Return to New Smyrna Beach
New Smyrna Beach in Florida is a beautiful location, we spent Christmas here with Mark, Hayley and Ethan in 2012 and returned this year (2014) for a two week summer holiday.
We chose the same beach as last year but a different property a little further south, the house was stunning with a fantastic mid deck for breakfast and a rooftop deck just for the hell of it. Sarah and I had the lower floor and Mark Hayley and Ethan had the upper floor (though for all but sleeping we were all upstairs together) The house is right on a Turtle nesting beach so there are no vehicles getting in the way on the beach (which is common along the east coast of the US) There was also a pool out back which we used almost every day and really enjoyed. We had private beach access and our own outdoor shower to wash off the sand as we left the beach, everything about this place was perfect.
The pool made a fantastic cooling spot in the afternoon when temperatures pushed toward 100 degrees almost every day, it was a little too hot for me and for Mark too so we divided our time between the sea, the pool and the shade of a gazebo we had bought for the beach.
By far the best thing about New Smyrna is the wonderful warm sea lapping against the endless stretch of white sand beach. The long shallows are perfect for little Ethan to run in and out of. It's true that it is also the most dangerous place in the world for shark attacks but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone given the sea turtle nesting that takes place here. We laid out on boards for hours in the sea, we saw dolphins, manatees, stingrays and huge fish shoals....but no sharks.
The white sand beach is spectacular, covered in sand crabs which scurry in and out of their holes almost constantly, the sand itself allows for epic sandcastle building/demolishing and a bit of sculpting from Markie. The house comes with a number of beach bikes too so I dragged one out one day and we all had a spin along the beach. We also ran, ran and ran some more behind Ethan who has far too much energy, when we weren't running, digging holes was a close second.
It was not all beach and ocean, our favourite place in the area (and certainly Ethans favourite place) is Sea World, Orlando and we made the 1 hour drive over there to revisit the incredible shows and get up close with Shamu once more.
We stayed overnight in a hotel in Orlando and then went to a great crazy golf place before visiting 'Ripleys Believe it or not' on International Drive, who won the golf....well Ethan of course!!
We saw some wonderful wildlife out at New Smyrna, the ever present Pelicans skimming low across the water and diving into the fish shoals whenever the fancy takes them as well as sand crabs, a snake, manatees, dolphins and stingrays
One of my favourite parts of this wonderful holiday was something I'd planned for weeks before, I'd bought a nice wooden pirate chest with a skull for a locking mechanism and Sarah and I had filled it with little toys, a pirate telescope and plastic gold doubloons. I'd asked Markie to bring a bag of pound coins along too so we could put them in the secret compartment at the bottom of the box.
I'd sourced a pirate treasure map from the internet and we had lined up a wine bottle and a tight fitting cork so we could throw it in the water and let Ethan find it. So, toward the end of the holiday (to keep the magic alive) Sarah and I set out onto the beach and buried the chest (in a protective pillow case) and marked the spot with a fine pirate head money box we had found in the town store just a few days earlier. Then I stood guard over the treasure while Sarah went to the house and told Ethan that grandad had seen a Pirate ship go by and was out there hoping to get a photo of it, he was so excited as he scurried out with mum and dad in tow to the beach access where I was waiting, the story continues in the captioned photos below.
I'd sourced a pirate treasure map from the internet and we had lined up a wine bottle and a tight fitting cork so we could throw it in the water and let Ethan find it. So, toward the end of the holiday (to keep the magic alive) Sarah and I set out onto the beach and buried the chest (in a protective pillow case) and marked the spot with a fine pirate head money box we had found in the town store just a few days earlier. Then I stood guard over the treasure while Sarah went to the house and told Ethan that grandad had seen a Pirate ship go by and was out there hoping to get a photo of it, he was so excited as he scurried out with mum and dad in tow to the beach access where I was waiting, the story continues in the captioned photos below.
There are hundreds of pics not included here, all of them treasured memories of another 'holiday of a lifetime' in a collection of memories almost too wonderful to believe. Heres just one last gallery of some of my favourites.