Sea Fever : Caladesi Island State Park 4/1 to 4/3/2015

Wednesday, April 1 to Friday, April 3, 2015

Another of the barrier islands that was on are list to visit was Caladesi Island State Park, just across the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway from Marker1 Marina in Dunedin, Florida. Tim spent about an hour figuring out how to set the lines at Marker1 so as to easily tie up Sea Fever upon our return. Off we went to pump out the head, and then made our way to the island.

The weather was warm and calm, and the marina at Caladesi was easy to navigate. We docked the boat ourselves and checked in with the park ranger.

Caladesi is a state park and the island is only reachable by private boat or ferry. Private boats can be docked at the 108 slip marina and stay all day or overnight after registering with a ranger. Ferries run from Honeymoon Island or Clearwater beach.

The ferry ride lasts 15 minutes and there is a 4 hour time limit for each person getting off the ferry. The cost for the 4 hours and the ferry is $10/person. It was pretty funny watching the ferries come in and unload all the folks with their coolers, and chairs. The ferry tickets are date stamped so that at the end of the day, the park rangers know that the beach is emptied of beach goers.

Ferry riders off for their 4 hours on Caladesi Island

The deserted beach changed quickly by mid-morning!

Great Blue Heron waiting for all the visitors to leave

The island is rustic. There are bathrooms but no hot water showers. There is a decent snack bar. But because the island is mostly all natural, there is no bug control. The no-see-ums were so big you could see-um, and they were voracious! By the next morning, the screens were black with bugs! And there were only 7 boats in the 108 slip marina.