We went back to Honeymoon Island State Park today for a guided nature walk in the northern section of the island. The walk was led by two experienced volunteer docents who are very familiar with the area, its history and the wildlife and various plants and trees in the park. We had taken the same walk two years ago and wanted to do it again.
The walk, initially along the Osprey Trail towards the north end of the island, is home to ospreys, great horned owls and bald eagles. We saw several osprey nests, lots of ospreys, a great horned owl and two bald eagle fledglings in their nest. We also saw woodpeckers, buzzards and a variety of smaller birds. We also saw a gopher tortoise but missed seeing the armadillos and the rattlesnakes that are also common on the island. There are also different species of vegetation including pine trees, palm trees, different types of mangroves, palmettos, plants with poisonous berries and lots of poison ivy. Wandering off of the trail into the brush was not recommended. The bald eagle nest is at the north end of the trail, about a mile from the trail head. We stopped frequently along the trail for explanations of the various things we were seeing as well as watching the eagles for awhile. It was a leisurely walk in the warm, humid weather.
On the way back we took the Pelican Trail on the west side of the island, close to the shore of Pelican Cove, a shallow stretch of water between the island and the sand spit just to the west. The vegetation on this side of the island is somewhat different in that there are fewer large trees. The small mangrove trees along the shore protect and "build" the shoreline. This area is also a little lower in elevation, but the highest point on the island is only 8 ft above sea level. There is also an active proscribed burn program by the park to keep the vegetation under control and help reduce the threat of catastrophic fire danger that could be caused by lightning from summer thunderstorms.
We arrived back at the trailhead about 1:30 pm, hot and a little tired. It was a great 2-mile hike and an excellent presentation from our guides, and we were glad we did it.
We then drove about 7 miles north to Tarpon Springs, a community with a strong Greek heritage associated with sponge diving. The sponge docks are a major tourist attraction with lots of shoppes selling trinkets and things and boat tours with sponge diving demonstrations, Along with all that, the area also has a number of Greek restaurants with excellent and authentic Greek food. We had another great late lunch/early dinner than drove down the coast to Dunedin, about 10 miles south.
We had originally planned to take a sunset cruise from Dunedin but were unable to get reservations for today. Since we were in the area, we decided to wait at the dock for the 5:00 pm boarding of the cruise boat to see if perhaps there were any cancellations. Alas, there weren't so we went down the street to have a drink at Flanagan's Irish Pub. The pub is at the epicenter of the St. Patrick's Day celebration tomorrow and we wanted to have a quiet drink before the "craziness" tomorrow night. All was quiet in the pub as I guess the hardcore partygoers are resting up and gathering stamina.
Back to baseball tomorrow as the Phillies are playing the Tampa Bay Rays. The St. Patrick's Day game is always a lot of fun with most of the fans wearing green and special ballpark activities. Even the Phillies wear green uniform jerseys. Eileen and Linda are coming down from Crystal River for the game and we are planning to go over to Dunedin after the game for dinner and a taste of the St. Pat's celebration there.
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