Heading down the Anclote River toward Anclote Key.
I’ve been wanting to visit Anclote Key for a long time. Since we don’t have a boat, we took one of the tour boats out of the Tarpon Springs sponge docks. We chose Sunline Cruises for two reasons: (1)They appeared in Google search results for “anclote key cruise.” (2)They had great Tripadvisor reviews.
Anclote Key is visible on the horizon about 5 miles away.
Anclote Key is a completely undeveloped island three miles out in the Gulf of Mexico from Tarpon Springs. Since there is no bridge to the island, the only way to get to it is by boat. I looked for jet ski/waverunner rentals to get there but couldn’t find any in the area. I knew the cruise boats only spend about half an hour on the island, which was not enough for me. But that’s what I had to settle for, for now.
Hillary, the first mate, was also the onboard naturalist and kept us entertained and informed. She's well versed in Florida nature and darned good at shell identification, which comes in handy during the return trip.
The on-board naturalist does a great job of pointing out wildlife and answering questions. This works out well if everyone is in “listening mode.” Unfortunately we had a group of people on board who were having their own party and made so much noise we could not hear the narration.
The Anclote Key lighthouse. Two days each year--one in September and the other in April--visitors are allowed to climb the lighthouse.
The tour boat lets passengers off on the southern tip of Anclote Key for about half-an-hour of beachcombing. That time goes by really fast.
A view of the southernmost beach on Anclote Key.
Suzie directed my attention to this shark swimming near the beach in about 18 inches of water. I was lucky enough to get an in-focus photo.
There were plenty of shells on the beach. Most were fragments, but there were plenty of nice whole shells too.
We found quite a few sponges on the beach. This one is a beautiful red color.
I captured this panoramic photo of the southern end of Anclote Key with my iphone. Click the photo to enlarge.
While I was disappointed that I could only spend half an hour on this beautiful and completely wild island, I did get the lay of the land and a sense of the distances involved. I think my next trip will involve launching a kayak from Fred Howard Park and spending the entire day exploring Anclote Key.
The ticket booth for sunline cruises is right across the street from Hellas Restaurant on Dodecanese Blvd in Tarpon Springs at the sponge docks.
Parking is an issue on the sponge docks. There are a few free spaces but those are hard to get. We paid $3 to park in the lot next to Sunline Cruises ticket booth, but we had a time limit of 4 hours. We discovered later that there are other lots in nearby that allow full day parking for $2.
We had an early dinner at Rusty Bellies Seafood Restaurant at the west end of Dodecanese Blvd.
After our cruise we were hungry so we had an early dinner at Rusty Bellies. The fish was right-off-the-boat fresh and the scallops were the freshest and sweetest I’ve ever eaten. There is an adjoining seafood shop where you can buy fresh fish from the boat.
Rusty Bellies has indoor dining as well as an outdoor deck with a great view of the fishing boats as they go by. We opted for the outdoor dining since there was a cool breeze blowing on this slightly crisp October day.
Web sites for more info:
TripAdvisor reviews of Sunline Cruises to Anclote Key
Rusty Bellies Seafood Restaurant
Kayaking to Anclote Key (Central Florida Kayak) great info.
Kayak Trip Report from Fred Howard Park to Anclote Key (great pics too)
