Marineland to New Smyrna

South of the Ponce de Leon inlet near New Smyrna Beach is the George Musson Memorial Bridge, Chicken Island and the Harris Saxon Bridge.  Going under the 23ft  Musson Memorial is possible for us at low tide, but requires an opening at other times.  The markers at Chicken Island are confusing.  The area past the Harris Saxon Bridge is a now wake zone for several miles.  Because of these nuisances, we have avoided staying in the area.  On the advice of one of my tennis pals, we chose to make a stop at the New Smyrna Beach City Marina.  

National Geographic named  the city one of the “World’s Top 20 surf towns in 2012 and Dr. Beach (more on him later) included New Smyrna is his yearly Top 10 Beach’s.  It is also known to be a great city for the arts and his home to the Atlantic Center for the arts, an educational facility as well as an artist in residence community.  

In 2007, the University of Florida bestowed upon New Smyrna a rather unpopular distinction of the world’s shark bite capital.  Twenty four shark bites were recorded in 2008.  The beach is not close enough to the marina for a walk, so we can’t comment on any of these honors.  The marina sits on the west side of the Indian River between the two bridges I mentioned above and is one block from old town.  

Boutiques, gift shops, antiques and small businesses line the streets of New Smyrna.  This small town loving girl felt right at home wandering the shaded streets.  

The grill at the Little Drug Company is large and reminiscent of days gone by

Clown photos for sale at the antique store

The fresh scallops topped with a Mojito Cream Sauce served on a bed of jasmine rice with grilled asparagus was delicious and filling.  I couldn’t eat all of it.    Steve had the Skillet Mac & Cheese- a combination of corkscrew pasta sautéed shrimp and mushrooms in a creamy cheese sauce topped with candied pork belly and toasted panko crumbs.  Are you as surprised as I that Steve would venture to eat candied pork belly?  No worries–its just a fancy name for bacon. 

Joy