Our campsite sits right on the Indian River, a brackish waterway that connects with the Atlantic Ocean through the Ponce Inlet in New Smyrna Beach, FL. The Indian River is the most diverse estuary is North America, with more than 2,100 species of plants and 2,200 animals. The lush waterway is home to several pods of bottlenose dolphins too! We've enjoyed watching them from our "backyard" and decided to get out on the water to explore with them. We can rent kayaks and launch right out from our campsite. There are miles and miles of channels through mangrove forests to explore and little islands with beaches awaiting discovery.
Dolphins swim around boats and people without hesitation, and we spotted several different groups. We were able to sneak pretty close to one dolphin that was hanging out near a boat of fishermen. They were throwing the dolphin their unwanted catch, and it would happily retrieve the fish as it swam around our kayaks. For the locals here the dolphins are a common fixture, but to us they seem to never lose their luster. We were in total awe getting to spend so much time up close with them in their natural environment. Be sure to check out the video to see how close we got!