Kayaking & Cocoa Beach

When we were down in Orlando, we went to the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday. We essentially just drove east to Cocoa Beach.

We started the day on a kayak tour. We were lucky to get a spot with Cocoa Beach Kayaking. I booked the reservation with the owner, Kathleen. Ellen was our tour guide. We weren't quite sure what to expect. We just know we enjoy kayaking and wanted to see what was in the water!

Here the boys are waiting for the boat assignment. Gotta love Pumpkin's fashion sense. He purposely raised the glasses strap up to the top of his head. We won't talk about him forgetting his swim trunks. They were all back at home. For this tour, he wore Adam's soccer shorts. I also won't spend too much time on the fact that at 13 he still can't apply sunscreen evenly!

The Big Guy and Peanut got in one boat.

We were in the Banana River kayaking around an area referred to as 1,000 islands. If you look very closely, you can see the nose of manatees in the distance! We were impressed with this view.

Little did we know. The Big Guy and Peanut ended up having some quality manatee love time! Three came up to their kayak!! One who Peanut named Joe lifted his head and looked at them. He rolled over as if to ask to scratch his/her belly. He put is fin on the boat as if asking for a ride! The Big Guy said that it was amazing, an experience of a lifetime. I had the camera but was about 100 yards away. I did not want to get close for fear of scaring the guys off. Another kayaker took some pictures. They are incredible. She said she'd send them. We are still waiting. I will definitely post it when we get it.

Here Pumpkin and I are after beating the others back. The row back to dock was challenging against the wind. I only had a half paddle which made it harder to work together.

Here the Big Guy and I are after our kayaking tour. It was fun!!

We headed to a local grill for some fresh seafood for lunch. I think I mentioned that Pumpkin forgot his swim suit. After lunch we head to the enormous Ron Jon Surf Shop to pick up a new suit.

Then, we headed out to the ocean. The water was a bit chilly. I got in to my waist. The other three braved it and played their hearts out! Surprisingly, we did not bring any sand back to TN.

We had an amazing day. It was nice to mix a bit of nature in with the Magic of Disney!

Just in case the Big Guy is reading my blog and he happens to win the lottery, kayaks would make be a wonderful gift - any time!