Pelican Bay

Our stop at Cabbage Key was only for lunch.  We pressed on to a glorious little spot called Pelican Bay.  It is just off of Cayo Costa State Park and a small island.  It has a very shallow entrance so we only can get in and out on high tide.  It is so worth the effort.  We have always been able to see manatees here as well as dolphins, fish and tons of birds.  The walk to the gulf beach was a little over a mile but we liked playing in the waves for a bit.  The rains caught us on the way back but since we were salty, it was a welcome fresh water rinse.  We also met some very nice folks on a Cape George sailboat.  This is a rare boat from the Washington State area so even rarer on the East Coast.  A very pleasant stop.

All these swirls are manatees just barely under the surface.  We cut off
the engine and sat quietly hoping to see them surface.

You can see the tail fluke and the outline of the rest of the manatee.
Sadly, none of them felt like surfacing for a proper pose.

We counted at least 10 separate manatees.  This was about as good a group
shot as I could manage. They usually only bring their snouts above water
enough to get a breath of air then submerge again.

We saw all the manatees out in the larger bay area but thought we'd
check on what is called manatee cove.  This is where we saw them last time.
It was an interesting place to row around but we didn't see any more manatees.

This park is only reachable by boat.  There is a ferry that brings
visitors over every day.  There is a tram that takes them to the beach
but it was closed for the day so we made the 3 mile round trip.

One of the docks in the park.

The trail leads from the large dingy dock to the gulf.  The bay side
is lined by trees then thins to prairie grasses then dunes.  It was once
populated with settlers trying to make a living farming and fishing.
There are camp sites and cottages for those interested.  We always wish we
had more time to explore all the ruins.  Maybe next time....

We're not sure how much this boat draws but it sure looked shallow to us.