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| The beach at Fort De Soto Park |
From time to time we are able to return to beloved locations
for another visit. When we found
ourselves in central Florida with a few extra days, we booked the
LAST dog friendly campsite at one of our favorite locations: lovely, rustic, Fort
De Soto Park with perfect white beaches and emerald green water.
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| A campsite right on the water (not ours this time, maybe next time) |
Fort De Soto Park is located where Tampa Bay meets the Gulf of
Mexico. Built on a series of sand keys,
it has extensive bike trails, beaches, picnic areas, an historic fort, a fabulous campground with
most campsites located on the water, and a huge dog park/dog beach.
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| North Beach on the left and Outback Key on the right |
The shoreline of Fort De Soto Park has become a lesson in shoreline
erosion and build up.
Since we were here
the last time (a few years ago), a new sand key has developed along the North
Beach area.
Sand collected on a submerged
sandbar off-shore to create a new key (island) very close to shore.
It is a short wade from the beach to the
informally named Outback Key where sand
has built up to be a sizable space with patches of sea oats growing at one end.
Where did the sand come from?
Erosion someplace else?
Sand disturbed by dredging the shipping
channel into Tampa Bay?
A beach restoration
project northwards in Clearwater?
Who
knows!
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| Just a short wade between the two |
One park ranger predicts that if things continue to progress, the watery space between
Outback Key and the North Beach will fill in with sand, eventually increasing the size of North Beach.
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| Reddish Egret |
As a special treat,when we crossed onto the newly formed key, a rare Reddish Egret landed in the water and began its crazy dance.
While other herons and egrets regally stalk through
the water looking for dinner, or shuffle their feet to stir up
lunch, the Reddish Egret does a crazy dance running through the water and using
the shadow of its outstretched wings to reduce glare from the water so it can see its next
meal swimming by.
It is unique and fun
to watch.
These interesting birds are
considered threatened and are mostly found in the Gulf of Mexico.
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| Reddish Egret "dancing" |
While we were at Fort De Soto Park, Tiki got two wonderful
chances to swim, play, and roll in the sand on the dog beach.
It was quite windy and we saw kite-boarders on
the East Beach.
So spectacular!
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| Kite-boarders |
It is fitting that this return to a special place is also our
return to our blog space.
It has been 9
months since we last posted on our blog in May 2019.
We made many short trips during the summer and fall of 2019, we just
didn’t write about them.
Some friends
and readers have asked about our blog and our travels – so we’re baaaccckkk and we’re in
Florida!
Look for more blog entries to
come.
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Osprey |
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| Banyon tree |
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| Immature White Ibis losing its protective dark feathers |
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| Our campsite - pretty nice, huh? |
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