After sitting at our desks working all day Monday, Troy suggested we take an evening walk around the neighborhood.
First out, we come to the derelict boats washed against the rocks along the edge of the road.
Boats anchor here all the time and for some reason that makes some people mad. There are always a lot of complaints about the boats out there – even when they haven’t been trashed by a storm.
I have no problem with it.
The last storm we had did some severe damage to this one. We talked to the owner who says there is a pretty good sized hole in the side but he’s hoping to patch her up soon.
Next to the boats is Mattie M. Kelly Park.
On the South side of the road is a nice, well lit dock and while the water close to the dock is shallow and great for crabbing or catching bait, there is a deep water channel farther out that you can cast to and possibly bring in a Red Fish or Trout.
There is also a shady beach area for playing but I would recommend water shoes here because there are a lot of sharp rocks.
Next to the park is an old concrete factory that is being dismantled. The land juts out at the edge of Joe’s Bayou so we walked along the seawall and around the point.
As we walk around the point we come to Joe’s Bayou boat launch.
This is a nice boat ramp with a lot of parking and three good ramps.
On the north side of the road is more of the park
Which serves as an overflow parking lot for the boat ramp.
There is a huge picnic area.
And a nature trail through a protected wetland area.
The wetlands walkway is a 500 foot boardwalk that circles back behind the picnic area, through some of Florida’s pristine wetlands. Â
As we came around the corner of the boardwalk we saw a turtle.
There was no way he could get off the boardwalk without having to walk along the edges and since he had teeth marks on his shell and we could see that something had already tried to eat him.
The water under the boardwalk was too deep to put him back in right under where we found him, so we relocated him back to the edge of the swamp at the end of the boardwalk.
It is a beautiful walk through here but without bug spray it’s rough.
I always think of our first settlers and wonder if they thought this kind of environment was as incredible as I do. Considering they didn’t have DEET I’m thinking probably not.
We came out to the other end of the trail.
And it was time to head back towards home.
I am so thankful I have this little corner of paradise to play in.
