Friday, March 11, 2022

3/10 Sebastion Inlet State Park, near Vero Beach, Florida on Atlantic Coast

This is one of the best places I have seen in Florida for fishing.  They not only have two long piers on which to fish on each side of the inlet, but they also have fishing piers under the big bridge on both sides, and a smaller fishing area inside the inlet near the campground.  

The state park is on both north and south sides of the inlet to the Indian River and on both sides of Highway A!A--both Atlantic Ocean and Indian River sides.  Highway A1A goes over the inlet on a large bridge with a bike and walking trail on the edge of the road for state park people can access both sides of the inlet. 

I have stayed her before and have not-so-fond memories of the mosquito bites I got here five years ago and the racoon who decided to set up housekeeping in one of my underneath "basement" storage areas and had to be evicted early one morning!  Anyway, I am back, parked in a similar spot along the woodsy back of the campground, hoping for a racoon-less stay.

My campsite is directly across from one of the restrooms which also contains a washer and dryer.  This is very important because I came in with over two week's worth of dirty clothes! 

 
OK spot, but very uneven front to back, so I did a lot of lurching around when I walked, even after putting a couple of boards under one wheel.  

I was successful with not having any raccoons, but not so successful with mosquitos.  I did two loads of laundry on Monday, and got a couple of dozen more bites to add to the 8 I had from the previous week.  Unfortunately, I am very sensitive to these when I get a lot of them, and they get very large and red, with 1" welts around each one.  They also sting and burn, as well as itch, and even cortisone cream and Benadryl does not seem to help.  I ended up going to urgent care and getting a prescription for prednisone, which has worked in the past.  (I counted over 34 bites on just my legs on Wednesday evening, so this was not your usual handful of insect bites from a typical walk in the woods!) 

I did not get any sleep at all on Monday night, got about 4 hours of Tuesday, and finally 12 hours on Wednesday after the urgent care visit.  However, the prednisone makes me shaky, and I am still afraid to go outside.  On Thursday, however, I put on long pants and a thin, long-sleeved hoodie and went for a walk in the 85 degree temps!  Nothing like having to bundle up on a hot, humid day. 

This is the road heading from the campground to the bridge and the ocean.  Note the fisherman on the left. 

I am not sure what season it was, but last time I was here, there were a lot of people shrimping on this little dock at night with generators running bright lights. 


This is a juvenile white ibis.  He will become white later.  More photos at the end of this bird and his parent.  You can tell he or she is an ibis because of the curved-down beak. 

This is a brown anole lizard.

I think this is a male brown anole, but need to look him up. 

This is the huge bridge that goes over the Sebastian inlet. 

They have a nice visitor center and fishing museum in this old building.

I knew sanderlings were common shorebirds, but I had never noticed that they did not have a toe behind their other toes, per this sign. 

On the left is the north pier and the shorter south pier on the right.  The red sign means high surf warnings.

Farther down on the south pier.   Lots of day-use people fishing.


And looking south down the beach.  Several Spanish treasure ships were lost on this coast, and it is said that you can still sometimes find Spanish coins buried in the sand.

 
View of the bridge looking toward the Indian River from the south pier. 

This is a fishing pier hidden under the bridge.  It goes up to the point where boats enter the inland waterway. 

A couple of pelicans waiting at the end of the pier under the bridge. They are probably waiting for a fisherman to steal fish from.

You can see the similar fishing pier on the other side.

And here comes a boat from the ocean!


This view is looking back toward the campground from the fishing pier under the bridge. 

Instructions for what to do if you hook a pelican. 

 Looking west toward the inland waterway from the road to the campground.

I saw this white ibis parent and her two juvenile chicks just across from my campsite so could not resist a photo.  They were looking for bugs in the grass. 




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