Having grown up in Maine, where the water is mostly cold and deep, it's a real trip to move to Florida and discover that most of what you see in this water playground this is only a few feet deep (except in the channel).
It turns out that these shallow waters are one of my favorite parts of the gulf coast … mostly because it’s so easy to explore and enjoy from a kayak without the wakes from the bigger boats.
I prefer the off hours when it's super quiet in this place full of dolphins, manatees, herons, egrets, osprey, fish, cormorants, owls and more. That's when we always make our move...
I prefer the off hours when it's super quiet in this place full of dolphins, manatees, herons, egrets, osprey, fish, cormorants, owls and more. That's when we always make our move...
There are tunnels through these little mangrove islands to explore, where we can be a quiet witness to the habitats of all these other creatures that live here too...
Whenever we head out in a kayak, the cormorants come to visit us, fishing around our paddles...
Sometimes we see dolphins or manatees...
And sometimes I find a cool, abandoned shell...
I created a large painting of this area with the help of a drone photo by Kyle Henrick to capture this big, beautiful preserve with paint. While the channel is packed with traffic on weekends, I wanted to show the preserve as we see it in the off hours ~ peaceful, quiet and clean.
View of Skyway Bridge from the Sandbar at Bunces Pass, 60x48, Oil on Canvas.
To see more art featuring Shell Key Nature Preserve and the Florida Gulf Coast, check out this post about flying low over the gulf coast to see the view from above.
