Stienhatchee and Keaton Beach Florida…

The cooler weather subsided here at Suwanee River Rv Rendevous so we decided to make a run over toward the coastline as this is the only part of coastal Florida we haven't explored. I wasn’t really expecting much as most of what I read about this part of coastal Florida was that it had virtually no beaches and was primarily a fishing hotspot. There was however a small man-made beach in the town of Keaton Beach that I thought we might check out.
The plan was to drive a 107 mile loop and see what was in this area. First we headed toward the town of Stienhatchee, Florida which is about a forty minute drive southwest of here. The landscape in this part of Florida is a mixed Pine Oak Forest with lots of large Live Oaks draped in Spanish Moss. There was a lot of swampy wetlands all along state road 51 where we spotted some egrets, herons and an occasional Belted Kingfisher.
The town of Stienhatchee is a scenic little town that is mostly located north of the Stienhatchee River that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. A really neat little fishing village but once we got out of the car we realized that it was still a bit chilly to really enjoy the day. The winds were blowing off the Gulf of Mexico and the with the ocean at around 59 degrees Fahrenheit it made for a very chilly stop. We did walk around a bit and noted that a lot of small boats were heading out for a day of fishing and we found out why later in the day… 
We left Stienhatchee and headed Northwest toward Keaton Beach. About half way there I noticed there was a Wildlife Refuge along the road. Then we saw a gate open with an information billboard so we pulled in and discovered the Tide Swamp Wildlife Management Area. We drove down a dirt road named Dullas Creek Road for a few miles and it ended at a picnic area with a boat launch. Lots of fishermen were here too and as we chatted with a few of them we discovered why… It seems that this area is brimming with sea trout and as one fishermen put it “It takes us longer to go out to the water than it does for us to catch our limit of trout.” Dang, sure wish we had brought the kayak and my fishing gear…
Well that certainly explained all the fishing boats in this area…. Just before we left a bunch of Wildlife folks showed up and after chatting with one of the fellows I confirmed my suspicion that they were about to set off a prescribed burn. Having set off a bunch of these in one of my previous careers we left in order to avoid all the noise and smoke that was sure to follow shortly.
Our last stop was at Keaton Beach, even a smaller town than Stienhatchee. We found the small park with the man made beach. It too was chilly as the winds were still blowing off the cold waters. We walked out along the water’s edge and along a nice fishing pier until we decided it was simply too cool to enjoy as we would have liked. So we headed back to the RV Park and noticed as we got there that it was 10 degrees warmer inland than along the waterfront. So at home we had a nice Happy Hour outside and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with some tasty Sam Adams Seasonal Brews...