Bonita Beach Dog Park…

With the exquisitely warm weather we have been having we decided to get out for a little drive and explore more of the area around us. So off we drove towards Little Hickory Island and once we crossed the bridge to it we were surrounded by the large opulent but brightly painted homes adorning the beautiful white sand beaches.

A short pleasant drive past the homes and the various beach accesses you cross another bridge which takes you towards Fort Meyer Beach and Lovers Key State Park. Access to the park’s manned beach access is $4.00 per person at the main gate but only $2.00 per person at a “self pay station” at the north end of the park. But just before you get into Lovers Key State Park you will notice a pullout alongside the road where several cars may be parked. What you will find here is a “dog beach” better known as Bonita Beach Dog Park.

They have set aside a special beach area for those who want to take their dog(s) off leash and let them just run and play with all the other dogs. We are currently pet-less but we have had several dogs in our adult lives and both had cats in our childhood. We have just found that the RV lifestyle that we wanted is better accomplished pet-less. The lack of a friendly companion was traded for a bit more freedom and a lot less responsibility.

But since we are dog and cat lovers we felt it would be a fun experience to visit the dog park and see what goes on there… When we first pulled up we were a bit worried that this might be an adult dog only park since there was a huge banner announcing that there was “hot dogs” in the park… :)

Instead, what we found was a bunch of furry critters romping around chasing each other and frolicking in the surf as children would. There were dogs chasing each other, dogs chasing balls, dogs digging in the sand, dogs chasing frisbees and dogs just being dogs…

It really is nice that they have set aside a special place for dog owners and their dogs to have a place to run foot loose and fancy free without offending those folks who take offense to dogs in general. The beach is just a small strip of white sand surrounded by mangroves but it is ample in size so that dogs have plenty of room to play. If you have a dog and are in the area I would highly recommend you that you stop by this beach, pull up a beach chair and spend some quality time with your furry friend…

Since we didn’t have a furry friend we simply enjoyed watching those that did! After having too much fun at the dog park we started to head back to our RV park but got side tracked at a place called the Fish House. Since it was happy hour we decided to check it out. Fantastic happy hour there with $1.25 domestic drafts and four food items on a special happy hour menu all only six bucks… (including a half pound boiled ship or ten wings). Nice place for a stop when going home from the beach…