Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Curry Hammock State Park, Florida Keys

We stopped in Curry Hammock State Park on our way to Bahia Honda State Park.

Curry Hammock is made up of several islands in the Middle Keys. The main entrance to the park is on Little Crawl Key, and this is were we went. We wrongly assumed that a 1.5-mile long nature trail through the hardwood hammock that we planned to hike would start there. Only after we crossed the park's entrance and were handed the park's map we realized that the trailhead for the hike was on a different island.

However, since we the fate brought us to Little Crawl Key, we decided to check it out as well. And we liked what we saw: there was a nice beach where one could swim, snorkel or kayak; there was a playground, picnic tables, grills, restrooms, showers, and very few people. So instead of going on a nature trail, we decided to take a stroll along the beach.

It was a very pleasant walk made interesting by the presence of several seabirds. One of them, a double-crested cormorant, seemed not to be afraid of people at all: it let me get very close to itself and take several close-up photos.

A double-crested cormorant, Curry Hammock State Park

A mangrove tree, Curry Hammock State Park

Curry Hammock State Park