How I Became a Vagabond

[INTJohn]

View at Pennekamp St Park.


View at Curry Hammock St Park


View at Long Key St. Park


View from a roadside co park. 

Pix 2 B cont.
INTJonny Luzsha

 

[INTJohn]

Thes pix are while at Bahia Honda St. Park and is my favorite Beach hang in the Keys. As you can see its absolutely gorgeous. I would arrive within minutes of the park opening so I could get my favorite parking spot and spend all day there. I did a lot of shell hunting while here and will post pix of some shells I found.

I would hike about a mile or 2 from the main beach & parking area which is the best place to look for shells cause most people just won't walk that far. My gain for some seashell booty.

While I waded in the knee deep water looking for shells I would often have several reef sharks about 4 feet long swimming around with me as I think I would kick up small fish/minnows & inadvertantly be feeding the sharks. I loved it and got to where I would wonder when a shark would show up whenever I waded into the water to look for shells. One day while sitting on top of my truck listenning to tunes and enjoying my day I saw a "squadron" of Reef Manta Rays swim by. They were prolly about 4 to 6 feet across and swam by one after another maybe a hundred feet apart. Was awesome!

2 B Cont.......
INTJonny b back soon

 

[PODebbie]

I think I saw you at Honeymoon Island State Park in Florida. I thought your truck looked great with the orange construction cone on top. I took a pic and showed my husband when I got back home to Michigan. I have since deleted the photo. Don't know if you remember me, I had a large white high top van and one day had the solar portable panels in front of the van. I would park out from the ocean 3-5 miles to sleep in the van and spend the day at the state park. I am also a big fan of Lake Michigan. Will be going to Ludington the last week of July. Love the Lake Michigan Recreation area north of Ludington in the Manistee National Forest.

 

[Qxxx]

Ya know john, there is something "just ain't right" about someone who is footloose and spending all day every day enjoying life at the beach. It's almost like a crime to normal people, what's planted in place. This forum was invented for guys and gals like you, lol. One can only dream.

 

[INTJohn]

SOooo, after 9 days & nights I left the Keys and went back north to Vero & Ft Pierce where I spent several more days over the turkey day holiday weekend.


My turkey day dinner in the p lot at Avalon St Prk on the Atlantic Ocean. I know, no pumpkin pie or cranberry stuff but I made up for it with gin & ginger ale.


How bout those 4 beautiful Deer Cowries I found strollin along the Atlantic Ocean? Yeahhhh!

After Nov. left & Dec arrived I headed back south and spent some time exploring The Everglades & Big Cypress National parks. Holy ****! I saw enough big ass Aligators to make me feel soooo prehistorically reptilian & glad I had 4 wheel dr. I liked Big Cypress more than The Glades but enjoyed both in their own unique swampish way........ Spent some time at Collier-Seminole St Prk which is SE of Naples where was fortunate to see some manatees being , i guess, very....... manateeish?

This lil trek from East to West & then back east again brought me on my 2nd trek to The Keys.
A bunch of pix on Cypress Swamp, the Glades & my 2nd trek to the Keys in the next post or 2.
2 B cont.
Jonny Koon Luszha baybee, alway have alway will

 

[INTJohn]

This big ass gator is prolly the largest one I'll ever see in my life. It was a for sure 12 feet long & maybe a lil more as when I first stopped to look I thought omg that thing is as long as my truck. Rolling down a gravel/mud 3 track I came upon this thing havin a morning sun on the side of the trail and took this pik from the drivers chair - did not get out of the truck & did not disturb.


This is view from Kirby Storter park in Big Cypress where I spent much of an afternoon.


This is my view down the main water channel at Collier-Seminole St Prk where I spent much of another day before heading back East thru The Swamp & then south back into The Keys, part 2.
2 B cont.
INTJohnny

 

[INTJohn]

My 2nd trek into the Keys, I spent almost the entire time at Bahia-Honda St. Park where I did some serious shell hunting - first thing in the morning after getting my premo parkin spot I'ld grab my bags and coffee and hike the 2+ miles toward the closed campground ( this campground & access road has been closed since hurricane Irma destroyed everything); but you can hike or kayak to it as long as you stay on the narrow beach or in the water.


One morning while hikin along the beach I stumble into these 2 horseshoe crabs getting it on. Literally Sex On The Beach. Female horseshoes are a lot larger than the males & sometimes there will even be 2 or 3 males hookt to one hot mama. She spotted me and started moving out into deeper water but not b4 I got a shot of some horsin' around.........


This shell is called a Tun and you hardly ever find one on shore intact like this. I've found pieces before but generally if you want one intact you'll need to snorkel or dive for them. This is the only one I've ever found on shore in one piece and I walked right by it the first time i saw it. It was lodged in some stump roots from hurricane irma and at first I thought it was a ball or maybe a crab trap bouy and just went on by.
When I was heading back to the truck several hours later I saw it again and was like "is that a shell?"
Walked up to it and pulled it out of the roots and couldn't believe; what a find!


Here is a pik of some of my seashell booty.........


This is called a tulip shell. It was some green gunk growing on it that cleans off and i found it the same day I found the tun, above.

After this I left the Keys and headed back to SW Fla where I began my trek up the Florida Gulf Coast.
Stay tuned
Jonny boi Luzsha

 

[INTJohn]

I spent the 2nd week of December mostly bouncing between Delnor-Wiggins Beach Park & Lovers Key Beach Park hiking around the parks & beachs and of course looking for sea shells.  Most of the shells I found I would give away or leave them on a bench or table for who ever wanted them but I would keep the realy preemo ones.


When I was at Delnor-Wiggins, Rory would show up at the truck every day at lunch time; would generally get me for a bread slice & peanut butter - gotta befriend the indigs.


And this guy as well having brunch.


This was a days shell booty at Lovers Key and this is typical for a shelling day and I would give much more away.


This is the shell stump also at Lovers Key.When ever I pass I, along with others would add some shell to the stump and if large waves wash them off - you start over.


This is the resident osprey on its nest next to the main parking lot at Lovers Key Beach

Around December13th I headed further North where I spent a couple days at Honeymoon Island Beach Park and then around the 15th, I think, I headed back to my daughter's in North Carolina to visit before xmas and dump all of the shells I had collected on her. My daughter is a major league shell nut so she got them and I needed to free up the space in the truck as I literally had no place to put any more. Haha.
After spending a few days with her, I left NC and headed back to Lover's Key & Honeymoon Beach Parks.

2 B cont
Jonny Koon Luzsha baybee alway have alway will

 

[INTJohn]

I have a few more pix on critters to add since I've sorta been doing that.







The 2 pix of the iguanas are from the Keys. Iguanas are kind of looked at as nuisance critters by the locals I guess cause they get into everything, sorta like red squirrels here in the woods of Michgian. But these 2 guys were nowhere near any residential area and out & about eating a grass breakfast. they both are about 3 feet long.

The other pik is a flock of birds I call "The Pinkies" - no they are not flamingos they are called Roseate Spoonbill and if interested you can google all about them. I think their bill is more spatula shaped than spoon but hey whats ina name?

Now the best pix are yet to come and, yes shells, while at Lovers Key & Honeymoon Island Beach Parks.
INTJohnny lookin at ya.........

 

[INTJohn]

B4 I get to a few more seashell find pix, etc I'm going to write a lil bit about Lovers Key Beach Park vs Sanibel Island which is about 10 miles or so away to the NW as the crow, well maybe instead I should say the gulls fly. On a clear day you can see Sanibel Island from the beach on Lovers Key Park.

Sanibel Island has a reputation of being one of the absolute BEST shelling places in The World and while I won't dispute that Lovers Key is not THAT far behind it - I mean hell how different can it be , they're not that far apart. But for geologic reasons & meteorological activity that I won't go into, yes, sanibel gets the edge......

Now for the human logistics: If you own property on Sanibel or if you're paying the "10,000$$" a week to Vacation one of the beach front joints there, then you would be kra kra not to shell Sanibel's beach BUT if you want to go there for a "Day Trip" here's reality:
First it costs you 6$ to cross the toll bridge just to get there; then the beach parking lots charge 5$/ hour to park. Yes! 5BUX AN HOUYR Folks!

SOooo, if you're there for 8 hours your kreepin up toward 50$ and you haven't bought food, drinks, etc blah, blah blah. Whats 50$ for a vacation day trip,tho, right? Well, Now here's the real turn off. On said "Day Trip" everyone leaves the island around the same time and its bumper to bumper traffic and about 3 hours to get off the island and back to where ever and this doesn't include the traffic at Ft Meyers Beach & Ft Meyers when you finally do get off Sanibel........ AHnd, I'm not talking about xmas holiday or spring Break, folks.

SOooo, for 6$/day(or flip the St Park Card like i do) one can enjoy Lovers Key and leave at sunset......
I'm not tellin you how to live your life I'm just sayin thats the Lovers Key vs Sanibel Island "dichotomy".
You go where you go & I go where I go.
Jonny Koon Luzsha

 

[INTJohn]

These 2 gorgeous Lace Murex's I found both of them on Xmas Day at Lover's Park. They are both the best looking Lace Murex's I've ever found and couldn't believe it. One I found on the North end of the beach and the other I found some 2 miles south near the south channel. What finds! Was a Very MureXmas Day.


This sign near the 2nd bridge walkway to the beach shows the many types of shells you might find. I found all of them and some species that aren't on there, too.


This pik is of one morning's shell booty.



These 2 bottom pix are the results of my sorting out the mess and taking 'inventory'.

Confessions of a shell whore! I can't say NO! And I can't stop workin' the Beach & picking them up. And all those shells have shell whore names, too like Bubbles, Tulips, Slippers, Olive, Nutmeg, Pear, Fig & Cockles! Yep, I'm a shell whore cause I can't say no to them & I can't stop picking them up........ 

 

[INTJohn]

Couple more posts re Lover's Key St. Park and then its on to Honeymoon Island.......
These four pictures are of a Horse Conch that I found that is alive. The horse conch is the Florida State shell and can reach lengths up to 2 feet long. This guy(gal?) is about a foot.


Aren't they just the most beautiful orange color?


As I took it out of the water it began to close up. Looks like an moving, oscillating slab of muskmelon, doesn't it? Haha.

And this is what they look like after they shut you out!


This is a pic of it when I found it in about 18" of water. It was a super low tide in an area at high tide is prolly about 6 to 8 feet deep and it being over the xmas holidays and that there were just a gahzillion pontoon boat rentals that would be beaching in this area; I tossed it into deeper water so it wouldn't get struck by a metal pontoon sponson.

 

[INTJohn]

Not all shells get real big like a Horse Conch or a Lightenning Welk can. Some when full size are quite tiny. Here's 3 that I found:


This is a Coffee Bean Melampus and this is all the larger they get. kool huh?


This is, I think, a White Melampus, tho I'm not sure. It could also be another species that slips my mind. I picked it up because I thought it was a small Olive but when I got back to my trcuk I saw it wasn't one of those. Hence a search but still not sure.


This is called a Keyhole Limpet. see the lil slot on top. Kinda looks like for a key - hence the name. It grows naturally with this tiny slot in its top.

 

[Rhianntp]

You sir, are the personification of inspiration itself. Thanks for your story and notes from the road of life <3

 

[vanbrat]

I love to pick up shells too. lots of them here.... just remember to check for hermit crabs before closing them in your car on a hot summer day. di that once, only once.....
What are you going to do with them?

 

[INTJohn]

After I left Lover's Key Park & Area Drove North to Honeymoon Island State Park to hang for awhile. Going by my notes & pic dates I arrived around 9 Jan & left around the 23rd. I didn't realize I was there that long but I guess I must have been enjoyin the scene.

There's a lot of like about Honeymoon. Its a really big park with a lot of beach and plenty of parking. Huge p lots and i think theres 3 of them so I had no problems parking where no1 would annoy me. Plenty of spots to get water & to fill my shower. The shelling is not as good as Lovers Key but thats not a requirement for me - I just like warm Beach & no1 near me. Its was mid Jan so all of the xmas New Year's Day vacation crowd was gone, too. There's a HUGE Dog Beach area, too at the South end at Hurricane Pass if dogs are your thing so I never had to be by anyone with their mutt(s).

Now, another preemo thing about this area, is when the park closes at sundown (which in Jan isn't all that late) all you gotta do is drive a mile outside the park and there is the Dunedin Causeway which is a long narrow strip that one can park on either side of next to the water and stay there till 11 pm I think & thats what I would do. Generally I would leave the park an hour or so before sunset so I could get a good spot at the causeway. Sometimes , especially on the weekend eves it gets busy as vry1 wants to watch the sunset and the younger peeps can get a lil wild.........

Sometime around 9 or 10 pm I drive to 1 of several of my nearby spots and bunk up for the night.
A few pics to come.
INTJohn

 

[INTJohn]

View at Honeymoon. Its better from on top of the truck which is where I'm often at but turtle......




These two piks are sunset when parked at the Causeway about 2ish miles from State Park.


And this is another view from Honeymoon

 

[INTJohn]

While at Honeymoon I finally was able to find a really great Horse Conch shell. I had found several nice small ones in the 1 to 4" range but I really wanted to find one that was at least 6 to 8" and of course vry1 wants to find a really monster one but generally you gotta dive for those or wait for a really big storm to hit.

I did find several decent sized ones at Lover's Key but they were all alive so I put them back. Although it is legal to keep live horse conchs IF you have a salt water fishing license - I think you're allowed 2 per day and while Florida offers a 7 day non-resident salt water fishing license for 30$, I think, I never bought 1 cause I didn't feel the need to kill a marine gastropod just to get a shell. Is sorta like killing a deer just to get the antlers; besides you can buy one at a shell store for 20 or 25 bux but I wanted my own find........




Its a really nice one about 11 or 12" long and I found it a bout a mile north of the north p lot and out on the edge of the exposed rocks at low tide where no1 hardly ever goes. It was lodged in between the rocks at the edge in about 15" of water and at first I just thought it was another part of the rock bottom. But then it came into focus and realized I had hit a jackpot. Took me a lil bit to unwedge it but whata find. The bottom pik is where I'm picking the barnacles off of it....... it needs a cleaning up but then will look beautiful.

 

[INTJohn]

After leaving Honeymoon Island I continued my trek North but made a somewhat unplanned stop at acquaintances West of Dunnellon for several days. Their place is in a very scenic & secluded wooded, forested area that was a nice change of pace frum all the Beach Bummin Life I've been livin.



These are pix of their back yard. The deer visit them daily and sometimes a lot of them show up. They'll hang around sometimes even when we're sittin by the kampfire...... I left their hospitality the morning of 29 Jan continuing North toward Fla's Big Bend and whats called "Florida's Forgotten Coast".
INTJonny Koon Luzsha

 

[INTJohn]

Next stop was hangin out for a couple days at Bald Point State Park , more beach but also now more scenic forested places. This park has a lot of woodsy hiking trails too. Then I spent 2 days & nights staying in Tate's Hell State Forest. There's a reason this place was named Tate's Hell; haha. The mosquitos alone are enuff for the name and I was here when it was fairly kool.
 
These 2 pix are where I parked (kampt?) in Tate's Hell and you get a good view of the mosquito/bug screens I had made specifically for when I ended up at a place with this many blood sucking bugs......