condo.
Dinner at the condo, we made grilled shrimps (prawns in UK term) and had them with rice, refried beans, salsa, and yogurt.
Sunday, 14th July 2013
Andy and I had a morning sunrise walk on the beach. We made breakfast of banana and blueberry pancakes. Hmmm... they were too nice that I forgot to take picture.
Then it’s time for a plane spotting day! Andy and I drove to Merritt Island Airport. It’s a small airport for single engine training aircrafts, there’s a Twin Otter, and a biplane.
We then drove to Cocoa Village and had a walk around the nice village. It was like Totness in England – full of little independent shops and cafes, even a vegetarian organic café.
In the evening we went kayaking with Calypso Kayaking (www.calypsokayaking.com). We took the bioluminescent tour which started at 19:30. We started kayaking on Manatee’s Cove. Like its name, the water was full of manatees. Manatees – also known as sea cows – are herbivore or vegetarian sea mammal that could be as long as 10 feet and weigh up to 1,000 pounds. They don’t do much, just floating about – they need to stick their nose out of the water every five minutes while awake and every 15 to 20 minutes while asleep (http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/mammals/aquatic/manatee/).
The best thing for us is that because manatees have no natural predator, they are basically fearless and curious.
So… while kayaking slowly in the cove, we could stop, splash our hands in the water and some curious manatees would pop their head out of the water looking at us. We can stroke their nose or back and they seemed to enjoy this. For me this was the highlight of the kayaking experience: looking eye to eye to a manatee, stroking its nose and watching it closed its eyes like a dog enjoying a good stroke on the head. The best thing is that they came to us, not like in a zoo or seaworld where we pay a fortune to touch animals in cages.
We then set off kayaking with our tour guide Phill Galloway towards the Indian River. We saw dolphins and stopped on a little island waiting for the sun to set before setting off again to see the magical glow in the dark water.
Watching the water glow as our oars touch the water with under water ‘fireworks’ or glowing trails of fish was like entering the scene of Disney’s 1993 Little Mermaid with the song “Kiss the Girl” playing....
To summarise, this is what I wrote for Calypso Kayaking's facebook review: We just came back from the magical bioluminescence tour and it was AWESOME...! First we had close encounter with Manatees... they were really gentle curious creature who love a good back rub or a gentle pat on their heads, just like dogs. As the sun set and the sky darkened, the water glow with "Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates". The scene was like Disney's Little Mermaid scen when the song Kiss the Girl playing... I enjoyed everything! Although i did scream when a big fish (mullet) jumped onto the kayak, almost on my lap! Thanks Phill..!
Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th July 2013
Not much to write here, except that we had beach days in sun and rain. Rain in Cocoa Beach was strange: it came out of nowhere and it stopped as quickly as it started. I don't mind this kind of rain, reminds me of the tropical storm Andy and I experienced in Weh Island (Pulau Weh), Aceh...
Tuesday 16th July was my mum's birthday. She is now 69-year-young!
Our last dinner was in ThaiThai Cocoa Village. It's got to be! We love Cocoa Village...!
Wednesday, 17th July 2013
Sadly, this is the day we say goodbye to Cocoa Beach, to the lovely condo that had become 'home' for us the last two weeks, to the A1A road that bear witness of the corvettes driven fast by the first astronauts in 1960s, to the Space Coast, to Florida and to USA.
Although we left the condo with a rather sad and sinking feeling.... (for me it's coming back to the grim and messy social work world in the beaurocratic city council that made me dreading coming home to England). I got one more treat: the sigh of Boeing 787 Dreamliner taxing at Sanford Airport...! To be precise, it was Thomson's Boeing 787-8 with tail number G-TUIC.
Florida is now behind us, but the memory is in our hearts forever.... Maybe one day we can move there and work as tour guides for Kennedy Space Centre? Andy said he does not mind working as the bus driver talking about all the history and facts to tourists (and I think his British accent will be a good attraction on its own haha..!). And if there's no journalim or social work jobs there for me? I don't mind working in anywhere in Kennedy Space Centre or Disney World.... Hahahaha....
For more pictures from Florida, visit my flickr photo stream with photos from Cocoa Beach and Village, Kennedy Space Centre, SeaWorld, Disney World Magic Kingdom, and Merritt Island nature
Watching the water glow as our oars touch the water with under water ‘fireworks’ or glowing trails of fish was like entering the scene of Disney’s 1993 Little Mermaid with the song “Kiss the Girl” playing....
To summarise, this is what I wrote for Calypso Kayaking's facebook review: We just came back from the magical bioluminescence tour and it was AWESOME...! First we had close encounter with Manatees... they were really gentle curious creature who love a good back rub or a gentle pat on their heads, just like dogs. As the sun set and the sky darkened, the water glow with "Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates". The scene was like Disney's Little Mermaid scen when the song Kiss the Girl playing... I enjoyed everything! Although i did scream when a big fish (mullet) jumped onto the kayak, almost on my lap! Thanks Phill..!
Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th July 2013
Not much to write here, except that we had beach days in sun and rain. Rain in Cocoa Beach was strange: it came out of nowhere and it stopped as quickly as it started. I don't mind this kind of rain, reminds me of the tropical storm Andy and I experienced in Weh Island (Pulau Weh), Aceh...
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| Sandcastle Condo |
Tuesday 16th July was my mum's birthday. She is now 69-year-young!
Our last dinner was in ThaiThai Cocoa Village. It's got to be! We love Cocoa Village...!
Wednesday, 17th July 2013
Sadly, this is the day we say goodbye to Cocoa Beach, to the lovely condo that had become 'home' for us the last two weeks, to the A1A road that bear witness of the corvettes driven fast by the first astronauts in 1960s, to the Space Coast, to Florida and to USA.
Although we left the condo with a rather sad and sinking feeling.... (for me it's coming back to the grim and messy social work world in the beaurocratic city council that made me dreading coming home to England). I got one more treat: the sigh of Boeing 787 Dreamliner taxing at Sanford Airport...! To be precise, it was Thomson's Boeing 787-8 with tail number G-TUIC.
Florida is now behind us, but the memory is in our hearts forever.... Maybe one day we can move there and work as tour guides for Kennedy Space Centre? Andy said he does not mind working as the bus driver talking about all the history and facts to tourists (and I think his British accent will be a good attraction on its own haha..!). And if there's no journalim or social work jobs there for me? I don't mind working in anywhere in Kennedy Space Centre or Disney World.... Hahahaha....
For more pictures from Florida, visit my flickr photo stream with photos from Cocoa Beach and Village, Kennedy Space Centre, SeaWorld, Disney World Magic Kingdom, and Merritt Island nature
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