New Smyrna Beach
A 1768 Minorcan colony, now one of the world's top surf towns.
- Population
- 30,142 (2020 census)
- Colony founded
- 1768
- Incorporated
- 1887
- Tides
- Two highs, two lows, uneven
Then
- 1768
Scottish physician Andrew Turnbull founds New Smyrna with about 1,300 settlers, most from Menorca, along with Greeks from the Mani peninsula.
- 1777
After disease, raids and mistreatment, about 600 survivors walk some 70 miles up the King's Road to St. Augustine.
- 1887
New Smyrna incorporates with about 150 people. It becomes New Smyrna Beach after annexing Coronado Beach in 1947.
- 1920s
Rum runners use Mosquito Inlet, now Ponce de León Inlet, during Prohibition.
Now
New Smyrna Beach is a surf town, named one of the world's top 20 surf towns by National Geographic in 2012. It has also been called the shark attack capital of the world: Volusia County led the world in confirmed bites in 2007.
Canaveral National Seashore borders the city to the south. Daytona Beach Shores and Ponce Inlet lie to the north.
On the water
From NOAA's predictions for New Smyrna Beach, FL over the next 365 days. Heights are in feet above mean lower low water (MLLW).
- Pattern
- Two highs and two lows a day, one noticeably bigger than the other
- Typical daily range
- 2.7 ft
- Biggest swing
- 3.7 ft on Nov 25
- Smallest swing
- 1.7 ft on May 23
- Highest high
- 3.4 ft, Dec 24 at 8:39 AM
- Lowest low
- −0.3 ft, Jan 23 at 2:52 AM