Paddling near Titusville, FL

Titusville anchors the western shore of the Indian River Lagoon in Brevard County and functions as the launch town for Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, a 149,000-acre refuge established in 1963. Because shallow lagoon depths push motorboats into the channels, paddlers get the mangrove tunnels of the Thousand Islands, the manatee-rich Haulover Canal, and the trophy-redfish flats of Mosquito Lagoon largely to themselves. Inland, Fox Lake and the St. Johns River add freshwater options.