New Smyrna Beach - Everybody's Favorite and You Can Tell Because Everyone Was There

There was a festive atmosphere at New Smyrna last Saturday.

Last Saturday, we drove to Lake Helen to purchase a car.  Beings that Lake Helen is only 30 minutes from New Smyrna Beach, we thought we'd take a late afternoon jaunt over there and spend an hour or so.

Now, we have been to New Smyrna several times, but on this occasion, it was very crowded!  It was a hot day, and the end of spring break for some, and it was just wall to wall people.  I hate to see what it was like in the middle of Spring Break!

My little cellphone didn't really do a good job helping me to tell the story.

We were there late afternoon when you would expect people to be leaving, but they weren't leaving.  There was a steady string of cars in the traffic lanes coming in practically the whole time we were there.

I don't really think that Spring Break had a huge impact as much as the outdoor temperature, because I saw mostly Florida license plates, and Florida had Spring Break in March.

The water was the warmest I have ever felt ocean water which was very nice.  The surf was a bit rough, and the rip tide warning was at red, but at least the lifeguards were on duty.

The tide was also high, so there was only one traffic lane open for driving on the beach, and that, coupled with the crowd was interesting.  We saw several cars get stuck in the sand too.

This was not my favorite beach trip.  I like to quote my sister, "A crowded day at Disney World is better than no day at Disney World."  And I would say the same for the beach.  A crowded day at the beach is better than no day at the beach.

We mostly made the trip to the beach for him, and he was excited to be there.

I always view being able to see the ocean as a tremendous blessing no matter how many people are there, but we really just didn't feel like we could relax.  We had to have our eye out for riptides, cars, and people.

It was super windy that day, and a wind surfer was taking advantage of it.  He was fun to watch!

And I'm really sorry you can't see him.  That little spec of dust in the sky is the wind surfer. 

We did not see many surfers out, and the swimmers were not even going out past waist height, probably due to the riptide warnings.

A couple times when we have gone to New Smyrna, the beach has been closed to vehicles, and wildlife warnings, i.e. jelly fish and sharks, have been put in place.  We didn't have any warnings this time.

Unfortunately, I was too busy to remember to bring my camera, so the pictures I took were with my very low quality cellphone, but it kind of fits with the experience we had on this beach trip.  We ended up only staying an hour and then decided to go home.  But, all in all, we are still glad we went because we love the beach!

The flow of traffic was constant.

He figured out a way to get into the car so his feet wouldn't get covered in sand.