Adventures in the Northern Indian River Lagoon

During this “pause” in our regularly scheduled programming (my favorite way of describing the COVID-19 pandemic), I’ve spent more time outdoors, on and around the northern part of the Indian River Lagoon.

I’ve done a lot of exploring in my kayak and made it a point to launch from new locations.  Usually I begin at Bair’s Cove Boat Ramp at Haulover Canal, but here are three alternatives that I tried over the last month.

• Parrish Park. Since Canaveral National Seashore was closed during the pandemic, this park has gotten a lot of traffic, but in the early morning, it’s usually just a few people fishing. We launched from the southeast side of Max Brewer Causeway and set the first spoil island as our destination.
  
  What struck me this day was how clear the water was, I could see the river bottom almost all the way across to the island. It probably never got more than 4 feet deep, but it was much clearer than I remembered. That first spoil island has gotten a lot smaller, but it has some great spots to beach your kayak and swim or rest. And the bonus was seeing lots of dolphin.
  
  
• Biolab Boat Launch. Launched from here and thought I would just paddle north to the east entrance of Haulover Canal. That’s a little farther away than I anticipated, so I didn’t make it. But along the way, we found some cool remnants of civilization along the shore. There was a huge collection of pilings that I have to guess was a fish camp of some sort, and some interesting concrete slabs and sea walls that were the sites of houses and businesses before NASA claimed the land for the space program.
  
  Next time, I plan to mark a map so I can compare the locations to an old 1950s map I have at the Chamber office and see if I can identify some of the infrastructure. A nice amenity on this paddle was that there were several little “beach” areas where you could stop and stretch your legs.
  
  
• Scottsmoor Landing. This was a remarkable paddle up into the northern portion of the Indian River Lagoon. At sunrise, not many people are on the water and everyone except us was fishing. We paddled all the way up to the northern end of the Indian River and the mouth of Turnbull Creek and watched several dolphin lazily moving along. Decided I’ll have to check out Turnbull Creek on another adventure.

North Brevard has even more places to explore. I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to spend so much time in the outdoors recently. One of my goals going forward is to make sure that kind of activity doesn’t fall on the back burner again.

Hope to see you out there!  

Marcia Gaedcke is president of the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce and a lifetime resident of Titusville and Brevard County. She is a passionate leader and a serial volunteer, concerned about the future of our community and economy, and is willing to roll up her sleeves and work for the betterment of Brevard.

Read more articles in our Digital Magazine.