Day 188 Caladesi Island Dunedin Friday, November 23, 2018

Friday, November 23, 2018

Day 188 Caladesi Island Dunedin Friday, November 23, 2018

Day 188 Caladesi Island Dunedin Friday, November 23, 2018

Beautiful sunny day. High in upper 70s. Light breeze

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We debated whether to stay another week at Clearwater Beach, but we wanted to check out Caladesi Island, a Florida state park. It was a very good decision. The park is located on the north end of the Clearwater Beach peninsula. So we headed about 6 miles north on the Intercoastal Waterway and then in to a neat pathway through the mangroves to the a very nice marina with floating docks.

Here looking at Cleawater

And headed north up the ICW

Looking at Caladesi Island

Entering the channel to the marina

Nice floating docks

The park has really nice facilities. There is a ferry that brings day visitors to the park.

One of the reason we came here was to hike the trails of the island. And to see all the wildlife - well maybe not all of the wildlife.

The island has a really diverse ecology from pine trees in an upland environment .....

to mangroves ...............

to shoreline ............

to upland stand of Slash Pine ..........

The history of the island is interesting. It was homesteaded in the early 1900's as noted below and in the poster board below.

Myrtle Scharrer Betz (1895–1992) was a resident of Caladesi Island in the early 1900s and authored a book about her experiences. She was the daughter of 1880s homesteader Henry Scharrer who lived with her on the island. At the age of 87, Betz wrote the book,Yesteryear I Lived in Paradise telling on her life of the barrier island. She is listed as a Great Floridian.