More Big Pine

After the Blue Hole, we rode to the northern end of the island.  A large section of the island is a national wildlife refuge so we saw more key deer along the road as we rode along.  You can walk on the trails but not off of them.  It was well worth the upwind ride!

These multi trunk palms were all over the place but this was was particularly large with all trunks being healthy.

Another shot of the Blue Hole.

This dying mangrove looked sad but the exposed root system was home to a lot of little critters.

This female anahinga held still for a photo.

Another view of the gulf from the end of the trail.

There are these cuts all over the island.  They were once over 6 feet deep and early settlers filled them
with small, mosquito eating fish.  They proved to be a hazard to key deer as the fawns would fall in them and drown.
They were subsequently filled into a depth of 2 feet.  Now spraying is used to control the flying pests.

This land bridge was built up in the middle of this swamp.  If you look closely you can see
remnants of the rotting timbers used as a crude bridge.

The swamp.  We were glad for the strong breeze.  Even though it made bike riding
a bit sporty, it did blow the bugs away.