Dead Trees on Longboat Key

February 7, 2012

Nearby Longboat Key has a couple of public-access spots on the beach. One of them—Janet’s and my favorite—has been closed for two years. Sunday Janet suggested we check on it. We were happy to find it open again after beach augmentation and road repair. This place is appealing mostly because along the water northward from the access point is an area of dead trees, bleached by the sun and stranded in the sand. Apparently the water once came further inland at this point, because many of the trees are old mangroves, which only grow at the shoreline. At another time the water must have stopped quite a bit further out, because some of the taller trees near and even in the water look like pines, or at least Australian pines, and these trees don’t grow in the water as mangroves do. (The invasive Australian pine, Casuarina equisetifolia, is not a true pine.) The beached trees, many strewn with seaweed, have wonderful textures, shapes, and muted colors that many photographers like as backdrop for photographing models. Some photographers (ahem) fancy the trees themselves.