Last year I paddled out to the hidden oasis of Shell Key Preserve, but further out in Gulf is historic Egmont Key State Park. Egmont Key had forts set up to protect the Gulf harbors during the Spanish American War and WW1. A quick boat ride can transport you to this time capsule gem. Where you can wander through a ghost town, explore the remnants of forts, and take in the pristine view of sand and surf.
Unlike my adventure out to Shell Key where I could easily paddle, to get to Egmont, you will need to take a boat/ferry. I booked ferry transportation to Egmont Key through Hubbard's Marina. By the way, they also have a ferry to Shell Key. The ferry ride costs $45.00 and has three departure/tour times: 9 am-2 pm, 11 am-4 pm, and 2 pm-7 pm. It is highly suggested to make a reservation ahead of time so you don't miss the opportunity due to the boat being full. I also will suggest you go earlier rather than later in the day. Florida is notorious for developing thunderstorms in the late afternoon/early evening in the summer. It is mentioned in the booking details to get there an hour ahead of time to check-in. They make this request because finding parking can be difficult on weekends and later in the day. I did the 9 am departure time and 30 minutes early was more than enough time to check-in, use the restroom, and sunscreen up. They do have an option for an additional snorkeling excursion but that is only available on weekdays and dependent on weather and water conditions. They avoid doing it on the weekends due to heavy boat traffic.
You will check in and get on the boat at the Fort De Soto Boat Ramp. Note you will pass through two toll booths when you get close to Fort De Soto Park. The tolls take SunPass, exact change, or will charge your license plate. The sign for the boat ramp will be on your right, just before you get to the park's official entrance. Follow the signs for parking for the Shell/Egmont Key ferry, which are the back two rows of the lot. You will pay for parking at one of the parking meters, it is only $5.00 and also doubles as your park entrance payment if you want to go check out the beaches of Fort De Soto after.
You will see a little hut by the water and boats, you will check in for your ferry ride and receive a ticket.
Make sure you hold on to your ticket, you will need it to board the boat, and if you hold onto it, you can use it for $5.00 off your next ferry or excursion with Hubbard's Marina.
About 10 minutes before your departure time is when you will begin to load the boat. If you want to use the restroom before you get on the boat, there are restrooms towards the back of the parking lot, in the trees on your right when you drove in.
Note there are no restrooms on Egmont Key, so I highly suggest taking advantage of that amenity before getting on the boat. No worries if you forget or are running tight on time, there is one on the boat. But the boat does not stay on the island after it drops you off and does not return until the stated pick-up time.
It is a beautiful and easy 45-minute boat ride out to Egmont Key.
Keep your eyes peeled for dolphins! And right now, in June, is stingray season, so you can spot them gliding through the water. We saw a couple on our way back to the boat ramp.
We docked on the northeast tip of the island. I talked to the captain of the boat because I wanted to make the most of my time on the island. There are plenty of walking trails that will take you on an explorative loop of the island, but to do the full trail experience will take you an hour and a half. The captain also mentioned to me you can use your Google GPS to follow the trails. I really wanted to check out the ghost town he told me about, left over from WWI. The town was created because of the military base. There is great shelling to be had on this island. There was a guy on our boat who goes out to Egmont Key once a week to go shark teeth hunting and comes back with a range of small marble size teeth to full-size megalodon teeth. This makes sense since Egmont is just north up the coastline from Venice, which is known for shark teeth.
So for the few hours we had on the island, my game plan was to see the ghost town, the forts, and spend some time on the beach. Once I got off, I headed straight for the lighthouse, which is only a few paces from where the boat was. By the way, this island has a plethora of gopher tortoises. They are super chill and very used to people. They aren't pets though, so avoid petting them and keep a respectful space.
You can't go up in the lighthouse, but you can get a pic! What is impressive is the lighthouse that is standing was built in 1858.
I followed the path on the east side of the island for a bit before I saw a sign directing me toward the Fort Town Trail.
It's easy to know you are on the trail that went through the town because it is all brick.
Most of the town ruins have eroded away and overtaken by vegetation.
The most notable standing structure is the Quarter Masters House.
All along the town trail, even if you can't tell much from residual brick and concrete they have signs that tell you what used to be there.
After playing and dancing around the ghost town, I followed the signs to Fort Dade and Gulf Beach.
Not much is left of Fort Dade. It looks like a crumbling Roman ruin.
Now that I made it to the beach, I couldn't wait to jump into the water and cool off!
Fun fact! They have to manually distribute the sand around the island, or by now, a large part of it would be washed away.
Normally this beach is good for shelling and shark tooth hunting, but because of the storms that had passed through the Gulf earlier that week, it wasn't ideal.
But it was still refreshing to swim around and enjoy my Pubsub (Publix Sub for any non-Floridians).
Loggerhead turtles like to nest here in the summer, so you will see orange roped-off areas around nests.
Frigate birds also nest here and have a special roped-off area for them, sooo VIP. Outside of the rope are all the royal tern and laughing gulls.
Once I felt I had enjoyed my beach time, I made my way back to the path to check out Battery McIntosh, Battery Howard, and Battery Mellon. This is heading back towards the north part of the island, where the ferry dropped me off.
What I found so interesting about these military fort setups compared to others in Florida I had seen was there was only cannon artillery on top and not down below, and the ceilings were much lower.
And just like that...three and a half hours had passed, and it was time to sail back to Fort De Soto. Leaving this pristine and historic island behind us but not in the past.
Comments