Another big move - to St. Joseph

Thursday April 18, 2013
Site 41 St. Joseph Peninsula State Park
Port Saint Joe, Florida

 

 

This morning’s sunrise was a portent of the rain to come. 

But every sunrise is beautiful and I am grateful to be able to see them and to see them over the Gulf of Mexico.  How lucky I am!

 

 

  

 

 

My heron friend doesn’t come to wish me farewell but on my walk back to Winnona I do see what I believe are the nesting heron pair fishing at the pond. 

 

Although why would they both be off the nest?   Wish I could tell them apart. Perhaps one of these two is my buddy and the other is one of the nesting pair.  

They aren’t the same heron since I saw them both at the same time on the opposite ends of the pond.

So which one of these is my sunrise companion?   Is it A?  Or is it B?  Or none of the below?  

 

 

 

 

The pond is the happenin’ place this morning with the regular 4 ducks, 2 Great Blues and this Green backed heron.   This is the best I can do for a picture he was so well hidden.

 

Since we have such big move to make today – all of 50 miles – we take our time leaving.  We decide to drive separately so I can make a few stops along the way. 

I don’t take any pictures of these stops since I left the camera in Winnona.  Oh well…………

I stop at the vegetable stand just before the bridge to Apalachicola and get 2 pints of those delicious Plant City strawberries.  The season is nearing its end I would think and we love them on cereals and pancakes.   

As I pass through Apalachicola on route 98, I can see the Chocolate Company just one block down from the flashing red light.  The owner advised me yesterday to stop back in the afternoon today for the fresh coconut gelato that would be made.  So Ruby turns herself right instead of left and I take his advice.  It is really fresh.  Not firmly frozen yet but still delicious.  

Then it’s back to the red flashing light, the town’s only light, and right turn rather than going straight ahead toward Port St. Joe.  This time I’m on the trail of the St. Vincent Island National Wildlife Refuge information center.   At THE end of the road down by more local fishery docks and fish houses, the center and its small museum sit on the second floor of the Harbor Master building by the marsh.

St Vincent Island is a 12,300 acre undeveloped barrier island that is the major part of the refuge which also includes 86 acres of bay front property and the 45 acre Pig Island located in St. Joe Bay.  St. Vincent Island is 9 miles long and 4 miles wide at the east end. There are no facilities on the island and it is only accessible by boat.  You can kayak the 1/4 mile distance from Indian Pass but I am told the waters can be very very rough so you need to be careful and know the tides and the weather well.

The island has a long history of use by Native Americans and by the South in the Civil war.  In 1908 Dr. Pierce bought it for $60,000 and imported old world game in order to use the island as a private hunting preserve.  The Sambar deer, an elk from India, acclimated to the island and remains there today sharing the habitat with white tailed deer.  The Sambar can be 6’ tall and weigh from 600-700 lbs while the deer weigh 100-130.  I’d sure like to see the Sambar. 

The refuge office had a pair of deer and Sambar antler on display and the Sambar are about 4 times the size of the white tail.  

In 1948 the Loomis brothers bought the island for $140,000 to use for a commercial hunting preserve  and  added imported zebras, elands, black bucks, ring-necked pheasants, Asian jungle fowl, bobwhite quail and semi-wild turkey.

In 1968 the Nature Conservancy saved the island from development by purchasing it for $2.2M.  Those Loomis boys sure turned a profit in those 20 years of island owning.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service then purchased St. Vincent Island with Duck Stamp funds.  All exotic animals except the Sambar and feral hogs were removed at that time.   Why in the world didn’t they get rid of those hogs I wonder?

This is definitely a place we want to go in the kayaks but it will require some serious weather research. 

 

All errands accomplished, I’m on my way to St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.

 

 

I make my way down San Blas road to the Park entrance station.  Boy there are a lot of what look like brand new waterfront homes on this road.  I’m amazed that after the hurricane people are STILL building on the water front.  Do they get federal disaster assistance from my taxes if a hurricane comes?

I drive up  and find that David has arrived about 20 minutes prior.  I’ve booked one of the few pull through sites #41 in Gulf Breeze the smaller of the park’s two campgrounds.

 

 

The site is located across from the bath house which would be greatly convenient if I had been able to book 2 weeks here but isn’t really necessary for the 5 days we’ll be staying.   It is also just a few yards from the boardwalk over the sand dunes to the beach.  Now that IS convenient.

 

I can hardly wait to get a look at this beach.

 

We have time to get set up, look over the information given us at the ranger station and take a first walk down the pristine beach. 

The flag at the end of the boardwalk entry tells the truth about the wind and waves.  It is WINDY.  Few people are here and no one is in the water.  

The sand dunes are spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

I have to at least get my feet in that water.  I find it cool at first but instantly it becomes the perfect temperature.  Swimming would be a definite possibility if it hadn’t cooled off now that it is late afternoon.

 

 

At first we walk up the beach toward the ranger station and find some kids have fun getting buried.  They definitely look like they were in the water earlier in the day.  The boy up to his neck certainly seems happy about it all.

 

 

 

 

 

We decide to turn around and head instead toward the unpopulated end of the island. 

It becomes a wilderness area and at that point the end of the island is 7 miles away so we certainly don’t intend to walk that far.  But this beach is just magnificent and the sand dunes among the most beautiful I’ve seen.

We walk about a mile and a half before turning around to walk back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we find there is a sunset watchers group.

 

I guess this surprises me because there was never anyone out watching the sunrise at St. George.  But they are here, many with chairs and cocktails.

There is some big rain predicted for tomorrow and the clouds seem to be gathering at the horizon.   The sun doesn’t so much as set as it disappears into those clouds.   Absolutely beautiful!

 

 

 

Looks like it’s going to be a great 5 days here.  Wish I could have booked more days but these panhandle parks are very popular and hard to book for longer stays.  At least I have trouble.  All suggestions welcome.   Like St. George, this will be a difficult place to leave.