I've been so excited about this- I was my one thing that I wanted to do whilst we were away!
I'd found the go paddle boarding website online before we came out- the proviso was that John wanted to go sea fishing, whilst we went paddle boarding.
http://dolph94.wix.com/paddlecocoabeach
We drove from the hotel to Cocoa- the views were pretty ace- I cannot get over how much bigger everything is here- even their rivers are insane!
We found the place pretty easily- It's essentially a blue painted shed in the middle of a field with a massive plastic grisley bear outside. After we'd paid and sorted everything out we went and had some lunch at a nautical themed bar nearby.
After lunch we went and got changed i the car- and we saw real free live alligators roaming around the car park.
not the most reassuring thing to see when you're about to get into the water!
eek
Tbe paddle boards were really wide- maybe 1/3 wider than the ones we usually use- which makes them far more stable- I'm glad I brought my paddle boarding shoes from home because the boards weren't very grippy- I did look crazy as mine come up past the ankle as in the UK when mounting the paddle board you have to wade ankle deep into the water and it's bloody cold!
We paddled down a canal which lead out to the sea- they showed us severy different kinds of crab including baby spider crabs and horseshoe crabs, we saw trout egg sacks and some jumping trout and other fish, massive dragon flies and the sides of the canal were lined with mangrove trees- I'd always wondered what they looked like!
We saw the place where the manatees go to have their calves - no luck though- the month before it was full of them as thats when they have their young but now they're out in deeper water teaching them to feed. We saw some million dollar boats and just took our time paddle out on the water.
It was really good.
After paddling we went back to the nautical bar and drank several punts of water- at home we use smaller boards which are designed for racing. The bigger boards have a space for water and backpacs- even for you to strap a tent- so we could have brought a bottled drink. That is the only thing I would have changed! 2 hours out in the baking sun- I thought I'd have turned into a raisin.
post partial sunstroke recovery (Although the factor 110 held up well- still no burns!) we drove back to the hotel for a shower and a change of clothes- I managed to get mud on everything including my bag which was nowhere near the water!
We went to BJs for dinner- as it sounds rude and is Traff's initials- I realy wanted Macaroni and cheese and they made it for me- It was supposed to be a starter but the doubled it up as a main
:)
Traff had an enormous pizza (I've learnt my lesson about pizzas now- they're a sharing food out here only) Ray and John had BBQ sandwiches. Ad we had cookie dough and ice cream for afters! It was really good. Sickly sweet but amazing- Thats the first pudding I've eaten out here- I've been eating Fro-yo from Wallgreens and I've developed an addiction to Arizona iced tea (26 fl Oz cans- thats like 2 and a bit normal sized coke cans on top of each other- It's complete madness- I feel like a borrower drinking from such a massive can!)
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