More Things To Do in New Smyrna Beach

“Explore Your Waters!” is the slogan at the Marine Discovery Center.  The Center offers a marine-themed gift shop, wonderful tours, and an interactive exhibit for all ages.  Visitors can explore the facility featuring touch tanks, habitats, and local wildlife, including horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, sports fish, and much more.

For an up-close experience with New Smyrna’s aquatic wildlife, reserve a seat on a Dolphin Discovery Tour or Kayak among the tropical mangroves with a certified Florida Coastal Naturalist.  These 2-hour adventures along the Indian River Lagoon focus on Bottlenose Dolphins, and sea birds and include hands-on learning experiences with living creatures such as oysters, barnacles, snails, and hermit crabs.  Kayak rentals with trail maps are also available at the Center.

The Marine Discovery Center also offers a variety of “hands-on and feet-wet” adventure camps for children 4-16 years old.  The camps are offered throughout the year during school holidays, breaks, and of course during the summer!  Camp activities vary with age and camp but may include island explorations aboard our 40-passenger floating classroom, lab investigations, arts and crafts, kayaking, fishing, snorkeling, SCUBA Diving, surfing, and much more!

Completed in 1887 and after decades of restoration by the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Preservation Association, it stands today as one of the best preserved, most complete Light Stations in the nation. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998. The lighthouse tower and museum are located 10 miles south of Daytona Beach and are open to the public year-round.

The Ponce Inlet Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Florida and the second tallest lighthouse in the nation. Visitors who climb the 175-foot lighthouse tower are treated to a magnificent view of the Florida coastline and Halifax River from Daytona Beach to New Smyrna Beach.

4931 South Peninsula Drive
Ponce Inlet, Florida 32127
(386) 761-1821
Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Visit their website.

Marine Science Center