Parks of the Space Coast: Fisher Park

We visited another great park in Cocoa Beach this week! Let's take a closer look at Sydney Fisher Park. Who is it named after? Sydney Fisher was the mayor of Cocoa Beach from 1956 to 1960.

Here is what the entrance to Sidney Fisher Park looks like. This small park can be accessed from A1A in Cocoa Beach. There is a street light and pedestrian-friendly cross walk at the intersection, as well as a covered bus stop (Route 9 Cocoa Beach Loop, Space Coast Area Transit).

This is a great park for locals because it's easy to walk to and with 200 parking spaces, there is usually plenty of parking (yes, even during Spring Break!). You'll need a Cocoa Beach Parking Permit, or you can pay $2.50/ hour or $15 / day for parking. Expect to pay with a card.

With several large pavilions, it's a great place to host a picnic.  Here is a photo of a pavilion from the playground.

This park includes open grassy areas, and an updated playground. Our children quickly noticed that there are no swings at this park. 

The playground has a substrate of wooden mulch. It is made of sturdy and textured recycled yellow and blue plastics that stay cool to the touch in the sunshine, and even a big twisty slide. 

Monkey bars were a big hit, too. 

We enjoyed using the creative ladders to climb up to the big slides. Here is a photo of our children climbing up to the slides a couple of different ways.

While there are palm trees surrounding the playground, they didn't provide much shade. Since we couldn't find water fountains near the playground, we moved along to find other amenities. While the playground isn't accessible to strollers, the rest of the park appeared to have great sidewalks and boardwalks that had reasonable slopes. 

On the other side of the parking lot, one can find restrooms, beach access, and outdoor showers. 

Here is a photo of the outdoor showers.

Down the path from the showers is a shelf with some big buckets that you can use to pick up trash on the beach. There's also a bike rack.

Next comes the boardwalk! While it is cracking and splintering where one would want to hold the handles, it is quite stable under our feet with some newly repaired areas. Here is a photo of our toddler running up the boardwalk to the beach.

Next comes the beach!

Did you know that there is a lifeguard stationed at this stretch of beach? It's not as crowded as other beaches nearby, and it's a great place to spend an afternoon. Here is a photo that was taken during Spring Break (March 2022). There are certainly people here, but it is nowhere near as crowded as other areas.

For comparison, here is a snapshot from the state historical archives of the Cocoa Beach Pier during Spring Break:

Here is a link to the photo in the archives: http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/162968 )

How a Trip to the Ocean Challenges Our Senses

We enjoyed looking at seabirds, feeling the cool breeze, hearing the waves, and smelling the sweet ocean air. Here is a photo of the calming blue skies and rolling ocean waves.

The ocean is a place where all of our senses are at work. Here is a story that discusses our 5 senses as they relate to the ocean: Hello Ocean by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Here is what the cover looks like. It has beautiful illustrations throughout the book, and it is written in both English and Spanish.

This is a great book for children who have trouble feeling overwhelmed by all the sensory input at the ocean. You can read it and talk to them about how the ocean makes them feel with all of their senses (touch, taste, smell, hear, see). You can explain how the child in the story loves these feelings, but how do you feel about each of them? You can work together to plan out strategies for dealing with discomfort during a day at the beach.

Here is me reading the story in English.

https://youtu.be/F7L93dyEQJE

Want to explore your senses more? 

We made another lesson on our senses. Here is a link: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/10/exploring-our-senses.html

Other Parks of the Space Coast

We hope you enjoy our review of this fantastic local park. I hope this inspires you to explore your local parks. In case you are planning a trip to the Space Coast, here are links to our reviews of other Space Coast Parks. 

Kiwanis Island Park:

http://steamma.blogspot.com/2022/02/parks-of-space-coast-kiwanis-island-park.html

West Melbourne Community Park: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/04/parks-of-floridas-space-coast-west.html Osteen Park: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/06/parks-of-space-coast-osteen-park.html 

Manatee Park: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2020/02/cape-canaveral-playground-manatee-park.html 

Cameron Park: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/03/parks-of-floridas-space-coast-cameron.html 

Wickham Park: http://steamma.blogspot.com/2021/05/parks-of-space-coast-wickham-park.html

Pineview Park:

http://steamma.blogspot.com/2023/02/parks-of-space-coast-pineview-park.html

Go play!