May 28, 2009: Daytona Beach, FL

Lighthouse Alert: This morning we saw the tall red Ponce de Leon Inlet lighthouse. This lighthouse is over a hundred years old, built in 1887, and is the tallest light house in Florida. Its 175 feet height rises above the river just north of the Ponce de Leon Inlet. We passed the city of Port Orange and just beyond it spotted Calico Jack, the first big commercial shrimping boat we had seen in a while. We did not have far to go today as we wanted to visit Daytona Beach.

We came under the International Speedway bridge and found it artistically adorned with leaping dolphin and manatees, and anchored by the Oakridge bridge. This location afforded us a nearby city ramp and pier, so we (Tom) packed the bikes into the dink and headed to shore.

Our outing for today was to visit the Daytona “beach” where Henry Ford and Louis Chevrolet tried out new automobile engines. This is where the auto racing began in Florida, and true to that tradition, automobiles still frequent the beach. The Daytona 500 opened in 1957, when the racing moved away from the beach to handle the crowds. We found a number of trucks and cars on the beach. One was a parasail meeting place, one a bike rental, and several were food establishments. We found a table with an umbrella almost in the water by one of the hot dog stands and that is where we had a wonderful lunch. The proprietor was very friendly. He told us he had a 5 year lease on that exact spot on the beach and brought his truck there every day. He said he had an offer of $125,000 from the Hilton across the street to buy him out. But he turned it down because he makes twice that every year.

The sand on the beach was quite unusual. You could walk down the beach, even in the water without leaving footprints. Children who were trying to play in the sand were putting some effort into making any dents in it. Apparently it is naturally packed and has been this way historically, hence the auto racing. Perhaps the sand is unusually fine, or the flatness of the beach allows the tidal water to make it harder, but it was interesting to experience. I even road my skinny tire road bike down the beach for a ways just to prove that I could. I’ve never seen anything like it.

After supper on the boat, we returned later in the evening to see a movie at a theater on the beach. We saw Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian with Ben Stiller (which I recommend!) The theater overlooked an amphitheater type plaza right on the beach. After some ice cream at the Stone Creamery, we headed back to the dinghy only to realize that the rain was starting to come down. By the time we reached the park, it was really raining as we loaded the bikes into the Caribe. Then we discovered that the tide had gone out leaving the Caribe in very shallow water, which took some work to get us shoved off and engine cranked. Needless to say, we were soaked climbing back into the big boat... but it was part of the adventure.