The ladies headed out to Egmont Key on the 11:00 ferry and spent the full day there hunting for shells, swimming and snorkeling.That is Barbara and Jocelyn waving in the bow. (You know you can click on these pictures and make them bigger, right?)
Fort De Soto on Mullet Key and Fort Dade on Egmont Key straddled the entrance to Tampa Bay and provided the harbors defense until they were decommissioned in the 1920s. There is an automated lighthouse on Egmont Key that replaces the original light built in 1858. The Key was used to confine Seminole Indians during the third Seminole War, and the Union Navy occupied the island during the Civil War. The fort itself was constructed during the Spanish American War.
Today the sea has reclaimed most of the fortifications, but you can still walk the brick roads that served the cantonment area, and volunteers man the small museum near the lighthouse. A small port serves the Tampa Bay Pilots that guide the large commercial ships into the harbor, but the vast majority of the island is a bird sanctuary now. We have anchored near the Harbor Pilot dock in the past and can attest to the racket the birds make, especially during the rookery season. Seems like they go on all night.
The girls returned by four and got a short bike ride in before getting cleaned up for dinner. At sunset Jocelyn saluted the end of the day with the conch horn. She is getting pretty good at it now that she has had two nights to practice.
Me? Coach work in exotic places, what else. Still, it is all good.
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