Less Room on the Beach?

HI! We will be heading down to Daytona June 15, and I will check the tide tables for high and low tide times, but I have been watching the cam, and am distressed to see how much beach erosion has taken place. High tide now shows the water splashing up almost to the sea wall at the edges of the hotel grounds and stairways with absolutely NO WHERE to even put down a towel to sit on the beach. Are we going to be trapped up by the pool most of the day? Gosh I hope not, I have been reading a lot about beach erosion in the area and how most of the consessions have lost out because they can%26#39;t set up their usual chair, bike, etc rentals any more. I have only seen a few days in the last few weeks where cars could drive on the beach, as well. I would be very interested in hearing from anyone who has spent time on the beach this year. We go every year for two weeks or more, so I am familiar with how much sand I *should* be seeing right now. Hopefully we won%26#39;t have to head down to Ponce to get to wide sandy areas! Thanks for any info. Malinda

Less Room on the Beach?

Malinda, I guess it depends where you are staying in Daytona. We were there in March and stayed at the Ocean Walk and had plenty of beach to lay out on once the water went out a bit. I admit at first I was sort of bummed thinking we would not get a chance to go out on to the beach and set up for the day, but once the water went out, we had lots of room to spread out, and that was during the very busy Spring Break crowds. I would like to warn you of something that we encountered while we were there however, and maybe this sort of thing doesn%26#39;t bother you, but it does me and it really scared my daughter. My 13 year old daughter and her younger sister and their 2 friends went on down ahead of us (about 15 minutes ahead of us, while we gathered our stuff from the pool area) and was immediately approached by a youngish gal (maybe 20 years old) and asked her, ';Can I ask you a question?'; and my daughter just looked at her and quietly answered ';OK. I guess so'; and the gal said '; if you were to die today, do you think you would go to heaven?'; my daugter replied that yes, she was quite sure she would, then the girl says, ';:Well, you should think again'; and then proceeded to ask my daughter her name, age and even had the nerve to ask her for her e-mail address and home address. My daughter (thank god) said that she was always told not to give out that kind of information to people she didn%26#39;t know and tried to walk away, but this girl kept talking to her. Finally, my daughter had had enough and walked away with the rest of the girls.

I found out about this immediately from my daughter and she showed me who the girl was. She was dressed in a skirt and was carrying a small brown book (perhaps a bible) and was going up to other people on the beach. I followed her and when she went up to another woman with the same type of skirt and book, I approached this woman (40ish) and told her that I did not appreciate her coming up to my young daughter and asking her such questions, especially the personal information like her e-mail address and home address. The woman said that she was allowed to and I said that I would call the police out and see what they thought of this girl approaching a minor and asking her for this information. She then said that the girl probably just didn%26#39;t know how young my daughter was. I said a few choice statements and walked away, That same group of people were out there every day that we were there. They approached me 2 times and my husband once. I finally just started screaming at them to go away of I would call the security or police.

I just found this to be way over the line. If I want to know about their religion, I will go seek them out, not go on a family outing and have them approach us and scare my kids.

There are young adult men out there too doing the same thing, and they approach mainly young boys or adult men.

Just go and have a great time and be patient with the tides. The beach is wonderful and we already have our vacation scheduled for next June there in Daytona.

Less Room on the Beach?

the last week has been high tides in the afternoon...if you plan your trip by the cycles you should be ok, there is tons of space...in fact i am shocked at how much beach space there is compared to other beaches

yes, there is lots of jehovahs witnesses etc trying to save people and they see daytona as a good fishing spot

Where are you staying? We stay in Daytona Beach shores and really did not have any problem. I just watch the tide charts and seem to go out when the tide is going out and move my chair with the tide! Where we are at the beach is not really that crowded and you don%26#39;t feel like you are ';on top of each other';

If I were approached I hate to think what would come out of my mouth. So I will leave it at that. You did the right thing.

Beach is widest at Ponce Inlet (last beach access) and high tide is not a problem there at any time. In addition, you might want to drive to New Smyrna Beach and check it out one day. They have done a complete beach restoration there. the county has spent a lot of money there and I hope it is back to the way it was. I have found the conditions much changed as you go north, in Ormond area but not so much changed in downtown Daytona.

Thanks for the info so far, and I look forward to hearing from others. We will be staying in DB Shores at the Towers Grande Condos. We%26#39;ve been there several times, love the condos, but will NOT enjoy a thin strip of beach up next to the sea wall! Hopefully the tides will work out for the time we are there. We%26#39;ll be there two weeks, so sooner or later high tide will fall at a good time for us. Just unusual to even have to consider there not being much of a beach. During low tide, the cars would always be driving along behind us while we sat by the ocean, then during high tide we would just scoot back to the other side of the driving lanes and watch the cruisers go on by. We stayed in Ponce Inlet for a week last year at the end of the summer, and it was a nice wide beach, but I would hate to have to drive down there daily in order to have a good stretch of sand. Hopefully Daytona can get the sand back thrugh some reconstruction or something. That%26#39;s the big attraction for us. As far as the Jehovah%26#39;s Witnesses go -- that is a really uncomfortable situation to be in on vacation, of all things. I would have been royally TICKED if one of them would have grilled my daughter in that way. I will be on the lookout for them! Thanks for that tip! Malinda

I get the Towers mixed up, is that the building across from Dimucci on the corner of A1A and Dunlawton? If so, we are staying a few buildings south at Surfside Club. The beach was fine last summer. It did not seem quite as wide as down in Ponce Inlet, as we stayed at one of the towers down there a couple of summers ago.

TeacherSue-- nope, that is Towers Ten - right at the corner of Dunlawton and A1A. The beachcam is posted on the roof of the lifeguard tower right outside the pool of Towers Ten. Towers Grande is about 2 miles north. Both are DiMucci buildings., Grande is just a little newer. RIght now the beachcam shows a nice wide stretch of beach, and it is almost low tide. Looks like, according to the tide tables, the first few days we will be there the high tide will be smack in the middle of the day :-( But later, before we leave, it will be more like it is today, lowtide mid day. Somehow, I think we will COPE! LOL! Beinn Daytona makes EVERYTHING better, doesn%26#39;t it??? Thanks! Malinda

Thanks, like I said I get those two mixed up! I thought the webcam was on one of them, I recognize the balcony railing! Yes you will and can cope, Have fun!!!!