Canaveral National Seashore - July 11th and 13th, 2009

Tom, even though he is a Florida Native, has never seen the shuttle go off from the Space Coast. I knew we had to remedy that, and the best way was to involve a park! We set off Saturday morning to see the shuttle launch from a primitive island campsite at Canaveral National Seashore, a national park. First off, let me tell you there are many entrances. We started at the southern most entrance in Titusville, which is not where the primitive camping is located. We drove about another 40 minutes to a town called "Oak Hill". There, you will find a sign that says "Seminole Rest" on Canal Street. Another entrance is to turn right at Halifax, or the blinking yellow light in the town. If you see a RV campground called "Mosquito Lagoon", you are in the right place. The national park entrance is right next door. The northern most entrance is in New Symrna, which is also not correct for primitive camping.


All you can see from the road is a parking lot and some restrooms. Trust me, this is actually the entrance. Get out of the car and follow the path to a gorgeous yellow home. This was built in the early 1900's on top of an Indian shell mound. It is one of the last remaining in Florida. A woman bought the mound and the surrounding property in order to preserve it. You gotta love the early pioneers of what is now the park system. Here you can pick up your permit for island backcountry camping. Here is a link to a backcountry map: http://www.nps.gov/cana/planyourvisit/upload/camping-02.pdf



Island camping is $10 a night for up to six people. Where else can you get your own island so cheap?? It comes with a picnic table and a fire pit, although ours had a manmade structure for a toilet and a trail someone made with stone. This is primitive camping, which means no electricity and no bathroom. Fun! From the Seminole Rest home, it only took us about 30 minutes to canoe to site 10, with site 9 being even closer and sights 11, 12, and 13 not being far off. From our island we could clearly see the Vechicle Assembly Building, which is where the shuttle is stored.






Out in the canoe, we saw a school of dolphins who swam around us...it was quite lovely. There were also several manatees, jumping lady fish, and many types of birds. Some of the other boaters had fishing poles and seemed to catch many fish, though we thought of it too late. The bugs were minimal at our site, though this time we had the Off! clip on spray hanging in our tent. Let me tell you, that stuff works. We were able to set up our tent facing the water, and it was beautiful. Sadly, once we arrived at the island the shuttle launch was scrubbed. Hopefully we will be able to try again in the future.



I would recommend this trip as a nice getaway. There is also the ability to primitive beach camp here, but it is currently closed for turtle season. Hopefully we will make it there in the fall.