by
Fraser Bridges
The
historic Lighthouse on Seahorse Key. Photo by
Neil Hurley.
The
"Big Bend" region of Florida -- at least
along the main corridor linked by U.S.
Highway 19/98 -- continues the almost
unending succession of small towns, chain
restaurants, souvenir stands, and the
detritus of a century of central Florida
development, except that the development
thins out as you get farther north of the
Tampa/St. Petersburg area; a fortunate
situation for the serious nature lover. The
main highway leads inland after passing
Crystal River, heading through Chiefland,
Cross City, and Perry, before reaching the
Tallahassee area. To reach the coast, you
have to take little county roads that connect
with the highway, and run southwest to even
smaller towns: Suwanee, Cedar Key, Horseshoe
Beach, and Fish Key. U.S. 98 veers westward
from U.S. 19 at Perry, offering a more
bucolic path to scenic coastline and more
natural attractions including St .Marks
National Wildlife Refuge, St. George Island,
and St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge --
on an island which sits where Apalachicola
Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico.
Located
mid-way between Tampa and Tallahassee, the
town of Cedar
Key
is a perfect little town to use as a base for
exploring the natural wonders of this
spectacular region.
First
there are the keys, a group of 40 small
barrier islands sitting in the Gulf of
Mexico, west of the mouth of the Waccasassa
River and south of the larger Suwanee River
which flows from its origins in Georgia's
Okeefenokee Swamp to meet the gulf. Many of
these islands are bare, and Cedar Key is the
only town, linked to the mainland by a
three-mile causeway.
The
region contains one of the greatest
concentrations of wildlife areas in the
Southeast, and this guide takes you to the
best of these natural areas. For a tour of
the coastal wildlife refuges and parks, click
on the arrows at the bottom of each page, or
click on the names of the areas.
For
more photos of the Lighthouse at Cedar Keys
National Wildlife Refuge, go to
Neil
Hurley's Lighthouse
site.
This lighthouse, on Seahorse Key, is now a
University of Florida research and learning
center.
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