Long Key State Park Florida

This Egret stayed at our site every day

Monday March 8, 2010

It was actually hot this morning. I did not look at the thermometer but only lasted sitting in the sun for about 30 minutes. Reading, checking email, and a little surfing filled my time this morning. It is rather slow going to surf sites on the i-phone but it works. About 10 we left on a bike ride down to the other end of the park where there is a nature trail. We parked the bikes and took the little over a mile walk through first mangrove swamp near the beach – to almost a tunnel cut through heavy mangrove thicket – to a sandy hot area with little vegetation to a hardwood hammock. All within a mile walk. The hardwood hammock might have been 20 feet above sea level and is noted as the highest point on the island. We saw very diverse plant species and some wild flowers we had never seen before. Maybe we can identify later from the photos.

Back to camp by 11:15 so Ben could be in his fishing for the day – I am not sure baiting the hook, carrying the pole out about 50 feet in the water, casting further and then walking back to shore to sit in the chair counts as fishing but – hey it worked last year when he caught the button head shark! I finished my book and started another right after lunch.

Watching my sandcastle be washed away by the incoming tide took about 2 hours – that was really hard work…funny that the tide did not take it down in the night. I am downloading photos and completing part of today’s blog so I can post it when we drive down to the end of the island to watch the sunset. The sunsets have been beautiful from here but I imagine are even more spectacular from the other side of the island. So we will venture down that way after supper and combine a little internet time with the sunset.


This boardwalk was part of our hike today


Looking for shells right after high tide will take about another hour of my afternoon – again hard work.I am cooking supper here tonight and tomorrow night – our last night here at Long Key – we will go to the Hungry Tarpon for dinner. It is highly rated and if it is better than the dinner we had at Little Italy it will be outstanding!! It is hard to believe we will have been here on Long Key for 7 days. That is the longest we have ever camped anywhere in as long as I can remember. I was a little skeptical of this plan but it has turned out to be fine. I can certainly say I have gotten lots of rest and relaxation.