A Traveler's Experience

Indian River Lagoon National Scenic Byway (FL)

Where I live I don't see water in the wild all that often, let alone ocean. So waking up to a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean from my beachfront hotel in Melbourne was a treat. Well, nearly every hotel on the breakwater of Indian River Lagoon Scenic Byway is beachfront--ocean or lagoon; the water just isn't that far away! You can't always see the water from the road though, because of the hotels and houses and bands of dense bushy plants.

You wouldn't think you could get lost on a beach, would you? My boss did! Moral: make sure you know what your hotel looks like from the beach before you go for your morning jog!

We had a minor brush with celebrity; the Harlem Globetrotters stayed at our hotel in Melbourne the same night we did. That was interesting, but I found the restaurant we ate in that evening much more memorable. If you like sashimi, you HAVE to go to Thai Thai II in Melbourne. Don't let the fact that it is in a strip mall stop you. The dinner's presentation was a work of art, the quantity amazing, the quality superb, the value unbelievable. So says my boss, who tries to get sashimi whenever he is on travel near an ocean. He was floored. I had Pad Thai, which was also fantastic.

The next day, we drove down on the breakwater, from Melbourne to Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, and then back up on the "mainland" side of Indian River Lagoon. The breakwater looks very narrow on the map, but you can't see the ocean or the lagoon very much because of the hotels and the houses, until you are farther south. But folks along the way gave us something interesting to look at after all--lots of very odd and creative mailboxes! Dolphins, mermaids, sea turtles, pelicans, boats, surfboards, shacks, shells--every one unique!

We stopped at several parks, marinas, and wildlife-refuge-type places, just to look around. The sand is made of broken bits of sea shells mixed in with the sand grains. The beaches were often narrower than I expected, and very solitary. Just a few people walking or flying kites or playing with kids in the sand. Some seagulls flying past, small birds poking narrow beaks into the sand, and pelicans out floating on the gentle waves. I guess I expected more palm trees, but the shoreline vegetation was mostly shrubby or grassy stuff. Not a lot of shade on the beaches. Good thing there was always a nice breeze over the water. One part of Sebastian Inlet State Park did have trees. We took some photos of spanish moss dripping from them. And Pelican Island Wildlife Refuge did too, though not very many. Lots of birds, though.

On Orchid Island the road runs right by the lagoon. There's a paved bike path and a shoulder, and you can pull over if you are careful. We did, and got an unexpected treat. While looking at cute lizards on the rocks, we saw two wild dolphins sporting in the lagoon not fifty feet away!