This was our fabulous Atlantic Coast beach day! We started out by sleeping in a little and having another round of continental breakfast in the hotel lobby. Then we took off for a morning walk to the (rather sleepy Sunday morning) downtown of Cocoa Beach, all the way along the beach for about 3 miles, and then 3 miles back. It was really a fabulous walk; we were alternately entertained by the waves, the clouds (we got sprinkled on a couple of times, but managed to keep the camera dry), the tiny shells in the sand, and the people. We even saw the tracks of a sea turtle toward a newly created nest! (The rangers mark these here with caution tape; this one was not marked yet, but the tracks were very clear!) We then had iced coffee/ soda pop in Cocoa Beach but were back by about 11:30. By that time, the clouds had been blown inland, and it was quite hot, although the ocean breeze kept it manageable. We went in search of lunch, and ended up having pretty decent fast food at the nearby Taco Bell (fancy, I know) before heading back to the room for a little bit of a break from the heat. We also dealt with the laundry, and I skyped with Kati in Germany, since we finally could get the times roughly synched, so that was fun.
Then we went back to the beach, this time without cameras, iphones, or, in my case, sandals, but instead in swim suits, and jumped around in the waves just after the turn of the tide (from low tide at 3:30 pm). It was so much fun! We walked ourselves dry by walking about a mile the other direction, toward a pier full of restaurants etc. The beach was pretty busy, but mostly where the life guards were, and in between there were pleasantly quiet stretches. We played on the beach until shortly after 5 pm, took very refreshing showers, and had pizza slices and a huge Italian salads at the pizza place across the street (plus mini blizzards at DQ’s, but we are not discussing that further). Sitting there, we also figured out that despite all our sun goop precautions, we actually did get a little burned—Mark around the neck and between his sandal straps, and I in a few more places, since I keep wearing tank tops and bathing suits without a t-shirt over them. I may have to give up on this—I keep underestimating the power of the Florida sun. We stayed in the rooms for quite a while and didn’t go out to the beach again until it was after 8, and no longer sunny. But we couldn’t NOT go back to check on the beach one more time. We’re leaving tomorrow and decided to take a no-beach, less-UV-ridden day tomorrow.