About the Author of Space Coast Outdoors

My name is Dean Pettit and I moved to the Space Coast in 1967 at the age of 8 and have lived here ever since, in Indian Harbor Beach, Satellite Beach, Merritt Island, and Titusville. After getting a bike for my 9th birthday I was fishing at Mather's Bridge in Indian Harbor Beach almost every day I could, and by the time I was 14 I had my own boat docked at our waterfront home in South Patrick Shores near Satellite Beach where I fished the Mangrove Shorlines of the Grand Canal and the Flats of the Banana River for seatrout and the occasional snook. I caught my first seatrout on a flyrod at the age of 13 when saltwater flyfishing in this area was virtually unheard of, using my grandfathers freshwater flyrod and a royal coachman streamer designed for freshwater rainbow or brook trout. When I got my first car at 16 I was all over the southern half of this county fishing, hiking, hunting, and just generally exploring the great outdoors here. Our family vacations were camping trips to places like Sebastian Inlet, where I fell in love with snorkeling during the day and fishing for snook redfish and sharks at night. Other memories include camping on islands in the Grant area, catching fresh clams and fish and cooking them over an open fire, camping among the palmettos on the beaches just North of Sebastian Inlet, and wading among the coquina ridges in the surf of Satellite Beach fishing for Margate, Black Drum, and Sheepshead with nothing but a pole, a few feet of line, a hook and fresh caught sandfleas for bait. As I became a family man I passed this love of the outdoors to my daughters, and today they still talk about our camping trips, while surf fishing family reunions are a favorite event.

Me with Space Shuttle Atlantis shortly befor the final launch

Now that the Space Shuttle Program, along with my 31 + years of service to the program have both ended, I have dedicated myself to the development and support of Space Coast Outdoors as a full time endeavor with the purpose of drawing more eco-tourism and outdoor recreation visitation to the Space Coast, by providing the information visitors need to get the most out of their vacation time and money, information from an insider's point of view. Space Coast Outdoors is not a chamber of commerce type of website produced in an air conditioned office. It's produced by a guy who has spent his lifetime in the wetlands, on the beaches, in the woods, and on the waters, and continues to get out there, but now to support Space Coast Outdoors, to be your eco-tourism and outdoor recreational "correspondent in the field".

Dean Pettit