OVERLOOKING LAKE DORA FROM LAKESIDE INN

• Mount Dora Center for the Arts
• Mount Dora Chamber of Commerce
• What to do in Mount Dora
• Mount Dora Village Merchant’s & Business Association
• Wikipedia: Mount Dora, Florida
• City of Mount Dora

Mount Dora is a small historical Florida village on the shore of Lake Dora that has successfully made itself into an arts and convention center with plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation.

LAKESIDE INN PIER

JUST A FEW OF MANY MOUNT DORA SHOPS

HISTORIC MOUNT DORA TRAIN STATION

ONE OF MANY LOUNGE/RESTAURANTS

NESTING BIRDS DOWNTOWN MOUNT DORA

STREETSIDE HARPIST

TAKING IT EASY

WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST LAWN BOWLING COURT

VINTAGE FLORIDIANA

click here for larger image
WILDLIFE AT LAKE MAGGIORE

In an earlier post on St. Pete’s Lassing Park, I mentioned that I’d be covering more of my favorite city parks. Today’s post has some pictures and information about one of the largest of these parks, Lake Maggiore Park.

This hiking site has some details about Lake Maggiore I haven’t found elsewhere, such as this:

“This lake, comprising 375 acres, was a salt bayou until the city dammed it during the 1940s. In the early days it was called Salt Lake. The road now known as 9th St. began as an old Tampa cattlemen’s trail. It was extended into a roadway by John Hayes. Later, this section was renamed to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

The side of Lake Maggiore opposite the Lake Maggiore Park is occupied by the Boyd Hill Nature Park and Lake Maggiore Environmental Education Center. Those will be covered in detail in a coming post. Boyd Hill Nature Park is definitely an important area, but the Lake Maggiore Park side has its own advantages.

One of those is fishing. Fishing regulations are enforced, so please read them at the city’s Fishing/Boating page which also gives the fishing season for individual lakes. (Lake Maggiore is year round; cast netting is permitted, but not crabbing.) Regulations include types of poles for which licenses, etc., so please do check the above link. Lake Maggiore also has a city boat ramp.

click here for larger image
FISHERMAN AT LAKE MAGGIORE

Lake Maggiore Park has a very nice, rustic picnic pavilion. Please see the city’s Application for Park Permit – Outdoor Public Assembly page for more information about hosting events in the parks. This quote explains why:

“With 137 city parks, St. Petersburg offers ideal outdoor venues for family picnics, special events and gatherings. Some uses of city parks require a permit. The lead time for applying for a park permit is 15 business days prior to the event. Park permits are free; however, a fee is charged for the use of shelters with electricity and for maintenance services. Some events may require liability insurance, which is determined by the city’s Risk Management Department.”

click here for larger image
PICNIC PAVILION

Some of the larger parks, such as Lake Maggiore, have some pretty remote areas. St. Petersburg has crime like anywhere else, so it’s prudent to not expose yourself to risk by being alone in isolated areas. Two or more people and you’re much safer. Just be aware of your surroundings and play it safe.

Even more important, do not feed the alligators! This makes them think of “food” when they see a human…not an equation you wish to foster. Never approach an alligator for any reason. Almost all Florida lakes have alligators. Most at risk are children and small pets, but there are some very big Florida ‘gators (over 14 feet isn’t uncommon), so just don’t tempt fate. Florida’s waterways are their home. (Hint: they really do look like part of a submerged log floating in the water.) For more information on alligators, read the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Alligator Management pages. They have lots of facts and even have some fun alligator stuff for kids.

You don’t need to be afraid of Florida’s wilder wildlife, just be watchful.

click here for larger image
LAKE MAGGIORE PARK

click here for larger image
LONG PIER TACKLE SHACK

I’ve got a love affair with piers. Ever since I was a child visiting my father’s family down in southern Mississippi and fishing off the long pier in Biloxi (a pier destroyed many hurricanes ago), I’m always thrilled by the sensation of walking way out above deep water. There’s just such an old fashioned pier in Redington Beach. (Redington is one of the many little beach communities on the barrier islands in the Gulf along Pinellas County.)

click here for larger image
LOOKING OUT THE PIER

It used to be called the Redington Long Pier, but is now called the Dubai Long Pier. This Tampa Bay Business Journal article explains why the name change. The pier owner’s attitude appeals to me; it’s independent, colorful, thumb-in-your-eye antiestablishmentarianism at its best!

click here for larger image
BLUE HERON

It is definitely a long pier, extending 1,021 feet out into the Gulf. It’s the old style weathered board pier, popular in my youth. The gray sheen of weathering is as beautiful to me as the many birds that sit on its railings. The fishermen who frequent the Dubai Long Pier are as weathered as the pier itself. One fellow, the day I was there, had not let the need of a walker stop him from his favorite past-time. These were local residents, cordial, welcoming with almost imperceptible nods, all the while not losing their concentration on their tasks.

click here for larger image
PELICANS

It is my understanding that any child under the age of 16, whether or not they are a Florida resident, and all Florida residents, of any age, do NOT need a fishing license for salt water fishing (fresh water is a different story). However, non-Florida residents 16 and older DO need a license unless they are fishing on a charter boat. However, I strongly recommend you read the relevant pages for yourself since I could be in error and regulations might change.

click here for larger image
PELICAN

The Dubai Long Pier charges a $2 fee for walk-on visitors who aren’t fishing. That’s a very fair price for such a simple and peaceful pleasure. There’s a $10 fishing fee for adults and a somewhat cheaper one for kids 10 and under. No tackle? No problem: the tackle shop on the pier has rod rentals for $9.35 and, of course, bait. (And, they take credit cards.)

click here for larger image
BROWN PELICAN

You’ll have some competition for the fish you catch though. The pier has as many birds as fishermen. It’s a great location to get pictures, up close, of these wonderful creatures. The ones that habitually frequent the pier are fearless around humans (although they won’t pester you), which means, if you move slowly, you can get some great pictures.

click here for larger image
GREAT WHITE HERON

When I was in high school, eons ago, I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to go into science or music as a career. I loved, and still do love, scientific ideas (various theories and speculations) and stuff (literally: test tubes, microscopes, slides, telescopes…all the objects that must have filled the mind of Jules Verne, another Florida resident at one time). During a part of that phase of my life I was a (totally nerdy) student member of the National Prairie Chicken Society (my biology teacher was a charter member).

click here for larger image
BLACKBIRDS

Although I have not done any birding since those days, I still love birds. Wouldn’t want one for a pet, but I admire them greatly. There’s a bird that was on the pier, pictured immediately below, that I can’t identify. What is it? If you know, please comment. I’m curious. I suspect it might be a female of the blackbirds pictured above, but I’m not at all certain. Please don’t be shy. If you have an idea, please post it.

click here for larger image
WHAT KIND OF BIRD IS THIS ?????

Large fishing floats (not the little bobbers you remember from your cane line as a kid), can usually be spotted about the pilings. There are Styrofoam ones, plastic ones, round ones, torpedo shaped ones, and even glass ones in heavy twine netting (although I’ve never seen any of the glass ones in actual use). The glass ones are collectibles, but one can also buy them new as decorator items. I remember my sister showing me some that had washed ashore from Japan all the way to Alaska, where she lived at that time. They are remarkable objects. Even the modern plastic ones charm me.

click here for larger image
FISHING FLOATS

Looking back along the pier toward the shore can give you a perspective on the beaches you can’t get any other way. In fact, every direction you look on a pier (back, out, down, up) shifts your usual perspective. Maybe that’s part of what makes the pier such a fun experience. It helps you see things differently.

click here for larger image
LOOKING BACK TOWARD LAND

There are numerous piers along the coast of Florida. I’ve been accumulating photos to do a post on a bunch of them in a single post. In the meantime, I highly recommend you take a short walk on a long pier. (You probably heard the joking command in grade school too: “Take a long walk on a short pier!”) You can do no better than the Dubai Long Pier in Redington Beach (map).

click here for larger image
PIER SIGN ON GULF BLVD.

N. E. Taylor Boatworks

In our last post, “Escape to Tahiti,” we began a theme about escaping from the cares of every day life. We continue that today with a look at the N. E. Taylor Boatworks in Cortez, Florida (4628 119th St. W., Cortez, Florida, 34215; 941-794-2802). This is where the big boats go, boats that are big enough to sail on the ocean.

According to their website, Taylor Boatworks, which was founded in 1928 “is located in the historical fishing village of Cortez, Florida, established in the 1800s, which is now a museum for the locals and invited guests. There are many original hand tools that were used to build the boats. The museum is still located on the waterfront, under the original home place of the N. E. Taylor family…John B. Banyas, owner of N. E. Taylor Boatworks is the great grandson of N. E. Taylor and the grandson of Leo M. Taylor, who was also a boat builder, with many of his boats still being used today.”

Their services include all the basics of any boatyard, plus refurbishing of boats (from the “bones” up as you can see below), hurricane storage, and underwater salvage and recovery. They’ve also extended beyond their huge boatyard operation, of which there are selected photographs here, to partner operations.

<

The Cortez Kitchen

One of those partners is the Cortez Kitchen. It’s located right on the same property as the Taylor Boatworks; here’s the Kitchen’s number in case you get lost (not difficult to do): 941-798-9404.

Every mention of the Cortez Kitchen online includes the word, “rustic.” Every one also says how good it is and how good their grouper sandwiches are. This blog post from Island Real Estate has the best review of the Cortez Kitchen I’ve found. It reports that, “They do offer live music usually on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Just a great all around ‘old Florida’ bar setting.”

The Metromix listing for the Cortez Kitchen says they have $1 drafts and gives the hours! A good tip.

Bayside Banquet Hall

Yet another Taylor Boatyard partner is the newly remodeled Bayside Banquet Hall (941-798-9400), a waterfront facility for large events with seating for 165 indoors, plus an outdoor tiki bar, accommodating around 100, overlooking the bay.

Cortez Bait & Seafood

The remaining establishment on the Taylor Boatworks grounds is the Cortez Bait & Seafood retail fish market (941-794-1547). Their bait includes thread herring, chum, sardines, and glass minnows. They also have food grade mullet and squid wings. Just a glance at their fish product page should make you ready to grab your fishing gear, and head for Cortez.

There’s a fun zoomable aerial photo of Cortez Bait & Seafood at marinas.com. There are a number of other Cortez aerial shots there to navigate as well. Lots of fun.

More Cortez resources

I covered Cortez before in Cortez, an 1880s Florida Fishing Village. Here’s a bit more history on the Cortez boat building scene from the Great Florida Gulf Coast Traditional Small Craft Association. They are, as their name indicates, only concerned with smaller craft. There are some beautiful boat restoration pictures on their site. I’m impressed with how many participants there are in their projects. Their main page gives information about the 4th Great Florida Gulf Coast Small Craft Festival.

The maritime museum in Cortez is highlighted, along with other attractions in Cortez at Cortez Village Historical Society who provide a PDF walking tour map for Cortez Village.

To finally “set the hook” in your desire to spend a day fishing, or even just sightseeing, in Cortez, go to the Manatee County EZ-fishfinder.com, that has tons of interesting boating and fishing videos and many pre-1940 pictures. It’s an excellent resource for planning a visit to Cortez.

Destressing

Water is a powerful destressor. It doesn’t matter if we’re just sitting on the shore looking at it, sailing a dinghy, fishing off a pier, deep sea fishing, or cruising around the bay in a beautiful, classic Chris Craft like the one pictured below being restored in the Taylor Boatworks, the water has a way of calming our most subterranean anxieties.

I remember sleeping on my sister’s 37 foot O’Day sloop-rig. It had an aft cabin, center cockpit, a big center galley and salon, a big forward berth, and two heads…what a beauty (she talks about her boat on Lothlorien). The gentle rocking at night brought an unparalleled sleep–deep and restorative. I’m sure there is a one-to-one correlation between the gentle rocking of water and the 9 months we spend in the womb. If you’re stressed, get yourself to the water soon, even if only to its edge. Visit Cortez.

CORTEZ VILLAGE SIGN

Barrier Islands South of Tampa Bay

Just on the other side of the Skyway Bridge from St. Pete (see map immediately below), is a string of barrier islands stretching from Anna Maria at the northern end all the way down to Venice, Florida, with just a short break at Lido Key.

Toward the north end of that chain, just south of Anna Maria, at Bradenton Beach, the barrier islands connect to the mainland by bridge at the small village of Cortez, which occupies a peninsula jutting out from the mainland and the small city of Bradenton. There’s an excellent arial shot and more information on that entire area–Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key, Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch plus many smaller communities as such Holmes Beach, Coquina Park, etc.–at the Bradenton Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Cortez

The village of Cortez, is the oldest surviving fishing village in Florida. It dates from at least 1880 when it was settled by a number of people from North Carolina. As you might imagine for such an historically rich area, there are strong preservationist organizations. Primary among these is the Cortez Village Historical Society. This preservationist attitude extends to the land, wildlife, water, and fish since it is upon those that the historical economy of the region depends, and still does, although to a lesser extent than at one time. F.I.S.H. (Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage) is a non-profit that has as its mission “preserving the character and heritage of Florida’s traditional waterfront communities within the natural environment that has nurtured people in fishing communities for thousands of years.”

For more links on Cortez and the adjoining area, see the Manatee County Historical Village page. There’s also a very nice (PDF) article on Cortez (in English) from the Mainichi Daily News, a Japanese newspaper.

AP BELL FISH CO. TRUCK

AP Bell Fish Company and Star Fish Company

An important part of the Cortez community is the Star Fish Company which dates back to the early 20s. In 1996, Karen Bell, of the adjoining AP Bell Fish Company, bought Star Fish and added a restaurant to the fish company and docks. FL-Seafood.com, has some pictures of Star Fish Company and other items of interest from the early days. Another commercial highlight in Cortez is the Cortez Market

STAR FISH FRONT SIDE

Grouper Sandwiches

Don’t be fooled by the tourist-trap look of the Star Fish Company restaurant. It’s the real thing and a very good friend who lives near there swears it’s the best group sandwich in the world, period. (I haven’t had a chance to confirm that yet but will soon.)

Grouper is an important fish in Florida. I remember my father telling me about it when I was in grade school and we’d come south to visit relatives. Its quality is legend. There have been periodic scandals involving restaurants that served talapia but called it grouper and have had to pay a hefty fine. There are strict laws against this and they are rigorously enforced. Once you’re had fresh grouper, though, there’s no mistaking another white fish for it. Anyway, because of the intense attention this issue has gotten in recent years, you can be pretty well assured that if it says “grouper,” it really is grouper!

My preferred method of preparing grouper is blackened which requires a heavy, cast-iron blackening skillet or griddle such as the Lodge Logic 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Skillet or the Lodge Logic Pro 20-by-10-7/16-Inch Cast-Iron Grill/Griddle. More on blackened fish in this coming Saturday’s Inkwatu post.

For now, I highly recommend these three grouper sandwich recipes from, FoodBuzz (with whom I’m a featured publisher):

• a nice step by step grouper sandwich with Cajun jalapeno aioli;
• a step by step video for baked cornmeal crusted grouper sandwich with tartar sauce; and,
• a recipe for a grouper sandwich with curry mango mayonnaise

.

STAR FISH BACK SIDE

Florida Anglers

Of course, if you visit or live in Florida, everyone (even me) fishes, at least once! It’s an atavistic urge that we’ve never lost and will always need. One good friend surf fishes. The mainstay for most folks is fishing off a pier or bridge. Some, of course, use john boats, or perhaps something a little bigger. Maybe, if you’re flush, a charter.

My favorite kind of fishing, which I haven’t done in a long while and which I intend to do again, soon, is night fishing under the Gandy Bridge. Here’s a neat YouTube video, Night Fishing at gandy bridge in Tampa Bay Florida, of someone (not me) doing exactly that. It’s short and worth watching. Another good one, just a couple guys in a john boat out on Tampa Bay, is Tampa Fishing by apollobeachsam. They really get excited and for good reason: they catch some good sized fish! If you enjoyed those, while you’re at YouTube, just do a search of their site for [florida fishing] or [tampa fishing] and you’ll see dozens and dozens of good ones. One I enjoyed, mainly because it’s the typical mix of people you see on any public bridge or pier, is this one of Fort Walton Florida Fishing Pier Jack Fishing.

As I mentioned in an earlier post on the St. Petersburg Pier, my understanding is that any child under the age of 16, whether or not they are a Florida resident, and all Florida residents, of any age, do NOT need a fishing license for salt water fishing (fresh water is a different story). However, non-Florida resident 16 and older DO need a license unless they are fishing on a charter boat.

However, I strongly recommend you read the relevant pages for yourself since I could be in error and regulations might change.

Here are the current rates for 16 and older Non-resident Saltwater Recreational Fishing Licenses:

• Nonresident 3-Day Saltwater Fishing = $17.00
• Nonresident 7-Day Saltwater Fishing = $30.00
• Nonresident Annual Saltwater Fishing = $47.00

BOATS AT THE STAR FISH DOCK

Florida commercial fishing

If you can, take in the Cortez Annual Commercial Fishing Festival. It is one of quite a number of seafood festivals in Florida.

Although there is a small shrimper fleet left and there are picturesque events like the Blessing of the Fleet in Tarpon Springs, the reality is that shrimp fishing in the USA has been throttled by farmed imports (see this news article for figures). Recreational shrimp fishing, however, is still a flourishing sport. (Bet you didn’t know there was such a thing…I sure didn’t until researching this post.)

Mullet is another fish heavily identified with Florida. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but I love it. It’s usually smoked and is one of the foods I typically order at Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish (see my Inkwatu post on that fine institution).

Although stocks of mullet are high in the Gulf, due to folks preferring white fish, the sales of mullet are way down. As a consequence, like the shrimp fleets, mullet fisherman are also going out of business, although for entirely different reasons. I’d love to see a resurgence in preference for mullet. Maybe if folks realized that mullet contains 1.1 grams of omega-3 essential fatty acids per 100 grams of fresh uncooked fish, which isn’t much less than sardines, they will start to request it.

CRAB TRAPS ON STAR FISH DOCK

One of my childhood memories is “fishing” for crabs in the Gulf off the seawall at Biloxi before there was a beach there. (That’s a long time ago.) You “fish” for crabs with a trap of string that lays flat on the bottom under the water. When you see or feel motion on the trap, you pull it up and the sides come up, trapping the crab. However, I have seen my daddy catch crabs by just tying a bit of bacon on a string and walking it along the bottom, yanking up the string at just the right moment with a crab stubbornly clutching the bacon. Commercial fisherman use traps too.

Florida has the Florida Stone Crab seen on many local restaurant menus, and the Blue Crab, also a favorite of local eateries. I like any kind of crab prepared any way I can get it. Absolutely no preferences—just give me some crab! I’m a little picky about soft shelled crab, which is a blue crab right after it’s molted its shell. It’s deep fried and you eat the whole thing since there’s no shell (hence the term “soft”). Cooked correctly, it is awesome.

FLORIDA GREAT BLUE HERON

Florida birds

The Florida Great Blue Heron, pictured above waiting for his grouper sandwich at the Star Fish Company, is one of several birds closely associated with Florida. There is a monster list of Florida birds at Wikipedia, but the ones that come to my mind are the flamingo (the type depicted by plastic birds on Florida lawns is really a Caribbean bird and doesn’t normally come this far north; often, however, the Roseate Spoonbill is mistaken for it), the snowy egret (a type of great heron), the ibis, and the pelican (the brown and the white).

The Cornell University website, to which most of those links go, is terrific. It gives you pictures, videos, bird sounds, and facts. You can get lost in there for hours.

A special thanks to two friends. One who first told me about the historic fishing village of Cortez, and another who lives near there and showed me the highlights. Thanks to you both for sharing your knowledge and pleasure in Florida with me so I could share it here.

CORTEZ VIEWED FROM THE WATER