Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

Pros: Up close and personal with much Florida wildlife.
Cons: Could be buggy and real hot in the summer months.

Labor Day Weekend 2003, we drove up from Miami to check out the Melbourne area as a place to buy a h ...

Pros: wildlife, calm water, real Florida, family friendly, beach
Cons: mosquitoes, hot in the summer

Another must-do paddle in Florida. Merritt Island is located on the Space Coast, adjacent to Kennedy Space Center and near the cruise terminals at Port Canaveral. This little jewel of a national park boasts a lagoon, a river, a hammock (the tree kind) ...

Pros: Totally free-great for outdoor lovers, photographers, hikers, boaters, animal & plant lovers.
Cons: mosquitoes in the summer time. Closes for space launches

This 22 square mile refuge hosts more that 22 threatened or endangered species including the 2,00-pound manatee, eastern indigo snake, gopher tortoise & peregrine falcon. More endangered/threatened species are protected here than any other refuge in the...

Pros: Great photo ops for bird lovers.
Cons: Mosquitos in the summer; year round in the hammock: Be prepared.

Arriving shortly after sunrise late in December, I was pleased to find that only two other vehicles shared the dirt road along the dikes with me. With the sun low in the sky, the usually bleak landscape took on unexpected and pleasing depth.

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