Honeymoon Island State Park, 2/5/12

Last week, Darling Wife and I were able to have a long weekend getaway to Clearwater, FL. She wanted to spend Sunday morning at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, so I looked around for a local day-hike I could do. I found a good candidate just a few miles away, at Honeymoon Island State Park. Darling Wife said it sounded like I was going on a romantic getaway by myself, but I assured her that it was a state park and a nature preserve, with hiking trails.

The park is located in Dunedin, which is the next town north of Clearwater, and I easily found the trailhead. I had carelessly gotten a bit of sunburn the day before by underestimating the strength of the Florida sun - so I made sure I was fully sunscreened before getting outside. The day was hot and sunny with temps between 75 and 80, so I was wearing hiking shorts and a short-sleeve polypro wicking shirt.

At the trailhead parking lot, I saw groups of birders, recognizable by their fancy optics. One group was looking up at big pine tree bordering the parking lot, and I joined them in watching a big osprey perched on a high branch and feeding on a fish.

The next thing I saw in the parking lot was a big sign warning of venomous snakes - that there are 10 species of snakes on the island, and three of them are poisonous (two kinds of rattlesnake, and coral snakes.) This had me a little nervous - at home, I carry a hiking pole for exactly that reason - as something I could use to protect myself from a snake if I happen to find one at my feet. I had shorts on and no poles, so I planned to be extra careful about looking where I stepped.

I started on the Osprey Trail, and my snake fears were eased right away. The trail was sandy, clear, and reasonably wide - wide enough that I was pretty sure a snake would be visible - especially the brightly-banded coral snake.

I've never been on a trail as appropriately-named as this one. There were ospreys everywhere - their calls were always in my ears, their nests were at frequent intervals high in the bare trees, and they were often in sight, either soaring in the sky or perches in the trees.

The trail went north through scrubby forest, until it the forward path was blocked. There was a sign saying that a bald eagle nest was ahead, and they're keeping people away from it. So I made a left turn onto the Pelican Trail. This trail went all the way to the north tip of the island.

I then turned around and followed the Pelican Trail. This trail was soft white sand, and followed the water's edge for a while. After a while, I cut back inland and followed the trail back to the parking lot.

The hike wasn't strenuous, but it was a fun hike with scenery that was not only beautiful but very different from what I'm used to. And I'm familiar with ospreys from the Chesapeake, but I have never seen such a concentration of them.

Total miles: 2.67
Elapsed time: 1:22