The Melbourne Airport has recently added some new flights. You can now fly round trip to Melbourne (MLB) four times daily from Atlanta (ATL) on Delta, three times daily from Charlotte (CLT) on USAir, and twice weekly from Niagra Falls, NY (IAG) and Punta Gorda, FL (PGD) on Direct Air. Port d’Hiver is a short ten minute cab ride from the airport and you can walk to restaurants and several stores. Makes an easy, romantic beach getaway.
Flights Into Melbourne Airport
March 12th, 2010Triathlon in Melbourne Beach in June
January 9th, 2010The popular Rotary Pineapple Man Triathlon that takes place just down the street on Sunday, June 6th, is filling up fast. They cap participation at 500 and already have 370 applicants. Linda will do a Triathletes breakfast before the race and we’ll save a full breakfast for when you get back. Check it out here: http://rotarypineappleman.org/
Honeymoon Packages
November 14th, 2009Love is in the air! Check out our new honeymoon packages: candlelight, mimosas, picnic lunch for two and more…
Sand on the Beach Bar and Grill – Djon’s New Oceanfront Restaurant
September 15th, 2009I wrote a while back about the dearth of restaurants on the beach in our area. Well the long wait is over and Djon’s new restaurant and bar, Sand on the Beach, is opening this week. The atmosphere and cuisine are expected to be casual and beachy, providing a great place for our guests to have a romantic meal on the beach. Here is a picture of the building (scroll down to see a before picture from several months ago).
Mike
Check out our new packages
August 17th, 2009Linda has put together a couple of new packages that would make for a great Florida beach getaway or a romantic respite. They also happen to be an amazing deal. She’s working on a few more so check back soon.
Spa Day Getaway: $250 per person/per night
• Two people get away for two nights in our luxurious Windward or Mangrove Suite.
• Breakfast with mimosas, coffee, and newspaper delivered each morning or served in our dining room
• 5:00 wine, refreshments, fresh baked cookies and turndown service with sweet treats each day
• Bottle of red or white wine and two keepsake Port d’Hiver wine glasses
• 2 shea butter bath bombs, a box of Grimaldi’s chocolate covered pretzels, city guides, shopping information and DVDs to enjoy in your room
• L’Occitane of Provence bath and skincare in-room amenities
• An afternoon of pampering for you and a friend with lunch at Essentials Day Spa. Your spa package will include:o 60 minute Ultimate Unwinder Massage
o 60 minute Essentials Euro Facial
o Hot Milk & Honey Manicure & Pedicure
o Catered Spa Lunch from Green Turtle Gourmet Market
o Complimentary Steam Room & Sauna
o Complimentary Wine &/or Beer
Stay the Course: $185.00 per person/per night
• Two people get away for three nights in the Carriage House or Mangrove Suite.
• Breakfast, coffee and newspaper delivered each morning or served in our dining room
• 5:00 wine, refreshments, fresh baked cookies and turndown service with sweet treats each day
• Port d’Hiver keepsake ice bucket with a chilled bottle of champagne and 2 Port d’Hiver flutes in room upon arrival
• 4 Port d’Hiver Pinnacle Gold golf balls with tees
• Two rounds of golf for two people with pre-reserved and preferred tee times and carts at two of Florida’s finest courses: The Habitat at Valkaria and The Majors Golf Club at Bayside Lakes
• 2 VIP dinners for two at the Melbourne Harbor’s Chart House and Scott’s on Fifth
• The Legend of Bagger Vance and Tin Cup on DVD to enjoy in room during your stay.
Click here to reserve them:
http://www.portdhiver.com/specials.html
Mike
The Flowers Are Blooming!
May 30th, 2009Our Night Blooming Cereus have been blooming the last couple of nights. These plants have been on the property for awhile…we don’t know if they were planted by the previous owner or how they got here. They only bloom once a year in late May/early June and only after sundown and each flower blooms once, then wilts away. They are beautiful and smell wonderfully and are rarely seen by people.
In the picture below, you can see several blooms for the night and some of the blooms from previous nights that are wilting away.
Here is some information on the plant:
One of the strangest plants of the desert, the Night-bloomiing Cereus is a member of the Cactus Family that resembles nothing more than a dead bush most of the year. It is rarely seen in the wild because of its inconspicuousness. But for one midsummer’s night each year, its exqusitely scented flower opens as night falls, then closes forever with the first rays of the morning sun.
Range
Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts of southern Arizona, east to western Texas and south to northern Mexico.
Habitat
Desert flats and washes between 3000 and 5000 feet, often in the shade of desert shrubs like Creosote.
Flowers
These very fragrant trumpet-shaped flowers, which bloom for only one night in June or July, are up to 4 inches wide and as much as 8 inches long. The waxy, creamy-white, many-petaled flowers are followed by a red-orange, short-spined ellipitical fruit about 3 inches long.
Description
The Night-blooming Cereus has sparse, angular, lead-gray, twiggy stems about 1/2 inch in diameter. Extremeley small spines grow along the 4 to 6 ribs of these woody stems, which can easily break. It can be erect or sprawling, reaching a length of up to 8 feet, but is usually half that length.
The Night Blooming Cereus has a tuberous, turnip-like root usually weighing 5 to 15 pounds (but in some specimens weighing over 100 pounds), which Native Americans used as a food source.
A close Baja relation (Peniocereus. johnstonii), called Saramatraca, Pitayita, or Matraca is locally popular for its edible tuber, which is said to account for the plant’s scarcity there.
Night-blooming Cereus is popular in rock gardens and can be grown from stem cuttings. After the cut end is is allowed to heal for several weeks, it is planted in dry sand. Like all cactus, Night-blooming Cereus may be protected in certain desert areas, and permits may be required to collect them.
Mike
Founders Day, the Melbourne Art Festival and the Pineapple Man Triathlon
April 18th, 2009
Three of our favorite weekends of the year are coming up. The Melbourne Art Festival is the weekend of April 25-26, Founders Day in Melbourne Beach is celebrated on Saturday, May 2nd and the Rotary Pineapple Man Triathlon is Sunday, May 31st.
The Melbourne Art Festival (April 25-26) is held in old downtown Melbourne just across the causeway. The festival includes a 5k run and live music throughout the day and night. The 5k is one of Linda’s favorites…you run over the causeway and back and they have live music or a DJ and a beer tent at the end! The art festival is pretty large taking up the whole downtown.
Check here for more information: http://www.melbournearts.org/
Founders Day (Saturday, May 2nd ) in Melbourne Beach takes place right on Ocean Avenue and includes an arts and crafts show and various activities all day in the park across from Djons. There is a fishing contest, historical presentations, a surf contest across the street, and live music with the local Rotary club serving beer and wine. The street party at night this year features our friend, Billy Chapman (http://www.billychapman.com/ ). Billy played guitar and sang for the entertainment at our grand opening celebration a little over a year ago. Lots of locals spend the whole day here and this is one of the reasons Linda and I love living in our little beach town.
You can find a schedule of events here: http://www.melbournebeachfl.org/Pages/MelbourneBeachFL_BComm/founders/index
The Rotary Pineapple Man Triathlon will be held on Sunday, May 31st and takes place just down the street. Unfortunately, registration is closed…it is a really popular triathlon and fills up early. This sprint triathlon starts with a swim just off the pier at the end of the street, the bike is down A1A and back and the run is through the streets of the town. Linda has done this triathlon several times…I did the swim on a relay one year. If you are registered, we’d be the perfect place to stay…Linda will set you up with a triathletes breakfast – coffee, bananas, and lite stuff early. And we’ll save a big breakfast for you when you come back. If you’re not registered, you can come scout it for next year!
Here is the website for the triathlon: http://rotarypineappleman.org/
If you missed the registration for the Pineapple Man, you can always do the Health First Triathlon in October (www.healthfirsttri.com) that starts in Eau Gallie just 10 minutes from the inn. This triathlon, formerly known as the Battle of the Bridges, has both a sprint and Olympic distance and goes over both the Eau Gallie and Pineda causeways. I did the sprint on this one…ended up walking up the causeway but I had a lot of fun anyway. Linda has done the Olympic distance on this one several times.
Mike
Oceanfront Dining
March 29th, 2009Many who visit Port d’Hiver and Melbourne Beach love to sample the local restaurants. One of the most common questions we get is “where can we go to have dinner on the ocean?” Unfortunately, there haven’t been any great places to send our guests that are oceanfront. Locals will recall restaurants such as Boomerangs, Sampertons, the Beachfront Inn and Chuck’s Steakhouse. All these succumbed to either the hurricanes or the condo boom.
Now a new restaurant is being built – and it is right accross the street! The shell of the building that formerly housed Boomerangs and was lost to hurricanes Frances and Jeanne is being renovated by Djon Pepaj. For those who have strolled down to Djon’s for dinner or taken the short drive to City Tropics Bistro or Andiamos, you know Djon’s knack for atmosphere and food.
The photo below was taken today. I don’t know the estimated opening date. They probably have a couple months to go.
Check out the information on Djon’s website: http://www.citytropics.com/.
Mike
Welcome to Our Blog
March 27th, 2009Welcome to the Port d’Hiver Blog!