Home > Travel Guide > Nature Tour 1 > Nature Tour 2 > Florida Nature Tour 3
Travel Guide: Florida
Orlando Area Nature Tour,
Day 3
Back to Canaveral Fl Natl Seashore, Kennedy Space Center
Cocoa Beach
From the Daytona and New Symria Beach areas, go south on I-95 toward Cocoa Beach.
At the junction with the “Bee Line Expressway”, State Highway 528, turn EAST toward the town of Port Canaveral, which has become an important cruise ship terminal for Disney ships and other lines.
At State High A1A, turn south to Cocoa Beach, a bit of southern California surf culture transplanted to Florida. After two or three days of nature, commercial but fun Cocoa helps prepare you to return to Orlando.
Park yourself along any beach that you fancy along this strip.
While here, be sure to visit Ron Jon’s Surf Shop.
You cannot miss Ron Jon's. This "surf shop" is larger than many Wal-Marts, with entertainment to boot. Florida may not have surf as fine as California’s, but it has the accouterments! (Directions: 4151 North Atlantic Avenue on the main "A1A" beach side strip, south of highway 528.)
If you're travelling here during winter, when the ocean temperate may be too cool for comfortable swimming, the city of Cocoa Beach has an excellent outdoor aquatic center just off A1A. See its website for hours.
Continue southbound on A1A to Patrick Air Force Base, where many of the first astronauts lived.
Top of page
Returning to Orlando
Just south of Patrick AFB, turn right on State Highway 404 and go west.After crossing a bridge over the Intercoastal Waterway, turn right onto County Route 3.
Drive northbound on Route 3, which runs along a narrow strip of land between two waterways.
Turn left onto State Highway 520, and drive west.
When you reach State Highway 528, the “Bee Line”, drive westbound toward Orlando.
Ultimate waves
This highway travels across a flat subtropical shrub savanna left in its natural state, which was typical of southern Florida prior to development.Driving here, you are barely above sea level.
BidonTravel regrets making you nervous, but asteroids larger than some two and one-half miles (some five kilometers) wide have fallen to earth.
If one of these larger ones was to strike in the Atlantic, midway between Europe and the United States, the initial wave (with more to follow) to hit the eastern shoreline of the U.S. would tower more than 900 feet tall.
This wave would easily wipe out eastern shoreline cities, such as New York, Boston, Norfolk, and Charleston, and destroy areas as far inland as Washington, DC.
Because Florida is so very flat (with just a few hills in its northern portion), the initial wave would wash over and destroy the ENTIRE state. Whoa, the ultimate wave!
No way, you say?
An asteroid crater wider than Rhode Island sits on the southern Gulf coast of Mexico. Until mostly filled in by erosion, this crater was some 11 miles deep.
According to fossil records, dust from the impact that created this hole completely blocked the sun around the earth for more than 1,000 days, wiping out most life.
Creatures near the impact died almost instantly from either the tidal waves, the fireball and shockwave created by the hit, white-hot debris raining from the sky, or the impact itself.
Those more distant died more slowly from starvation, as most plants and aquatic life used for food could not grow without sunlight for such a long period.
Unlike most countries, the U.S. government funds research at NASA and elsewhere to help prevent these disasters. Each year, it spends less than the cost of constructing one interstate highway interchange.
Top of page
Approaching Orlando
As you approach Orlando—presuming normal surf conditions—you reach the “Greenway," State Highway 417.Signs point you to drive north on the Greenway to go to Orlando, but ignore these, unless you are staying downtown (for which you should exit westbound on East-West Expressway from the Greenway) or in Kissimmee.
If you are heading for Kissimmee, go south on the Greenway, 417, and then exit south on U.S. 441.
Otherwise, continue westbound on the Bee Line to reach Disney World (exit south on I-4), Universal Studios (exit north on I-4), or International Drive (take its exit).
Orlando hotel locations
For your hotel, "Orlando: Picking the best hotel location" helps you choose the right balance between convenience and price.
To read all of this Florida nature tour, go to Part I.
Have a great time in Florida—with only light to moderate surf!
