Saint George Island State Park, Saint George, Florida

 We had such a great birding trip last April with the Audubon Society that we wanted to go back to see the birds. We spent the night in Wewahitchka with Pam and Bob on Wednesday night and then they followed us over to Saint George Island to the youth campground where we went birdwatching followed by a picnic lunch in the park. We then drove down to the farthest beach pavilion to pick up a few shell on the windy beach before we could check into our campsite. We had a great wooded spot and Pam and Bob set up their tent next to our camper. We enjoyed watching the birds while relaxing at our site.

After cooking our corned beef hash and eggs, we took to the nature trail over to the beach, It was too windy to enjoy but we spotted lots of birds along the way. We ended up having lunch at Cafe Con Leche in Apalachicola before continuing home.

Fort Pickens National Seashore Park Campground, Pensacola Beach, Florida

 We decided to head back to Fort Pickens to celebrate Glenn's birthday and take advantage of the dredging dumping more shells on the beach.  We left the house early on Easter Sunday and the rain started as we pulled into CJ's Front Porch for breakfast right as you turn to take the bridge across to Navarre Beach. We enjoyed the great omelets and open air ambience. We drove to the Pensacola Beach East Park and walked across the boardwalk to the beach in our rain jackets. We collected a lot of shells including olive shells before the rain really started. We got drenched by the time we got back to Cutie and changed clothes before heading to the campground. We got stuck behind a rig in Loop A who was too tall to get into the site so we switched sites when them and ended up with a beautiful quiet shady spot. We set up and the rain stopped so we hiked to the fort and down the beach and looped back to the campsite as the rain started again. It was a cozy night in Cutie.

Our shady campsite with low limbs

Osprey munching on a fish he caught

The beach was loaded with Portuguese Man of War

We drove to historic district and fishing pier

Looking for sea beans

On Monday on Glenn's birthday it was breezy so we headed back to the beach but it was windy and a black cloud loomed overhead so we headed back to CJ's Back Porch for the real corned beef hash and a Monte Cristo French Toast.  We really enjoyed the quick trip in spite of the weather.

Here's all the shell displayed for birthday dinner

Fort Pickens National Seashore Park, Pensacola Beach, Florida

 We had not camped at Fort Pickens which is just an hour and a half away so we headed to Navarre and took the beach route stopping at Peg Leg Pete's for a late lunch. We sat at the bar overlooking the water and enjoyed a fried catfish dinner. We headed straight to our campsite and then found the nature trail that took us to a battery and then on to the fort. We did a beach walk back stopping at another battery before finding our way back to Loop A campground, We enjoyed a quiet dinner listening to the birds at our campsite.

Our campsite at length and height restrictions

View out of the battery

On Saturday morning, we took a shower, packed up and stopped at the dump station and then took our coffee and muffins to the Pensacola Beach East parking lot. We met up with the local Audubon guide for a hike across to Sabine Point, We came across a dead manatee pulled up on the beach and horseshoe crab shells, We found out they are dredging and the beach is great shelling at this point in time but we had to hurry home. We enjoyed walking across the mud flats at low tide and saw tons of shore birds and it was great to have our guide show us all the species on the spotting scope. We headed back in a hurry as the crowd did the bird count. We had perfect weather and an enjoyable beach camping event,

View from Sabine Point

Beautiful great blue as all the other were little brown birds at a distance

Florida Caverns State Park, Marianna, Florida

 We are on a mission to stay at new to us Florida State Parks so we took advantage of the Bay County Audubon Society and horticultural bird and plant hike on Wednesday at the Florida Caverns, We drove the two hours to reach the visitor center at 1 pm on Tuesday for our 1:30 pm Caverns Tour. It was a beautiful sunny day and our tour guide Steel did an excellent job of showing us the caverns as well as pointing out two bats. After the hour tour we took the short Magnolia trail back to the Caverns Cafe for ice cream. We then ended up doing the Tunnel Trail and Ridge trail from the parking lot before heading to our campsite.

Our campsite at Florida Caverns

On Wednesday morning we took our coffee and muffins to the boat and kayak launch where the river disappears underground. We met up with the Audubon group at the visitor center and ended up repeating the same trails at a slow pace listening to the birds and admiring all the plants in bloom. After the hike we drove to the Blue Hole Picnic Pavilion for a picnic lunch before heading back to the campsite and packing up to head home.

Boat and kayak launch

Mist on the spider webs

At the visitor center built by Civilian Conservation Corp

More plants seen than birds

Bats in tunnel cave

Tunnel cave exit

Butterflies too