Last September, Steven and I were immensely lucky that friends in Denver had generously offered us their Florida vacation home in Hudson near Tampa, to stay for a few days while we took a break from Grayton Beach State Park on Florida's Panhandle.
Suellen: You also would have loved Kayle and Steve's seashell driveway! I kept wanting to pick up some of the shells as it seemed a 'waste' to just have them in their driveway! Don't worry, Kayle, I promise I didn't pinch any.
Their home had an amazing location with a bay out front and a canal out back, so we were treated to stunning views no matter where we looked.
We read a sign that said mullet fishing has been part of this region as far back as the Calusa Indian settlements who fished using nets made from the palm fibers. Stilt houses were built as fish camps to store the catch and empty the boats to ensure a quick turnaround to fishing. During WW II, Florida provided over 55 million pounds of mullet packed in salt to preserve the meat for overseas troops. In 1994, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment that banned the use of certain gill nets that had been commonly used in mullet fishing.
This 27'-long, flat-bottomed boat was a restored Mullet Skiff that plied the shallow, coastal waters from Levy to Pasco counties in the Gulf of Mexico from the 1960s to the 1980s to net schools of mullet. Designed with the motor in the front or 'the well', it provided a large deck area in the rear and was able to easily skim water that was just six to eight inches deep. Mullet skiffs were also called 'bird dogs' because the boat captain would spot vast schools of mullet, then rapidly circle them while an assistant fed out hundreds of yards of net prior to hauling in the catch.
As you can see from the puddles in the photos above, our first day in the Tampa area was more than a tad wet! We decided to chance a hike, however, in Werner Boyce Salt Springs Park in nearby Port Richie. Much of the salt that the mullet was packed in to preserve the fish came from this state park. Although the park protected four miles of pristine coastline along the Gulf of Mexico in western Pasco County, there were no beaches or swimming area due to the mangroves lining the shoreline.
Though the park's Salt Spring looked small, it was a surprising 351' deep. We didn't see any gopher tortoises and dolphins but they were inhabitants of the park and its waters.
Even though it ended up raining cats and dogs, we still enjoyed our brief time at the park.
It was fun and interesting to take a walk and look at the very different homes back by Kayle and Steve's in Hudson. It appeared the newer ones were on stilts in case of flooding caused by the state's many hurricanes.
Somebody's sense of humor before last fall's election!
This just had to be one of the most unusual mailboxes we'd ever seen!
And another one:
Thanks to Kayle and Steve's kindness, we enjoyed this lovely Florida sunset directly across from their vacation retreat that we could pretend was ours for a few more days!
Their home backed up to this canal which had to be a magnet for boat lovers.
Next post: An exciting day trip to Tampa, Florida's third-largest city.
Posted on April 1st, 2021, aka April Fool's Day from our home in Denver's suburbs. Fortunately, Mother Nature didn't play a cruel joke on us and dump even more snow on us as March this year was the second snowiest on record. Instead, it was like an early harbinger of spring with temperatures in the mid-70s and forecast to be soaring to the low 80's by Easter Monday! I hope you and your loved ones are safe and warm wherever you are.
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