Him Tarzan

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day, and Sunday's sunrise was glorious, promising a day meant for exploring the neighbourhood by dinghy.  First stop was a shoreline foray to see where else we might anchor that would offer more protection from the winds, should we want it.

Then it was off to Cabbage Key for lunch - about two miles away.  There is no bridge to Cabbage Key, so all visitors come by boat...big boats, little boats, fast boats and slow boats.

There is an inn which rents quaint little cottages, a restaurant, and shop.  The interior of the restaurant is covered - walls, ceilings, support pillars - all covered in one dollar bills, signed by the 'donors'.  There is an estimated $10,000 stuck to the walls, and as they fall off from time to time, the money is donated to charity, to the tune of about $2,000/year.  We, of course, left our own donation.

We wound our way back towards our anchorage, looking for a mangrove tunnel we had heard led to the other side of the island.  Unfortunately, we only found one dead end.

Next stop - Cayo Costa State Park, right next to our anchorage.  It's about a mile across the island to the gulf coast, and you can walk or ride their trolley.

We started walking, but jumped on the trolley when it came by, about half way across, but not before Michael had a chance to try out his Tarzan impression by swinging on the vine.

We were afraid to ask about this road sign....figured it was for all those folks who set off walking, but couldn't make it.  Maybe that's why they started offering trolley rides!!

The island is fairly large, and the beach stretches the whole outside length.  There has been a recent red tide, (toxic algae bloom) which has killed many fish, and the high westerly winds of a few days ago created waves high enough to leave them scattered above the tide line on the beach.  It was a bit stinky, but not bad enough to keep Michael from taking a swim in the gulf.

Back in the dinghy, we continued around the outside of the island from our anchorage, to this deserted little stretch of beach.  Remnants of hurricane Charley,which hit this area hard in 2004, can still be seen.  Notice how the tops of the palm trees have been stripped, leaving just huge sticks pointing skyward.

The mangroves were also stripped of their leaves.

We finished the day with Bloody Caesars on the aft deck while the sun went down.  Life is grand.