Sebastian Inlet

Last week we spent 5 nights in the motorhome at Sebastian Inlet State Park. A nice park right on the inlet and overlooking the Indian River Lagoon. Water flowed in and out of the lagoon with the tides and it was a fast flow at the narrow part of the inlet.

There was a swimming spot on the other side of the inlet and still part of the State Park. When the tide was high the "pool" was nearly 100 yards across but at low tide it got down to about 20 yards. I did some snorkeling here at high tide and near the point where the water comes in there were about 20 snook. They were about 18 to 24 inches long and quite a sight. One of them had a long piece of heavy twine tied around it's tail and I tried to grab it but could not get close enough.

I thought about snorkeling in the Atlantic but the surf was more than I wanted to fight. Carol and I did walk the Atlantic beach one afternoon and picked some trash. We were actually looking for gold but found none washed up on the beach!

In July of 1715 a fleet of 11 or 12 Spanish galleons loaded with gold got sunk by a hurricane right off this coast. People have been recovering gold from the area for years. In fact, Mel Fisher, the treasure hunter who fond the Atocha made is first large treasure findings here in the late 1940's.

There is a museum at the site where the survivors of the hurricane and shipwrecks camped and worked salvaging the gold. It is a very interesting story. The area is called the Treasure Coast because of the shipwrecks and the finding of gold even yet today. I may try to SCUBA it someday because the reefs are quite close to the shore.

Camping friends came to visit us while we were there and we had a good afternoon with them. We also made arrangements to go to Lazy Days near Tampa for 4 nights in mid July so we can visit with them more

While at the park, our satellite dish could not find the Direct TV satellite so Carol had to watch normal TV. After doing all I could to correct the problem I finally called the company and found a service guy in Wachula, Fl. Since we were going to be passing within 20 miles of Wachula we made arrangements to meet up with him on our way home. In a very short time he upgraded the program in the equipment and it is now working again.