Lover’s Key State Park, another beach…

The last blog seemed to be a hit but now it is time to talk about another beach we like to visit in this area. This beach is actually found in the Lover’s Key State Park. There is  an $8 per car fee to enter or it can be entered near the bridge at a $2 per person self pay station (at least that is what it cost last time we used it a couple years back). There is a nice beach here with some dead trees similar to what are found at Jekyll’s Island but not nearly as many.

Since November is still off-season we went to the park on a day when they offered free admission. Always nice to save $8 when you can.. It was a short walk from the parking lot to the beach or a free tram can be taken if visitors don't want to carry their beach stuff across a couple of bridges.  This beach was far less crowded than Vanderbilt’s but there were still plenty of folks out enjoying the rays and water.

We set up our trusty Sun-Brella and I got my fishing pole all set up and I set out to catch some bait using my cast net. I bought my cast net a few years ago and have easily paid for it with the savings from not having to buy bait. I like using live bait but man it usually is pretty expensive and sometimes hard to find. I already bought a $50 annual non-resident fishing license so I need to save some money where I can. Now I need to catch $50 worth of fresh fish ;) 

 

I sat in my little beach chair and sat back with my fishing pole in hand hoping to land a big one… Sharon sat in the shade of the Sun-Brella reading a book. This is one way we like to enjoy the beach. After not having a lot of luck fishing I put the pole up and we went for a stroll on the beach. Being  it is a state park with emphasis on maintaining the natural environment there are no buildings immediately behind the beach. Thus there are a whole lot more birds  than on other more public beaches.

We took off down the beach for a long stroll and enjoyed just simply listening to the surf, doing a little shell hunting and watching the antics of the birds nearby. This is really a great place to visit when we tire of the more public beaches and want a little more natural feel (well as natural as you will get in this part of SW Florida). I wish it didn’t cost so much to get in as we likely won’t visit more than one or two times more this season especially since we already bought the beach parking pass for Collier County. That said, there are plenty of beaches around and I am sure we will enjoy them nearly as much because  we feel it is really hard to have a bad time at the beach…