Shifting land masses provide habitats for shorebirds and aquatic life
Shell Key Preserve is an 1800-acre preserve off the coast near Fort De Soto. It includes Shell Island, one of the largest undeveloped barrier islands in the US. These dynamic land masses have been waxing and waning, converging and diverging over the last 100 years. Shell Island, which was once comprised of several islands (with respect to the parts above water), even connected to the mainland for a while before Hurricane Irma remade the pass.
The newest addition to these barrier keys is an ebb-shoal named Outback Key. It is technically outside of the perimeter of the protected nature preserve, and from an official standpoint is not considered land. It only formed in the last decade! In fact, it was only named a few years ago; most people seem to still call it Shell Key sandbar. Despite its unofficial status as land, it keeps growing. The key is close to connecting with the mainland at Fort De Soto State Park in three places.
To get to the preserve, we took the ferry that leaves from Fort De Soto’s boat ramp. We first headed out to Outback Key. We were lucky to visit on a normal workday, because there were only a couple people around, and it felt like the nature preserve that it is shaping up to be. I have read that on the weekends it is party central. It’s hard to imagine that from what we experienced.
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