~Sebastian Inlet State Park (part 1)~

We just spent a few days at beautiful Sebastian Inlet State Park.   We did not have a reservation but were told to get to the park by 10a and hope to get one of the "walk-in" sites.  We arrived and were told they were full, so we took a drive around and saw these dolphins swimming right by the shore - so lovely!

We also saw wonderful birds, like this snowy egret, herons, pelicans, etc....   We also were able to see a sea turtle too.   So cool!

As we were driving out the ranger ran out and told us that they had just had a cancellation and that we could stay for one night - yay!!! We were given an ocean view site - amazing!!

After lunch we drove across the bridge to the other side of the lagoon and spent the afternoon there.  On one side it is the Atlantic ocean which flows into a lagoon. The lagoon is calm and filled with fishing boats.

What do you think?  Poop rock???

Pee rock??

They had made an inlet which had shallow water and was perfect for snorkeling. It was incredible and there were many tropical fish, schools of fish and beautiful sponges etc....

Look hard!   I was standing on a rock above these fish.  Everyone was doing great until Scott said " I think that is a school of baby sharks!!!"   Everyone screamed and  well....that was the end of it !!   I must say tho' - they did look a bit like sharks!!!

The colours were incredible.

The kids swam, went on the boogie board, went looking for shells etc....

The boys and Scott went beach combing and found this!!!!  It was covered with slime, green and orange gunk and smelled nasty!!!  After a closer look I discovered it was a whole fishing rod, plus a reel!!!   The boys also found a bunch of tackle too.   After we had finished swimming we went back to the campsite where Scott cleaned it up and then promptly gave it to one of the kids to use!!!   Worked like a charm :)

This is the view from our site.   While eating breakfast inside the trailer, we could see the dolphins swimming up and down in the water - beautiful.

There were several sea hares along the shore too - this purple one sprayed purple dye in the water as a protection mechanism.

Every morning and evening we had the most incredible sunrises and sunsets.

The kids spent lots of time fishing.   They were using wieners for bait and were catching little fish, but our neighbour insisted we have his leftover shrimp to use as bait - so sweet!

I kept telling them to throw the line out farther and try and catch something bigger, but Brad in particular kept saying to me "But I like catching the small fish - it's fun!"  You see, every time they threw the line in close to the shore they would catch something, but when they threw it farther, they would wait and wait and catch nothing!   I can see their point~!!

Dawn and dusk everyday the kids were out there - they had SO much fun!  Under 16 requires no licence in the state of Florida.