Lake Jesup Park is a passive 6-acre green space that has a boat launch onto Lake Jesup and a picnic…read morepavilion. Lake Jessup is notable for being the home of over 13,000 alligators giving it the highest concentration of alligators in Florida making this a great park for wildlife viewing. Next to the picnic pavilion is a memorial to 12 people who lost their lives during Florida's deadliest tornado outbreak which took place in this area on February 23, 1998. Many of the victims were mobile home residents. Five year old Ashley Himes lost her mother Penny, Penny's fiancé Kevin Taylor, and her grandparents Edward and Debra Hall in the tragedy. Forty people in total died in Central Florida when the tornadoes swept through on Feb. 22 and into early Monday. In Lake Jesup Park there is also a trail to the Lake Jesup Wilderness Area. It is located near the picnic pavilion. This conservation area was purchased to protect the environmentally sensitive area around Lake Jesup. The shallow marsh habitat is a haven for migratory birds.

Late Jesup Park is a pretty cool park that surrounds Lake jesup. I guess you could kind of figure…read morethat out by the very name of the park. This park is not far off of Interstate 417 and is on South Sanford Avenue. It is also pretty easy to find. Just run south Sanford Avenue to the end and you go right into the park. The big appeal about this park is obviously the view of the lake. As a side note, Lake Jesup it's supposedly the most alligator infested Lake and all of the country. Just a pretty cool little tidbit. All in all, I would definitely recommend a visit to this park.

Had an amazing day out in the boat just hanging out on the island ! We launched from Cassen Park in…read moreOrmond and had a nice ride out. Waterways weren't too congested today , saw a lot of dolphin which is always nice

I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand Not a worry in…read morethe world, a cold beer in my hand Life is good today. (Zak must have been thinking of this place when he wrote those lyrics) The ultimate sand island in the middle of Ponce Inlet where the water is warm and clear and the drinks are ice cold. This piece of paradise appears at low tide and provides the perfect venue to drop anchor and jump in the water. There's never a shortage of boats, music and sunshine. This would be the reason you own a boat if you live in NSB cause that's the only way to get to this party. When the tide starts rushing in it's time to go and the island sinks below the surface and nothing but great memories remain. You should be jealous LOL :-)

Oviedo has certainly grown in the last decade. What was once a sleepy little town located on the…read moreoutskirts of Orlando most known for chickens has certainly come into its own. This park is reflection of that growth. Marcus certainly popular with the residents of the various apartments surrounding it. They have an amphitheater with live shows, a dog park, a place for kids to play, an attractive lake and much more. As I have said, this park is very popular with the residents of the surrounding apartments and it was very apparent on an early Saturday morning with the place packed. Stop on by and check at Oviedo, Charlie has grown and this park is a great place to spend some time. Afterwards you can stop in one of the many restaurants in the area.

Center Lake Park is epic! Here you will find a beautiful pond, playground, lawn area, restrooms,…read moreand more. It's the perfect place for a walk or to spend a good part of the day. The park also has swan boats for rent and a small snack bar to purchase items. We enjoy coming to a variety of festivals they host here such as the recent St. Patrick's Day.

At 4pm, the parking lot was about empty! Still, we enjoyed the best 4 mile hike from this…read moretrailhead. This trail truly feels like you're exploring in the woods. It's pretty well marked, but it's worth having a map on your phone just to be safe. Terrain is more narrow than wide, mild roots, mostly very well shaded by trees, and actually had a little elevation variation! Loved that it took us near the river. Don't go near the water! Easily saw huge gators who also saw us and started floating our way. Gorgeous trail and can't wait to do again.

Barr Street Trailhead is honestly not that far off I'll be hustle and bustle of the Orlando,…read moreFlorida area. However, once you get upon these paths, it is easy to forget that civilization even exists. There is a decent amount of parking, however, I can see this filling up real fast. Even when I showed up here at about 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, people were here and when I was leaving, it definitely got much busier. The paths themselves are pretty incredible periods they're well laid out and definitely give you the sense of getting back to nature periods as I said earlier comma it is easy to forget that you are right outside of civilization and it is easy to feel at one with nature out here. The trails are clearly indicated with strips of paint on the trees. They also have signs throughout the area on where you can call if you have an emergency. I would definitely recommend to come and check this place out. I will give it five stars.

One of the greatest remaining mysteries of New Smyrna Beach is the identity of the ruins in "Old…read moreFort" Park. Are the ruins the remains of a Spanish fortress built in the 1500's, other theories abound is the structure a foundation for the Turnbull's Palace, or the beginnings of a Catholic Church, or a Turnbull period warehouse? The structure's exterior buttresses and walls of "three foot thick" coquina, clearly remind one of other Spanish forts; one thing seems abundantly clear this site has been a multi-purpose foundation for hundreds of years and I tend to believe the last use of the property was the site of the Sheldon Hotel and a collection of smaller businesses Including the town's post office and general store. If your planning to be in New Smyrna Beach and like historic sites this is probably one stop you should make, located on the corner of Julia Street and Riverside Drive in the Old Fort Park it's easily accessible and free of charge. Marker Inscription This coquina foundation rests within a shell midden from the Timucuan Indian era. Mystery still surrounds the origin of this foundation. Jane and John Sheldon built a large hotel on this mound circa 1859. During the Civil War, the structure was destroyed by cannon fire from Union ships. After the Civil War, Jane Sheldon built a smaller structure that served as a pioneer general store, port collector's office, boarding house and print shop, which published The Florida Star, one of the region's early newspapers. Structural problems forced the building's removal circa 1900...

Sweetwater has a great VIBE, With a quaint feel for my…read moreTRIBE. Etching each inch of this PLACE, Every tree makes this a shaded SPACE. The net playground is a fam FAVE, Walking trail is MOSTLY PAVED... And the wooden decking is CLEAN, Taking you through the forested SCENE, Etching each inch through the WETLANDS, Right now it's closed for working HANDS... Putting back the broken TRACKS, A place where nature reigns & lil' DISTRACTS. Ready for tennis, come to this MARK... Kids playground makes this one of our top 5... OVIEDO PARK

Sweetwater Park is located on a sidestreet (East Magnolia) just off of Central, which is a main…read moreroad through Oviedo. It is basically Alafaya Trail and the name changes as you ride into Oviedo. Sweetwater Park is not a huge park, but it does have a few pavilions, a basketball court, a few tennis courts and a nice wooden walkway that leads you through a nice little oasis of trees and nature. It would have been nice had the wooden walkway just made a loop, however, this wooden walkway just led me to a sidestreet. Not a big deal, I just turned around and walked the way that I came. Despite its small size, Sweetwater Park is a pleasant place to spend a bit of time. I enjoyed my time walking around here on an early Saturday morning. A bit of a pro tip, this park is not far from a Kelly's Homemade Ice Cream location and it woukd be a great place to stop after working up a sweat shooting some hoops or getting in a few games of tennis. Hey, even if you walk that wooden walkway it might be a good enough reason to treat yourself to some Ice cream.

A friend and I just completed ASA101 with U-Sail. I started this with absolutely no knowledge of…read moreboating, and my friend had quite a bit of knowledge about boating but was completely new to sailing. We looked at several other sailing courses local to the Orlando area, but decided on this one because the size of the lake was perfect for learning to sail and it was in an easily accessible location. (We had also looked at a sailing school on Lake Fairview, but that lake was less than half the size and would be very difficult to get real sailing experience on.) Note re: all ASA 101 courses: you sign up and get your books ahead of time, and are supposed to study the information prior to beginning class. (There are a *LOT* of terms to learn in sailing as well as some basic knots you need to know, and your class outcome will be directly impacted if you don't at least study this information first. It's all reviewed during class, but there's a lot of information to take in and it wouldn't be possible to actually learn it "on the fly" in class, especially vocabulary.) Trust me, there are a lot of moving parts and you definitely want to spend your class time learning and grasping the mechanics of sailing, not learning vocabulary. One of the things I really liked about this school is that the instructor has been sailing for over 30 years and was formerly a professional racer. She's very patient and is able to explain the concepts of sailing then apply them to real scenarios so you can understand them. This particular course comes with a wealth of experience and knowledge that I don't think you would be able to find at many other schools. While we followed the standard sailing procedures per book, she also taught us a lot about how to efficiently rig the boat to make life easier for us. We had to reschedule a few times because Mother Nature doesn't always cooperate with your schedule, but that worked out well because it gave us some extra study time for the books. Learning to sail is sort of like learning to ride a bike. In theory, you just hop on the bike, start pedaling, keep it balanced and you go forward. In reality, there's a lot more to it and it takes practice and time to hone your skills. Sailing is similar in that theoretically you just hoist the sales, steer the boat and move forward, but if you don't really know what you're doing you're going to spend a lot of time drifting aimlessly in the water and floating around in circles (or worse). After our 101 course, we're confident we have an excellent foundation and are looking forward to a lot of time on the water to hone our skills (instead of floating around in circles, ha!) :) Since we started our class, we've met many different people who've taken classes at other schools along the Florida Coast and were consistently surprised at how little the students learned in their classes. From their stories, a lot of them gave up sailing because they weren't taught properly and couldn't effectively use a sailboat after their classes. We asked them questions about their courses and instructors, and it was clear that many of the other schools just ran people through the course to give them the diploma but didn't teach them anything. Captain DJ is very patient and an excellent and knowledgeable instructor, but will also gently push you to make sure you know how to do things properly. This is the real deal not a diploma mill. There are also some fringe benefits (memberships, etc.) included as a graduate, but I won't list them here because they may be different at the time you sign up. We really enjoyed our course and are actually signed up for the ASA 103 course to learn additional skills on a larger boat. Before my courses with U-Sail, I was just curiously interested in sailing. Now I'm ready to become a pirate!

My wife and I love Capt DJ and Willie! They have taught us so much! 2 1/2 years ago, we took the…read more101 course not knowing much about sailing at all. She was so patient showing us stuff over and over again. After completing the 101, we joined the boat club and I took the 103. Every time we go to sail a boat club boat Capt DJ teaches us something new! We have become so confident with our skill. Thank you so much Captain DJ and Willie!

We are so impressed with Isiah and his jet ski business. We had nothing but excellent service and…read morea fantastic time. Prices are very good. We loved it so much that we want to squeeze in one more day before we leave!! Thanks Isiah!!