Back Roads and Back Bays

Freeways will get you from point A to point B faster. A guy can get from home to work more quickly by taking the hov lane. I mean who has time these days to meander along some back road. We've places to go.

On the other hand there is a lot to be said for the benefits of slowing down and taking your time as you make your way through life.

They're out there...somewhere. Those little things. Those little pleasures that go unoticed when your'e traveling in the passing lane. But they tend to appear out of nowhere when you slow down and observe your surroundings.

   Your pleasurable moments may be lingering up the holler or back on the ridge or down by the creek.

Or on a shallow water flat just off shore some deserted island in the Gulf.

Florida is home to over 2600 miles of saltwater shoreline including our Cedar Keys National Wildlife Islands.

Grab a snorkle and a mask let's take a look.

On a hot August day when the tide is out and the water is, o let's call it hot tub temp. It's amazing the number of marine dwellers you can encounter ranging in size from a grain of sand to the three foot shark that just swam by (shiver) yep even in the hot tub.

Take the crabs that make their homes in the shells of other marine mollusks. Nine of ten seashells you see is home not to the sea snail that started off his life there. Nope. But to the Hermit Crab. Hermits live in the abandoned shells of Lightening Shells, Crown Conchs, Moon Snails, Pear Whelks,

Island stuff

Thousands of years ago these low sandy islands now called the Cedar Keys were inhabited by races of people called shell  cultures. From about 2500 bc to 1000 ad they lived, hunted, fished and flourished here and along the entire gulf coast.
They left behind some reminders of their lives here on the islands. They built mounds constructed of thousands of oyster shells, clam shells, turtle shells, deer bones, conch, the remains of countless meals. Many of these shell mounds still exist to this day here.
They also created pottery. Yesterday we paddled to a remote island and discovered that a recent storm had unearthed what I think is a cooking area that could be more than 2000 years old. Many many broken shards of pottery all in one place. A long time ago unknown human hands formed these now broken vessels and marked them with sometimes intricate designs.