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| Great Blue Heron |
If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know
that some of the things we love when we travel are to: camp in natural settings,
play on the beach, kayak, watch birds, and play with Tiki. We found all that in Fort De Soto.
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| We traveled to St. Pete by way of the Sunshine Skyway, couldn't resist this photo with the pelican. |
Located on a collection of small keys connected by bridges,
Fort De Soto sits at the corner of Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The islands also form 3 sides of a lagoon
called the Mullet Key Bayou, perfect for kayaking. The campground is set on two keys, with many
campsites on the water front, and each site surrounded by dense oak, pine and
palmetto forest.
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| Tiki lovin' the Dog Beach, ready for Russ to throw the ball |
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| And she's off... Such a happy dog! |
Florida is notoriously unwelcoming of dogs, with most
beaches off-limits to them. Fort De Soto
has a long dog beach on the Tampa Bay shoreline, where you can hang out on the
beach with your dog off-leash and play with your dog in the water. We went there on our first day and again as we were leaving. It was tons of fun. Throughout the park, there is a wide, paved,
muti-use trail for pedestrians and bicycles.
It was just a 1.7 mile walk from our campsite to the dog beach and the “Paw Playground”.
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| Heron has just caught a fish |
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| Getting the fish ready to eat |
The second day, we took the kayaks out onto the Mullet Key
Bayou. We came upon a Great Blue Heron
as it caught a fish in rather deep water (for a Blue Heron). We followed as it flew toward the
shoreline. We watched it flip the fish
in its bill, drop and retrieve the fish and do other manipulations for more than 2
minutes. It was a large fish and we
aren’t sure why it wasn’t eaten right away – too large? – kill it first? – play
with it before eating? –eventually the fish got swallowed whole.
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| Russ and his cormorant friend |
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| Can you see the cormorant swimming under the water? |
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| Now the cormorant is on the other side. Guess it is not afraid of humans... |
Later as we kayaked across the Bayou, we were surprised by a
cormorant surfacing a few feet from Russ’ kayak. It dove, swam under his kayak and then
surfaced on the other side. Sometimes it
would dive under Dana’s kayak. It was so
close, we could see its blue eyes. The
water was clear enough that we could see it swim under our boats. After about 15 minutes of watching, we tired
of the entertainment and paddled on. It
followed along with us for another 10 or so minutes. In the course of our time together, our
cormorant caught 3 fish, all pretty big compared to the size of the
cormorant. Unlike with the great blue heron,
these fish got swallowed right away.
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| Dolphins! |
At another point on the trip, we came upon a pod of dolphins gently feeding. They swam all around us, but never too close.
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| The Beach!!!!! |
One day, we threw our towels into our backpacks, hopped on
our bicycles and rode to the beach that is along the Gulf of Mexico. The beach was of fine, white sand, and the
Gulf water was cool, clear and a beautiful green color. It was so lovely to walk and sit on the beach,
and to wade and swim in the water. Dana
went to college nearby, and our return to one of the St Pete beaches was very
nostalgic for her.
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| We think this might be a Loon in winter plumage |
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| Great Egret showing off the plumes that were so desirable for ladies hats, and almost decimated the species |
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| Heron in flight |
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