Florida - Seashells by Millhill

Our Second Camping Trip to Long Point Campground

A review of our second camping trip to Long Point in Melbourne Beach, Florida.

Back in March (2023) we camped at Long Point Campground in Melbourne, Florida, which is on the east coast. Long Point is not a State Park campground, it is run by Brevard County. Residents of the county can reserve sites before anyone else. Check out the website for up to date information about this campground.

The whole campground is an island with many sites that back up to the water. This is saltwater, and it is a river which is part of the long ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). This island is back off the main channel, which can cause the water around the island to be somewhat stagnant as it is mostly shallow.

On our first visit, we had a small, uneven campsite, but nice water access – even though it was shared. I was eager to see how our second trip would go.

This time we camped in May and we had a great view, but there was no easy water access directly from our site. A bunch of coquina rocks (rocks made up of tiny coquina shells) were piled all along this section of the river. These rocks are treacherous, but probably added to deal with erosion.

When booking a site online it’s impossible to tell whether you will have access to the water or not. I thought we would. Do not assume that every site on the water gives you easy water access!

Our stay of two days began with wonderful peace and quiet.

Coquina rocks block water access — No easy water access

Fortunately, our site – #67 – was the last in the row of rentable sites (at the time). Every campsite beyond us, down to the end of the island, was closed (photo below) due to erosion from storms. That meant we could use the beach access next door (site #68) for putting in the kayak. (The campers in that little tent at the end of the island were working on their boat motor which they ran off and on all morning the next day.)

No campers to the south of us — Empty sites to the south

To the north, our closest camping neighbor was many sites away. We had arrived right after the Memorial Day weekend and the place was nearly empty!

A Beach All Our Own

Took a boat trip to the lagoon and explored one of the Spoil Islands where we found some awesome whelk shells.

A boating trip south to the lagoon brought us to an island we had all to ourselves. My daughter came for a visit in November and we took a boat ride, with my son, to explore the islands.

If you Google Florida’s spoil islands, the links that come up have mostly to do with the islands made further south. Those islands have camping and are kept up for visitor. We were in the northern tip of the lagoon. In general the “spoil” islands were mostly manmade by dredging the ICW canal so large ships could pass through. The coquina rock chunks were piled up to create islands which are now filled with palm trees and vegetation. This is my understanding.

This area is very shallow, and you can only access these islands with a boat that has a low draft. We are not used to dealing with “rocks” and had to be careful as we approached the shore. These coquina rocks are made up of shells and sediment that are all tightly compacted.

A Whelk Unearthed

On the rocky beach side of this island I came across the pointed end of this whelk sticking up out of the sand. When I pulled, the smooth, worn, knobbed whelk shell came up.

worn end of whelk shell — Shell part sticking out of sand!

Beach Erosion, From Hurricane Ian?

Hurricane Ian passed over this area the end of September (2022) and I am guessing that the erosion seen here was due to that storm. Hurricane Nicole didn’t come until November 10th, which was only a few days after this trip. Nicole was worse for the coast, so I’m sure more of this island beach was washed away. Hope we can go back soon. The wind and waves from hurricanes can wash up – or wash away to expose – some interesting things. In Daytona Beach Shores they are excavating a shipwreck that has appeared along the beach, and is believed to be from the 1800s.

Windy days have kept us off the water – that, and the fact that it’s just a busy time of year. I took a short video for the full effect of being on this beach.

Yes, many of the shells had hermit crabs inside, but the big whelks did not.

shells with hermit crabs — Hermit crabs in all three shells

broken whelk — Hermit crabs in all three shells

The water was still quite warm – around 78 degrees – and my daughter took a swim and did some snorkeling. I saw stingrays hiding in that grass and it kept me on dry land!

We spent a few hours walking around the beach area, then boated to another island and headed home. hadn’t seen my daughter in nearly two years, so it was a really nice week with her. The day she arrived we (along with my son) headed to Flagler Ave. for an evening beach walk. Every day was spent on or in the water!

I’ll be writing more about the shells we found here on my next post.

Beach Waves as Hurricane Nicole Heads to New Smyrna Beach

Views of New Smyrna Beach before Hurricane Nicole arrives and the waves and high water levels.

It is November 9th and Hurricane Nicole is headed toward Florida. We rarely get an East coast hit by a strong storm, so my son and I took a ride to see the waves at the beach.

Usually I stay home and do nothing when a storm is approaching, but this one is taking forever to arrive. We’ve had wind and occasional rain since yesterday afternoon.

I checked the tides on my phone on the way to Flagler Ave., and found that it was about 1 1/2 hours from LOW tide.

This water is very high for low tide.

I did not get photos, but as we drove along Riverside Drive, the water was higher than I’ve ever seen it – even at high tide in the river. The boat ramp and small park were both roped off along the river so we couldn’t stop and get photos. Because this was nearing low tide, I’m guessing the place will be flooded once high tide arrives.

Breakers

I really don’t know how Breakers Restaurant manages to remain throughout all the storms it’s seen. (Someone on Instagram mentioned that the owners at one time invested a lot of money into a sea wall for Breakers.) We visited Breakers and had food and drinks after Hurricane Charley came through. Frances and Jeanne came right after and eventually I think Breakers had to close due to damage.

beach waves hurricane Nicole — Beach Ramp

The bottom corner of the pink building has some noticeable damage. I don’t know if it was from Hurricane Ian, but a lot of the coastal buildings have not recovered fully from Ian. That hurricane just passed through a little over a month ago.

Beach ramp at Flagler Ave closed for Hurricane Nicole — Access to the beach closed

It is almost 5PM as I type this and Nicole is hitting land around midnight as far as I know. She is bringing 70mph winds and along with high tides along the beach, there will be lots of damage. My house is as ready as it will be. I hope I can sleep through the wind, but I really hope the power stays on.

Stay safe Floridians.

Update: Power stayed on for us. Haven’t seen the beaches, but I know they took a pounding.