Osprey Trail on Honeymoon Island

Dee Dee was not interested in eating this morning, so we decided to forego our morning walk and take her out to her favorite walking spot: the causeway! There are so many smells for her to enjoy out there. Lots of dogs, humans, birds, fish, and the salty air. She enjoyed it and ate her breakfast when we returned. Of course, it made for an anxious morning for us.

Looking back on it, I tried to feed her before taking her on her morning walk, primarily because it was 5:30 a.m. and still dark outside. I like to give the neighborhood coyotes time to get home before venturing out. Anyway, I think a full belly with all that congestion curbs her appetite. I'll do better tomorrow.

We're not used to a finicky eating dog. Dexter and Dee Dee have always eaten with gusto, devouring their meal in under 20 seconds, followed by a big burp.

We made a quick trip to the Dunedin recycling center to dispose of my shipping box from my new bike. Our neighbor said it was "behind the old fire station." That made us laugh, since we hardly know where the new fire station is, but, luckily we had already scoped out the aquatic center next door, so we knew exactly where it was.

Then we picked up a few things in the grocery store.

After our errands, we decided we had just enough time to ride our bikes back to Honeymoon Island and walk the dog beach before lunch. So, we headed back.

 

The skies were overcast, but that kept the temperature down to a pleasant 88 degrees. The winds were light at 6 mph. I like the color of the water on an over cast day. There were a good number of people out, lots of dogs enjoying a very calm wave action--almost like a lake.

The dog beach is on the southern tip of the island. When we go to that beach on our bikes, we usually ride to the North end on the bike trail before turning around and heading home. 

Today, when we got to the end of the trail, John asks if I was interested in riding our bikes out to the point at the north end of the island. This is a trip I've been wanting to make since my sister, mom, John, and I attempted it last summer (or was it the summer before that?). The four of us made it about 20 yards when the mosquitoes started swarming us. We aborted that adventure and ran back to the beach and the wind that kept the mosquitoes at bay.

 

Even though the winds were light, there were no mosquitoes today. We did have to get off our bikes a couple of times and push them through the deep sand. The sign above shows in yellow the Pelican Trail, which, according to the sign is 56% deep sand. So we took the middle path which is the Osprey Trail. It runs parallel to the Pelican Trail all the way to the tip of the island as you can see in the image above. Then it loops back, creating a third parallel trail back to the parking lot and picnic area. It's less than a mile out to the tip.

It's an awesome trail, mixture of sand, grass, and shells. There were really large trees for a barrier island and lots of critters. We saw a couple of large turtles.

We made it all the way to the tip, as you can see on this sign.

 

And as you can verify on this google map picture I took on my phone. Interestingly, Google Maps calls the island "Hog Island," the name of Honeymoon Island back when it was combined with Caledesi Island before the 1921 hurricane separated the island. The "Honeymoon Island" name was from a marketing ploy back in the early 1940s according to the Dunedin Museum. Tiki huts were built on the island and newlyweds competed for the chance to stay on the island.

This is a shot from the north shore. If Honeymoon Island were a mitt, then the point we were on is like the thumb. You can see off to the horizon that the rest of the "mitt" keeps on going. That extension is what we walk on when we walk on the beach from the parking lots at North Beach.

 

We made it back for a late lunch. We had leftover chicken, mushrooms, and rice, and half a turkey sandwich, and a delicious bowl of fruit and cottage cheese.

This afternoon we sat with Dee Dee, did some school work, and cut my hair! In our haste to leave for Florida to quarantine, we forgot our hair clippers in North Carolina. I finally couldn't stand it, so I ordered a new pair from Amazon. Within minutes of John bringing them back from the mailbox, I was in the bathroom cutting my long locks off. What a relief!

3.8 miles walking, 14.6 biking