Ding Darling NWR and Bunche Beach Preserve…

A nice side trip from Siesta Bay RV Resort is the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on the subtropical barrier island of Sanibel. It is known for its display of migratory bird populations and that fact that has one of the largest undeveloped mangrove populations in the USA.

Visiting wildlife refuges is a past time I will always enjoy going back to my roots of having studied Wildlife Biology back in college. I am always curious to not only see the refuge and it flora and fauna but I am also curious to see how the refuge is being managed and maintained. While working for Texas Parks and Wildlife I was a Biologist responsible for maintaining the natural integrity of parkland ecosystems in the eastern half of the state of Texas.

As a Biologist I assisted in many events such from prescribed burning to maintain habitat for endangered species such as Attwater's Prairie Chickens to eradicating non-native species such as sika and fallow deer from the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. So when I visit parks and refuges I am looking at them from two different perspectives… and from what I can see they are doing a lot of real good things here at the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

Also nearby the RV resort is a nice little park San Carlos Bay / Bunche Beach Preserve. This little gem is a mere 15 minute or so bike ride from the RV Resort. Here you are treated to a 719 acre park protecting some tidal wetlands and mangrove swamp that is more representative of the area before invasive plants and people moved in.

We biked over for an afternoon of fun in the sun and a little bird watching. The nice white sandy beach is inviting for a stroll along the tidal wetlands of the park. With nearby metered parking and its proximity to the city there is always a mixture of “city folk”  and retired “peeps” relaxing on the beach. As the Old Fat Man says we are just having tooooooo much fun…

NOTE: Hovering your mouse over a picture will identify what you are looking at and if you want to see a larger picture just click on the image…

A day on Captiva Island…

Since we are very close to Sanibel and Captiva Islands we decided we had better go visit Captiva since the weather was very nice in the low 80’s and it will soon change with an impending cold front. It is only about 5 miles from our park to the toll bridge that takes you over to Sanibel Island. The toll is $6.00 which is a bit high for the toll in my opinion since they also charge $2.00 per hour anywhere you want to park once you make it over to either Sanibel Island or Captiva Island.

Despite all these consumer taxes we decided to stay most of the day out on the island and just enjoy the time spent there. The two lane road going through Sanibel Island was slow moving with speed limits below 40 as most were at 30 to 35. Combine this with a art festival on the island and the post thanksgiving crowd there was a lot of stopping and starting as cars stopped allowing people to cross the road.

Many Christmas decorations were being put up and there are a lot of “haves” out on the island. Not many of the “have-nots.” However many properties in this area are listed for sale. The home to the right is one of the few homes for sale that was actually visible from the road. Most homes are landscaped in such a way as to protect the privacy of the “haves.” They don’t want the “have nots” seeing what they are up to…

There are several well spaced public beach accesses along the scenic drive but our goal was to go to the far end of Captiva Island. When  you get to Turner Beach you are about to cross a small bridge that leaves Sanibel Island and arrives on Captiva Island. Captiva Beach is located at the end of Captiva Drive. There are no restrooms, although port-a-potties were present and parking is very limited (about 35 cars). Pets are not allowed on the beach and alcohol is also not allowed. No one seemed to follow either of these rules… :)

Captiva Beach is a beautiful fine white sand beach with bluish green waters that lap ever so quietly along the shoreline. It reminded up a lot of the corona beer commercial of the two chairs on the white sand beach… This area is known for its shells and there are oodles of small pastel shells dotting the shoreline.

We were lucky enough to get into one of the parking spots as someone was leaving just as we arrived – lucky us. We spent the remainder of the afternoon on the beach where we enjoyed our lunch that we brought and the wonderful waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Sunning, shelling, lounging, reading, a little imbibing and fishing was on our menu that afternoon and I was even able to land a small flounder which will end up as supper soon…

The day was one of those perfect days on the beach… and as the day was coming to a close we watched the sunset over Sanibel Island and reflected upon what a grand day this indeed was…

Thanksgiving on the road…

Well as we had hoped we were unable to secure our site in Jonathan Dickenson for another week but that was okay because Sharon was getting hitch itch after staying here for nine days. We made a few phone calls and finally located a site for a week stay in Fort Myers, Florida. We left the state park and made the three plus hour drive across the southern part of the state of Florida past Lake Okeechobee with little fanfare.

When driving across the flattened expanses in southern Florida there really isn’t a lot to see along the way unless you love agriculture and freshly plowed fields. It is interesting to note how much sugar cane must be grown in this part of Florida as there were fields and fields of it along the roadside. They were also burning a lot of the residue left behind in fields that had been harvested recently. Sugar cane appears to be one sweet cash crop…

As we made our way near Fort Myers there was a noticeable increase in wooded vegetation and as we neared the coastal area the lushness of the vegetation increased. Our destination was the Siesta Bay RV Resort where we were able to get a spot for a week. When we checked in they gave us a spot in their overflow area which is not in the best part of the park but it will do for a week. Next year we will need to remember to make sure we book something for Thanksgiving weekend well in advance…

This park is one of your typical over 55 retirement communities where a few of the scattered lots are also rented out to RV’s traveling through. There are a lot of nice amenities here including two pools, a fitness center and a tennis court. After settling in we went over to their laundry building and to do our laundry. While our laundry was going we went swimming in the adjacent pool.. now this is how we like doing laundry…

On Thanksgiving it appeared as if we would be on our own since the RV park had a Thanksgiving gathering but you had to have signed up by the 21st to participate. We had planned our own mini celebration anyhow so on thanksgiving day we cooked a 13 lb. turkey in our convection oven and it came out just perfect. At 325 degrees for 160 minutes the turkey was still moist and had a nice crisp skin. Alongside the turkey we made green beans almandine, baked yams, cornbread dressing, giblet gravy and some tasty devilled eggs.

Making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in a motorhome can be quite challenging. Hopefully we won’t have to do this again next year if we plan better. After feasting we lounged around and watched some football on television and remembered all we were thankful for… we hope each of you enjoyed your Thanksgiving as much as we enjoyed ours…

Site-less Wednesday…

We were hoping to get a another week here at Jonathan Dickinson State Park but were only able to add two more days so our stay here totaled nine days. The down side is we won’t be here for Thanksgiving… However we have a list of places we will call this morning and a fall back position at a Martin County Park in nearby Stuart Florida called Phipps Park. It is not the best site in the world but it available and the sites are large and far apart. They are also within walking distance to a federal park called the Lucie Locks.

We will call one park midway between here and Ft Myers on the south side of Lake Okeechobee and we have a couple of leads for sites near Ft Myers that we will call. We only need to find a spot for a week since we have the month of December booked at a park in Bonita Springs. So we are site less but not homeless however I am sure we will end up somewhere for the holiday.

This will be our first big holiday with no family around in a long, long time. It is going to be a bit weird but we will have to get used to it fast because we will be in the same predicament for Christmas as we have no immediate family in Florida.

We knew when we partook in this lifestyle that these holidays would be “different” so we plan to simply chalk this up as a new life experience but it sure beats working… and I am sure we will figure out how to make the best of it.

So our last few days in Hobe Sound Florida have seen us in a bit of a routine… We wake up and enjoy some freshly brewed coffee, lounge a bit and then we have breakfast. We lounge a bit more and catch up on reading the news and some blogs on the web. We do a few errands around the motorhome and then we settle in for lunch. After lunch we have been taking a drive such as to see the “haves” along Ocean Blvd. in Jupiter Florida and then we go to Hobe Park to the beach for some sun and fun… A relaxing and enjoyable routine.

Well time to sign off as it is nearing 8:00 am and time to call some parks to get a site for the holidays… we have to check out by 1:00 so we will know soon where we will be staying for Thanksgiving!

Winds, waves, beaches and music…

We have been really enjoying our time here at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. The proximity of this location to various cities nearby make exploring the area a real treat. The weather took another turn the other day as a cold front came through dropping the temperatures only a bit but it did bring gusty winds and high surf.

So with the weather being a bit dicey we decided to drive south to West Palm Beach on Saturday in search of the local farmer’s market there. The less than 20 minute drive was pleasant but once we got to the town center complex where the market was supposed to be we never found it. It appeared as if a fund raiser had taken its normal spot or perhaps we simply never found it.

But while looking for the town center we stumbled upon Florida Atlantic University. So we took a driving tour around the smaller than expected campus and didn’t go for a walk since there seemed to be a football game that day causing a lack of parking available. It wasn’t a huge deal since I thought we could also drive along the road 1A over to the beaches nearby.

We drove over to Palm Beach along the beach road and stopped at a few of the pocket beach accesses. The wind was howling and the waves were huge yet the water was still very blue here. From Palm Beach we drove over to Singer Island  following the beach roads there as well. What a beautiful drive this is along 1A this was. We passed through Juno Beach and continued to stop at small public access points to the beach along the way.

Sunday’s weather was about the same as Saturday’s with gusty winds of near 30 mph and mild temperatures with scattered showers. We thought we would drive north to the town of Stuart about 15 minutes away to visit their farmer’s market. We found this one (hooray) but didn’t see anything worth buying so we drove over to Hutchinson’s Island to check out the beaches near Stuart.

We found several small beaches with public access but there was something different about these beaches. Several of the beaches here had lots of rocky ledges along the shore. I really wasn’t expecting this but we really enjoyed watching the huge swells crash up against the rocks causing an enormous amount of salt spray.

Since it was too windy to hang out at the beach we decided to head back over to the famer’s market area in Stuart because we noticed as we were leaving the market that a stage was being set up.  We figured maybe a music event was about to happen there. After finding a parking spot near downtown Stuart we could hear the music as we approached. We read later that the town supports a free music series on certain Sundays and we just happened to stumble into one of these events. The band was really pretty good and we thought the violin player was really good however I can’t imagine the pain she must have gone through to get all those tattoos she had. OUCH!!!

 

We spent about an hour just enjoying the sound of the music and the breezes blowing in from the sea. We are supposed to be moving today but I am heading over to the office at 8:00 am to see if any of the non-reservable spots are available for us to stay through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend…

What to do at Jonathan Dickinson State Park…

Staying here at Jonathan Dickinson State Park offers many opportunities for outdoor activities. Other than taking our normal walks which we can do most anywhere, staying here allows us the opportunity to do some on road and off road biking. There are numerous bike trails throughout the park ranging from an easy  5-mile ride on the main park road to the Loxahatchee River or more challenging trails such as the sandy bike trails marked by a skull and crossbones sign denoting the difficulty of the trail.

The off-road trails are part of the bicycle trail system called the Camp Murphy Off-Road Bicycle Trails. They have over 8 miles of trails and even have a “skill” area where one can practice their bike skills on balance beams, log piles, ramps etc. You can also bike the mile or so from the campground over to the Hobe Mountain Observation Tower. Hobe Mountain is the tallest natural point in south Florida – 86 feet above sea level… The view from the tower offers glimpses at old military buildings back when the park was a top secret communications base in the 1940’s as well as views of the nearby canal and ocean. Or you can bike the five miles to the Kimbell Education Center to look at interpretive exhibits or watch the park movie. .Lots of biking possibilities…

Also nearby are several public access beaches such as Coral Cove or Hobe Sound, a Martin County Beach Park. We visited Coral Cove the last time we were here and it offers pretty decent snorkeling in this part of Florida. We haven’t had the opportunity to snorkel there yet as it has been pretty windy each day we have been here.

We have visited Hobe Sound Beach Park however, as it is a nice beach with easy free parking access less than 10 minutes from the park. A great beach for walking, sunning, shelling or fishing… We have stopped by this park several times and I even caught a nice Florida Pampano,(or it may have been a juvenile Permit),  while fishing the surf… it should provide us a couple of nice meals down the road.

Then on the overcast and windy day we had yesterday we simply took a drive on the interpretive driving trail in the park and hiked the hour-long Kitching Creek Nature Trail…. we may have instead driven along South Beach Road just north of Jupiter Florida and ogled at all the huge ocean front properties of all those people in the one percent income bracket. When driving along those roads there are very few glimpses of the homes because they are hidden by elaborate landscaping that is tended by oodles of gardeners… but we had already done that the day before.… another tough day on the road.

Side Note: what do you see in this photograph of a dead burned out tree?

I saw two things… a hyena laughing at the moon and I also saw a dead woodpecker lying on its back on top of a dead hawk lying on its back… and no I wasn’t out in the sun too long and I wasn’t partaking of too much two buck chuck…

In south Florida and meeting new folks…

As I mentioned in the last blog we are now at Jonathan Dickinson State Park which is just a tad north of Jupiter Florida. This park is really a great place to spend time. The sites are huge and have a nice gravel pad with everything you would want in a state park. Lots of good dirt bike trails, great hiking, and even pretty decent fishing on the Loxahatchee River.

Turns out we are also not far from Jill and Steve of Two Tools and a Dream and if you haven’t read her blog yet you are simply missing out on a good read… We stopped by their place for dinner and a chat one night and then the next night we met them and another couple and their friend for Taco Tuesday at a nearby Mexican restaurant. It was nice meeting Jim, Pat and Linda. The $2.00 tacos and buy one get one free Coronas were pretty tasty too…

It was fun swapping yarns about RV’ing and other topics with each other and I am sure we will all meet again one day. Until we meet again we have been simply enjoying our time here in Jonathan Dickinson State Park. We have been biking, hiking and fishing… I finally caught a couple of Mangrove Snapper and a Stingray as well as a fish I couldn’t identify… that is why I like salt water fishing since you never know what you will get.

We will be in this park until Monday unless we are able to extend our stay for another week. I never would have thought it would be difficult to find a place to stay during the Thanksgiving four day weekend but everything I look at is booked including here… we may end up staying at a Wal-Mart tor a Cracker Barrel for the fist time if we aren’t able to extend here or find another site on the way to Bonita Springs.

We never really thought about spending the holidays without family around us but we will be doing so for the first time this year. We bought a small turkey that barely fit in the Norcold freezer and we will still have the annual feast with or without family members present…

Blackpoint Wildlife Drive Park…

Although we are now at Jonathan Dickinson State Park we spent the last few days at a really nice Passport America park called Seasons in the Sun Motorcoach Resort. What a nice park this is. The park has full hookups and is just a short distance off of Interstate Highway 95 (no road noise). Sites are large and spacious and included cable TV, however wifi was an additional charge. The cost for us was $22.43 per night with Passport America which included all taxes.

They also have a large clubhouse with a heated pool and hot tub. There are several ponds on the premises and a nature trail. Another plus for the park is that there are several orange and grapefruit trees scattered around that you are free to pick fruit from. Before we left we grabbed a fresh grapefruit to have for our departure breakfast.

While the park is really nice nearby Mims, Florida is a bit of a rundown town and doesn’t have a lot to offer. The city of Titusville is a bit nicer but not much. There are plenty of nice stores in Titusville including the RV’ers store of choice – Walmart. Titusville is found along the Indian River and is the county seat of Brevard County. It was brought to my attention that former great Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Collingsworth graduated from Astronaut High in Titusville.

Despite the shortcomings of the nearby towns you aren’t far from the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Blackpoint Wildlife Drive Park and Canaveral National Seashore. We could see staying at this park for a longer extended stay and finding plenty to do at these spots alone.

We really enjoyed our daytrip over to the Canaveral National Seashore where we lounged along the beach and I also partook in a bit of fishing as well. But the highlight of this area was our drive through the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive Park. Now keep in mind both of these parks are fee based but with your National Park Access Pass you get free entry.

This self guided drive takes you along marshes, ponds and uplands where you will see a lot of different species of birds… some of the many we were able to spot were the Great Blue Heron, Tri-colored Herons, Green-backed Herons, Wood Storks, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Reddish Egrets, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, large flocks of Gadwall, American Widgeon and American Coots. Double-breasted Cormorants, Common Gallinule, Anhinga, Belted Kingfishers and Pied-billed Grebes. We also saw many other species and other notable were Osprey, Northern Harriers and one stately Bald Eagle.

If you are ever in this area I would recommend both the RV Park for a stay and then take a trip to this beautiful drive to enjoy the day… the ends…

NOTE: Pictures, in order, are of a Reddish Egret in the marsh, Green-backed Heron in a mangrove bush, Snowy Egret poised for the kill, Bald Eagle, Great Blue Heron sitting atop a Juniper tree (odd spot for it), the beauty of the unspoiled marsh, and a couple of Northern Shovelers bottoms up…

Beach trash rant and a solution…

Our time spent at Gamble Rodgers was really enjoyable in that we were able to simply walk across a short boardwalk and then stroll along the beach and listen to the surf crashing in… How horrible can this be?

Well unfortunately it isn’t all that grand along the beach because when you look a little closer amongst all the sargassum seaweed you will notice other things besides beautiful tiny coquina shells and fragments of angel wing shells. What you will discover is the awful amount of beach trash that washes ashore and besides being unsightly it can be very hazardous to the critters that live in the ocean and nearby.

RANT ON…

So our dilemma is what can we do about all this trash? Well we could put a stop to littering if we simply shot on sight anyone littering. This would surely stop those people from trashing our environment. However, this is probably too harsh a punishment for the crime despite knowing that the litter they toss can result in the loss of the life of a sea turtle or other critter that happens to consume a deflated balloon or chunk of plastic.

So what did Sharon and I decide to do about it? Since we like to take walks along the beach several times a day, we decided that when we do our morning walk along the beach we will take some of those plastic bags we all get at the grocery stores and just pick up all the plastics and rubber parts we find along the way. We focus on the plastics since they are virtually indestructible and will perhaps continue in our environment into the next ice age…

In case you are wondering the most common plastic trash we find are screw-on bottle tops, pieces of plastic shards and straws. We also find a lot of those inflatable helium filled balloons that have deflated and we just know these balloons are waiting for an unsuspecting sea creature to eat it and starve to death after it gets lodged in the throat…

As we walk and pass by a beachside trash can we simply empty the bags and continue on (or if our campground recycles, we recycle the plastic). We only do this once a day as we don’t want to be picking up trash all our lives because it is quite depressing. However, by at least doing so we feel as if we are doing our small part.

Our challenge to you is to do the same and as a result our “little parts” will add up to a much larger part and not only will our oceans and beaches be a bit cleaner but we may also hopefully end up saving an endangered sea turtle from an early demise…

Let’s keep our beaches beautiful!

RANT OFF…