Your Cocoa Beach, FL vacation doesn’t have to be the same as everyone else’s. In fact, you can do completely different things here the usual sun and sand, though once here you’ll surely be hard-pressed to stay away from the pristine beach.
Wildlife Watching
What? Cocoa Beach and wildlife?
For the uninformed, here is a bit of info – Cocoa Beach has hundreds of different types of animals, all cohabiting peacefully here.
Ornithologists are a dedicated bunch, and they will rejoice in the fact that there are over 300 different species of birds found here.
This area enjoys temperate, sub-tropic weather which makes it the perfect area for birds to flock. You can take in many exciting and diverse views of birds on the Space Coast and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville.
If you’d like to mix your bird watching up with fishing and other activities, head over to the Canaveral National Seashore. You can also try and plan your vacation around the time when the annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival is held in the area.
Back to Land
If you’ve had enough of aerial animals, you can now take a nature tour on the Indian River Lagoon or the St. John’s River to check out the American alligator. In many people’s opinion, this large beast is best viewed from an airboat that takes across the marshes to alligator-infested areas. You can also enjoy the services of professional guides who’ll regale you with information about these huge animals.
And yet more animals
Haven’t had your fill yet of nature’s bounty?
If you’d like to see more wildlife, you can go for an eco-nature tour. For the best value for your money, you can book a trip with Wildside Tours as this company has smaller boats that allow one to be closer to animals.
However, if you’d like to remain at a safer distance, go with another tour operator among the several here. They use larger boats which means you can look at animal life from a distance. All these tours are in the Thousand Islands Nature Preserve of Cocoa Beach, right along the Banana River Lagoon. The animals you can see here are manatees, dolphins, and more. You must remember, however, that this is a passive viewing, and feeding or touching the animals is not allowed.
Glowing in the Dark
For a truly unique experience, you should take a local bioluminescence tour. At night, ocean lagoons light up with blue and green bioluminescence of plankton. Nighttime tours are best enjoyed in the summer as the water is warm and the bioluminescence is at its brightest. If you are lucky, you can also see stingrays and fish that play in these glowing waters.
While you always have the sandy beach to spend hours in, enjoying completely different activities means getting to know more about the area you are traveling in. so, this time when you visit Cocoa Beach, indulge in some wildlife viewing and create memories of a lifetime.
