Thursday, August 13, 2015

Port Canaveral, Florida

On our way home from visiting my mom, we took the "scenic route," Highway A1A which travels along the narrow barrier islands off the coast of Florida, and stopped for lunch in Port Canaveral.

Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo, and naval port on the Banana River in Brevard County, Florida, one of the busiest cruise ports in the world. The cruise ships are docked to the far left of the photo and the whale tale on the horizon is part of a Disney cruise ship.

As a deep water cargo port, it's a busy place. Four million tons of cargo a year move through including cement, petroleum, and aggregate.

The port opened in 1953 for commercial fishing. Cargo vessels arrived within a few years with oil and newsprint, and tanker vessels began carrying central Florida's orange juice to New York in 1958.

 

The port is located on the Banana River and on the far right horizon you can see the Atlantic Ocean. To enter and leave, ships travel through a lock connecting the river and the sea.

 

 

 

 

The photos were taken from here, the Exploration Tower, the 7th floor open deck at the top. I appreciated the elevator, even though there was a charge for it. That would have been a lot of stairs to climb!

 

 

 

This would be a fantastic place to watch a space launch from nearby Cape Canaveral.

 

 

 

 

 

Inside are exhibits of various marine topics, Florida historical figures, the history of the space center, and marine art.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate lunch at a restaurant on the water (steamed shrimp, grouper, and stuffed flounder) and were entertained by a musician playing the steel drums and manatees rolling in the surf.

 

14 comments:

  1. Cynthia , it is interesting place and I have never heard about but it is a very important place in the world

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  2. I've heard of the Space launches from Cape Canaveral but didn't realise there was a port there. Would love to have seen manatees rolling in the surf.

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  3. Wow what big changes to that area, we were there back in 1973...time = change:)

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  4. What an interesting shape tothe tower. i can only imagine how many cruise ships gonin and out of that port. Your lunch sounds so good! I love grouper! . . .and flounder . . . and shrimp. Yum.

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  5. Lunch sounds idyllic in such great surroundings with manatees rolling in the surf.

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  6. That port is huge and it has a magnificent view. I can imagine how many stories and how much memories was made in that port.

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  7. That is not a combination you would expect to find together - seafood lunch, steel drums and manatees. Is paying for an elevator a common thing there? I've never heard of that.

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  8. Interesting to see the surroundings of Canaveral, well known by the space rockets launched there. A look from the Exploration Tower would give a great view to watch the launching there.

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  9. Wasn't it at one stage called Cape Kennedy - maybe more people outside the USA recall
    it by that name??
    Would have interested me in my travel days to have visited,but I would have avoided that
    cruise ship terminal area like it had the plague and I think I have told you why before, Cynthia.
    Colin

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  10. You are in a very beautiful area. Great photos to show the area.

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  11. I have heard of the place. Good to see photo of it. Must be a very busy Port. I would definitely take the lift too.

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  12. It all sounds so wonderful, Cynthia. We saw a Disney ship here in Vancouver the other day...big business I suspect! Lol. Love the idea if seeing manatees in the wild!!

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  13. I've never heard of Port Canaveral. You two visit interesting places and I've sure enjoyed hearing about them.

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  14. In all these wonderful places you may have passed Sam Elliott and never knew! The Quick and The Dead (1987) is a great movie also has Tom Conti stars in it. It's a western in the sense they are traveling west to settle new territory.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDpElxGVngI

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