Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Sunday
We set the alarm to go to see the sun rise from the beach, but we both decided we needed a bit more sleep! Our destination for the morning was Merritt island National wildlife Refuge, which occupies the other half of the island to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, a wonderful example of nature and advanced technology living side by side. Black Point wildlife Drive is a one-way seven-mile dike road affording great wildlife (in particular bird) viewing of the refuge. Our Senior National Parks Pass gets us in free of charge. Winter is a wonderful time to visit, with so many birds wintering here, or passing through . The weather was overcast to start with, but it gradually cleared. The birds featured in my collage, starting from top left, and going clockwise, are the Roseate Spoonbill, Osprey in flight, female Anhingha, white Ibis and Little Blue heron. The Wildlife refuge leads onto Canaveral National Seashore, the longest stretch of undeveloped land along the east coast of Florida, consisting of 24 miles of of beaches, dunes, mangrove wetlands, and a large portion of the Mosquito Lagoon. Having finished at the Wildlife refuge, we continued on to the Seashore. (See extra) We stopped at the first parking area, where there is a good view along the beach of the Kennedy Space Centre. We got talking to a gentleman who informed us there was going to be a rocket launch at 6.15 pm, and he suggested a place to see it from - the National Seashore area closes at 6pm. You can see the rocket in the top left photo of my collage, to the left of the tall tower. We spent the afternoon on the beach, then went to the viewing area he suggested,, only to discover the launch had been delayed for 2 hours! So, we headed back to Cocoa Beach and ate at an Italian restaurant just across the road from our accommodation. Then we went to the beach and watched the launch from there - being dark by now, the glow from the rocket showed up quite well!
Step count: 16,037