Honeymoon Island State Park, Our First Visit

The most visited state park in Florida is called Honeymoon Island State Park. The drive is through four cities and so the thirty-mile drive took is a little over an hour. The park wasn’t very busy. It was midweek, and upon entering we first stopped at the Nature Center. There were nice displays and two park rangers who answered all our questions.

Upon leaving the building we looked north toward the Osprey Trail area. You could see the dominance of the slash pines. These were so named as workers would slash them with knives releasing the sap which would be collected and boiled down to form turpentine.

There was also a small garden of native Florida plants and we took our time to photograph/image them, so we would have references.

Some of the plants were coontie ferns, snow berry and Christmas berry bushes, scorpion tail, and hairy beach sunflowers, all pictured in order.

We then drove to the picnic area and ate our lunch before grabbing our gear, binoculars, phones, and cameras and headed up the Osprey Trail. Just as we started walking, an osprey flew over us! Renita spotted it and correctly identified the fish it was carrying as a sheepshead.

I am so lucky to be married to a Junior Range, duly sworn and badged at a National Park near Natchez, as she is a constant source of information and is always correct, (whew I hope I said that right).

We passed several other ospreys before we reached the Great Horned Owl nest. There were reports of two adult owls in the area, but we didn’t see them. There were quite a few red bellied woodpeckers and I finally got an ok image, good enough for an identification.

We passed several other birders before we reached an area where the trail was barricaded.  The reason the trail is closed is because two bald eagles have arrived at their December nesting site and if you look careful you can see them! If you can’t find the second one here is a hint, look for the bright yellow talons.

We headed back to the vehicle on the Pelican trail which then met the Osprey trail. While there were several lgb’s, little grey birds, that wouldn’t hold still so we could id then or photograph them, we did see four more of the red bellied woodpeckers.

Arriving back at the truck we next headed to the four mile stretch of beach. Parking near North beach we walked out on the beach and discovered that there were lots of shells and several determined shell collectors.

Renita got out her sack and we both collected quite a few small unusual gastropods. She also found a type of sundial gastropod that was different from the ones we find at Matagorda, Texas. They are a pretty colored, small shell and should make some nice earrings.

It was time to head back to our bungalow and Renita drove taking a different route. I had taken the fastest way, but she drove along the shoreline and even though it was a little slower, it was much more scenic, The Junior Ranger was right again! Clear skies

A lazy week in Florida, walks on the beach, baking Cookies, and getting hearing aids

Our routine here is simple. It mainly consists of getting up, lazing around and then going for a walk on the beach. We have been neglecting our exercise, my Fitbit broke, and while Renita has kept her slim figure I have managed to put on weight.

As the beach is only a couple of blocks away, it is easy for us to take a daily walk on St Pete Beach.

The area is mainly condos and so we must dodge cars to cross the main street before we reach one of the beach access spots. Ten minutes and we are kicking off our shoes as we stroll along the surf.

Renita, ever hopeful, always carries a shell sack while I look for unusual corals or sharks’ teeth. The beaches aren’t very crowded as we walk early in the morning, or during the week and so we avoid the influx of locals and other snowbirds. It’s a fine white sand here with lots of shell fragments, quite a difference from the Texas beaches.

We also drove up the Gulf side to check out the beach at Sand Key Park. There were more people there but nowhere near the crowds there are in January. It’s a good place to walk and we did find some coral along with some twig like branches of bryozoans, (they are small coral like animals).

Another day, Jen had the day off work and she invited us over to their house to bake cookies. Did I say I was going weight? Not a cat person her cat sensed it and of course was all over me trying to make sure I knew she was there.

She’s a crazy cat and sleeps in a drawer, even though Jen and Eric had bought her a whale shaped sleeping bin.

Finally, I have broken down and been tested for hearing aids. The test showed I have moderate to severe loss. It also showed that I could improve my conversation skills and so we ordered me a pair. After doing research, (checking out the low scores given in a Consumer Reports comparison), we went to the local Costco store, as the hearing aids only cost sixteen hundred a pair, (I have been saving up for them and have not bought any rocks for the past five months).

So later this week I hope to hear, what people are saying. I also hope to hear birds again, and perhaps be able to hear the “woof” sound if a grizzly bear sneaks up behind me!  Clear skies

A Long Drive to Florida, 2018

Like last year we rented a beach bungalow in Florida.  It was time to make the drive to Florida and it would involve staying in motels along the way. The first day found us in Lafayette, Louisiana and while the room was cheap and somewhat warn, we did go out to a restaurant named, Fezzo’s. It turned out to be one of the best meals I have ever eaten.

We started out the meal with Oysters Rockefeller, which are charbroiled oysters in a cream, butter and spinach sauce. Each bite was heavenly. They didn’t last long, and I followed that with Acadia Catfish over angel hair pasta, and of course it was Cajun seasoned. Renita opted for a hamburger steak and gravy with a side of mushrooms and grilled vegetables.

The desert was bread pudding, but it wasn’t like any bread pudding we have ever had before. The bread had been baked on site and it was infused with a vanilla sauce with a side of fresh beaten whipping cream. Renita actually rolled her eyes when she had her first bite.

Driving across Mississippi and Alabama was very short, with us first passing a tribute to the Apollo astronauts which included the full size Lunar lander used by the astronauts as they trained for the trip to the moon. The Apollo 13 lander was used as a lifeboat by an Astronaut from Mississippi, and Fred Haise signed a cement  panel beneath the lander. Chipley, Florida.

There was also a neat sundial, something which I need to add to our lot in Star Valley. The other excitement was as we passed the USS Alabama, along with a World War Two fleet Submarine. We had already stopped there on a previous trip and so we continued on to

However, as we neared Chipley, we discovered that we were driving into the path of destruction from Hurricane Michael. It was all too familiar, after spending last year and helping in Rockport, Texas.

Road crews were clearing the ditches from the down trees and while a lot of work had been done, there was lots more left to do. One of the differences from Rockport, was that the trees here are tall stately pines, most of which had been ripped apart leaving mile after mile of tree trunk fence posts.

The pines didn’t take the high winds as well as the live oaks in Texas, and it will be a long while before the tree lined forest rises again. It was the first time we have seen how a hurricane can utterly destroy a forest, and we were thirty miles from where it came ashore.

The destruction caused us to drive clear to Tallahassee before we could find a room at an inn. The last day it rained, and the drive was back to the usual task of watching out for crazy Florida drivers. So, we are now in St Pete Beach for the rest of the month. Yesterday we took our first walk on the beach, which is only a few blocks away. Clear skies

ps The receptionist at one of the few motels open in Chipley told us that further south the destruction was total. 

The Whoopers are back in Lamar, Fall 2018

The tall bird stood tall over than the nearby sandhill cranes.  The sunlight wasn’t great and so we headed down anther road to get closer to our first whooping crane of the fall season. It was a solitary adult size bird, but we couldn’t see any other white adults or any mixed color fledging, It was probably a two-year-old bird. It didn’t matter as the whoopers were back in Lamar!

Two cold fronts had passed though our area and while our friends up north wouldn’t describe them as “cold”, they kept us inside our fifth wheel. It stopped raining for a bit and we had decided to head over Copano Bay Bridge to see if there whoopers in Lamar. A newspaper had just written an article on the return of some of the whooping cranes to the Aransas National wildlife refuge.

Driving further up St Charles Bay, we stopped at a turnout and spotted another whooper standing on a point that we often kayak to and fish. It was watching two men and a dog working on their duck hunting blind, duck season had started, (one of the reasons we don’t usually kayak on weekends is the noise of the airboats taking duck hunters to and from the blinds).

A little nearer to us Renita spotted one, and then another whooper as they stood on another piece of land. They leaped into the air, beat their wings and landed into a nearby hidden lake. It’s a large lake and contains fish but we don’t kayak there anymore as it also is the home of a very large alligator!

The bird count was four whoopers, four sandhills, a flock of black belied whistling ducks and a single rosette spoonbill. We drove to Big Tree and walked around it, Reita can often hear the distinct call of the whoopers, but she didn’t today, (I can’t unless they are very close). There were a few monarch butterflies in the brush and we mused that perhaps they were some of the same ones we saw in Kansas.

Heading up eighth street we did catch a glimpse of a black crowned night heron adding it to our list, along with pelicans and white egrets that I had forgot to mention. It started to rain and so we returned to our winter home.

Thanksgiving arrived and most everyone gathered for our buffet dinner. Alan and Zita, the park activity directors had smoked, deep fried, and roasted four turkeys, (thank you both)!

The rest of us had signed up for our contributions to the meal and we filled up, but still left some for that nights gathering for the football game. Renita had made her sugar free cranberry sauce and it had also disappeared!

The two days later the wind calmed and so we loaded the kayaks and went fishing to a nearby state park. The sheepshead had been eaten and we wanted to catch some more of the tasty fish. However, when we got to our spot, we caught fish after fish, but they were all too small to keep. Our friend

Terry was fishing nearby in his brand-new kayak and he was catching some keeper size speckled trout!

He kindly invited us over and we and as soon as we got situated Renita caught a fish on her first cast, (speckled trout are called weakfish in Florida due to their soft mouths and so we lost quite a few). Finally, Renita caught our first keeper.

It wasn’t too long before he caught his limit and left. The fish were in a feeding frenzy and small trout were hitting our bobbers! Renita swore that as her cast reached the water a fish had been waiting and took her baited shrimp before the bobber splashed down!

Finally, out of bait, we loaded the fish, Renita had also caught a keeper black drum, and we ended up with six trout and one black drum. I can report that the trout fillets, (a white-meat not unlike walleye), tasted great with the parmesan crusted recipe I had used before! What a busy week! Clear skies

Cold Walks and Hot Kayak Fishing!

The week started cold and we had a brief snow storm which was really a few flakes of sleet. It was playing havoc on our exercise, but Renita suggested that we take a walk along the parkway that borders the local Walmart. It was a great idea!

We started along the cement pathway and before we got very far, I noticed a white-tailed buck walking directly towards us. The deer down south are much smaller then the ones up north, (smaller mammals do better in high heat and humidity as it’s all about getting rid of excess heat). The larger the animal the better it retains heat with less surface area per volume, so the deer up north are much larger.

The buck didn’t seem bothered by our nearness, but it did step off the trail and head down to a stream where it browsed on some bushes, took drink and then climbed the embankment. It paused and browsed a bit and then disappeared into the thick undergrowth.

A little further a great blue heron waded along, and a cattle egret looked for insects and small reptiles. Small little grey birds flushed from us and one stopped long enough for a quick identification, it was a tiny bird, a definite flycatcher but we couldn’t give it an exact name.

Returning to the path we walked a little further and two does stood up as the same great blue heron sat nearby, stoic on a dead tree branch. The deer didn’t like us bothering them and walked away with one flashing its white tail in warning. The heron also flushed flying and then landing across a small clearing.

The rain returned for another day but then the skies cleared, and it warmed up. The warmth and calm made us think of kayaking and I did a fishing trip just down the road launching at Copano Bay. I caught two nice fish, a sheep head and a redfish but I released them both as they were just a hair small. I do get a charge out of catching any size fish!

The next day Renita and I went to another nearby place and launched the kayaks. We were using live shrimp hoping to catch anything. Our first few casts were fruitless but then I caught a sheepshead near an old piling. The second cast also produced a fish and this one was legal, so it went into our fish net live well.

Paddling close to the pilings and we caught fish on every cast, really! Carefully measuring the fish, no easy feat in a kayak, (sheepshead have very large sharp spines and razor-sharp gill covers), we caught a lot of small fish but occasionally a nice one and the live well filled. Renita caught the largest fish of the day, a seventeen-inch sheepshead!

She also caught the last two keepers of the day. The fish basket/net was so heavy I couldn’t lift it into the back of her kayak and I had to paddle to a nearby oyster bar. Getting out of my kayak I was able to get the fish into the cargo area and it didn’t take long to reach the take-out spot.

It was only a few miles from our winter home and soon Renita and I were cleaning the fish. Most people here do not keep sheepshead, (the locals here prefer red fish and speckled trout. We also eat those fish but Renitas favorite and one of mine is fresh sheepshead, (If you have never caught one the fish are like crappies but on steroids and a twenty-two-inch fish will weigh about eight pounds).

It was the best day we have ever had in our kayaks and we really did have a bite on every cast. Back in the rv park, we shared our bounty with several friends and that night it was all you could eat fresh fish dinner! Clear skies

Back in Rockport, 2018

We arrived early in Rockport and set up our rig for the winter. The drive had been uneventful and as we entered the area, we noticed that much of the hurricane damage had been repaired. Terry and Evelyne had arrived a few days earlier and Terry had already been fishing.

Renita and I went down to the dock and I threw out my cast net hoping to get some mullet for bait.

The first cast yielded nothing but small jelly fish. Moving a little further out, I made another throw and caught a few nice size mullet. I also caught some pin fish, another good red bait, and so we made plans to go fishing the next day.

Plans change, as does life and the next morning I took Molly out for a walk. She was barely able to walk a few steps and was in pain, so we took her to the vet. The outlook was not good, and we left in tears without her, we both never want to have another dog again.

A few days later I went fishing with Terry and while I caught quite a few fish, none were big enough to keep. Terry had caught several keeper speckled trout, (Terry is amazing when he is fishing for speckled trou), and we decided to go back the next day. Terry again caught several keeper trout, but I was stymied catching lots of undersize reds, sheepshead, and small black drum.

At the last spot I cast out a live shrimp and my bobber slowly started to move. The next moment it disappeared, and I was onto a large fish. During the first run the hook came out, it wasn’t meant to be. Throwing back out to the same spot nothing happened for a bit and then the bobber disappeared.

It was another large fish, perhaps the same one, and it took me awhile to fight the fish in to the shallows. I finally saw that it was a large red and the fish finally tired and I was able to beach it. I did have a measuring tape and the fish measured just under twenty-eight inches, a legal red!

As I had been fighting the fish Terry set the hook on another and he skillfully beached his fish. It was another keeper red, these one twenty-five inches long. Returning to the our rv park we stopped and showed our wives before heading down t the fish cleaning station.

There is nothing like fresh fish for dinner and one fillet was enough for both of us. I made it using the crusted parmesan recipe but I modified the recipe using quite a bit more of the tabasco sauce. It was very good!

Yesterday a strong cold front moved in, with heavy rain, high winds, and temperatures in the fifties. It will be awhile before we go fishing again so any more fishing plans will have to wait. Perhaps a movie is in order!  Clear skies

Harvest Moon Regatta

We had left Grand Isle and spent the first night at Beaumont. The next day was a short one as Renita had found us a spot at Galveston Island State Park. I don’t like driving through Houston, especially when pulling our fifth wheel, and so we turned off at Winnie and headed to the Ferry at the end of the Bolivar Peninsula.

As we crossed the bay, Renita pointed out the large numbers of sailboats. Looking it up on Google, she found out that the Harvest Moon Regatta was taking place. It’s a race from Galveston to Port Aransas. There are often over two hundred sailboats that race/participate and by the time we had set up at the state park, many had already started to go around the curve of the earth.

If you look closely and blow the images up, you can see that the hulls of some of the boats have disappeared. At the time of Columbus, no one believed that the earth was flat, the real argument was the size of the circumference of the earth and whether Columbus would be able to sail around the world.

There is a formula that tells you how much of the boat disappears, the horizon is the square root of (your height in meters times 13) and it’s a little over one foot for each three miles. Renita had also found out the race had a live web page that showed the names of each boat, the crew, and its current position.

By the time we reached Rockport, the next day many of the boats had beat us by sailing all night using the full moon, (the lead boat averaged 7.9 knots per hour and took less than a day to travel the one hundred and seventy five mile distance).

There was free coffee and doughnuts on Sunday morning and so we arrived as many of the boats were leaving the Port of Aransas, heading back to Houston.

I later mentioned to Renita that we should sell everything, buy a sailboat and travel around the Caribbean, but she didn’t really like the idea. Now maybe she would change her mind if we could find a small pocket cruiser, a type of sailboat that can cross the Atlantic? Clear skies