Dunedin Florida - Dunedin Causeway Bridge

Happy December 1st! Today we celebrate the City Daily Photo theme: Bridges. After dark photography has caught my fancy of late, so I wanted to share this after dark bridge image with you. Kudos to my Nikon D80, again! This is the Dunedin Causeway Bridge. And that is a Great Blue Heron in the foreground (click the photo to enlarge it).

There is so much that goes on from this causeway, and under and around this bridge, that I cannot cover it all in one manageable post. So today I will cover the basics. Dunedin Causeway ends on Honeymoon Island. Which is where you will find Honeymoon Island State Park. From that state park, you can take a ferry to another state park, Caladesi Island State Park.

Caladesi Island used to be accessible by ferry or private boat only. In 1985, Hurricane Elena closed the narrow pass to the south of the island (Not to be confused with Hurricane Pass, at the north end of the island). As a result, you can actually walk onto Caladesi Island from the north end of Clearwater Beach (But trust me, it's a long way from where you would have to park your car!). These two islands are home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the country, if not the entire world. So yes, if you are visiting Dunedin or Clearwater or the area in general, you should at least drive out to the end of the causeway, and go for a walk on Honeymoon Island!

The image below is from Google Earth, and shows the Dunedin Causeway from an altitude of about 8,000 feet. The bridge in the photo above is at the right in the image below. Honeymoon Island is just out of frame to the left. ** Click the names if you would like to see my bridge posts on the Clearwater Daily Photo site, or the Clearwater Beach Daily Photo site.

Check out these City Daily Photo blogs from around the world, all participating in the Bridges theme:
Boston (MA), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Inverness (IL), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Stockholm, Sweden - Setúbal, Portugal - Brussels, Belgium - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Hyde, UK - Manila, Philippines - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - London, England - Austin (TX), USA - Toulouse, France - Weston (FL), USA - Sesimbra, Portugal - Selma (AL), USA - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - Cleveland (OH), USA - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - North Bay (ON), Canada - Arradon, France - Paderborn, Germany - Durban, South Africa - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Prague, Czech Republic - Portland (OR), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Wichita (Ks), USA - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Grenoble, France - New York City (NY), USA - Nottingham, UK - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Arlington (VA), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Miami (FL), USA - Cheltenham, UK - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Saratoga Spgs. (NY), USA - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Nashville (TN), USA - Toruń, Poland - New Orleans (LA), USA - Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Melbourne, Australia - Moscow, Russia - Trujillo, Peru - Château-Gontier, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Joplin (MO), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Brookville (OH), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Chandler (AZ), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Baziège, France - Auckland, New Zealand - Wellington, New Zealand - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Subang Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Detroit (MI), USA - Riga, Latvia - Nelson, New Zealand - Budapest, Hungary - Cape Town, South Africa - Sydney, Australia - Dunedin (FL), USA - Sofia, Bulgaria - Radonvilliers, France - Turin, Italy - Montpellier, France - Kansas City (MO), USA - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Wailea (HI), USA - Lubbock (TX), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Terrell (TX), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Budapest, Hungary - Montréal (QC), Canada - Sharon (CT), USA - Le Guilvinec, France - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Saigon, Vietnam - London, UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Orlando (FL), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Paris, France - Mainz, Germany - Newcastle (NSW), Australia - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Darmstadt, Germany - Naples (FL), USA - Torino, Italy - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Bogor, Indonesia - The Hague, Netherlands - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Melbourne (VIC), Australia - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand

Dunedin Florida Downtown - Christmas Celebration

Can you guess where I will be Friday evening? That's right, I will be downtown, checking out the wonderful Christmas goings-on. It should be a lot of fun. The City of Dunedin is putting on what they call An Old Fashioned Christmas. There will be entertainment from local churches and schools, carriage rides, train rides, Santa's Workshop, "Dickens Village" and lots more. And tomorrow night, Saturday, they will have the Holiday Boat Parade and Tree Lighting. I hope to be able to post pictures from these events in future posts.

Dunedin Florida Downtown Shops

This is Erika's Place for Gifts and Indulgences. It's a very welcoming looking place, if you ask me. You may remember from an earlier post, the shop next door is The Enchanted Branch Gift Gallery. Erika's is filled with the most interesting stuff. All sorts of things that would make great gifts this time of year! Here is a more recent photo of Erika's Place, taken just at sunset. I think there was some sort of wine tasting shop stroll going on. Or some such thing. It was really nice. They even had live music just down the way. But that shot is for another day! :)

Dunedin Florida Homes

Here is another fine example of the kind of housing we have here in Dunedin. This would probably be considered a typical home in a nice mid-level neighborhood. There are a number of homes available for sale or rent in this neighborhood. One just down the street, that is a little smaller, is selling for US$ 219,000.

From this spot, it is only a short drive to grocery stores, restaurants, various shops, and more. Just a little further, no more than 5 or 10 minutes drive, are the Downtown Dunedin area, Mease Hospital Dunedin, Westfield Countryside Mall, and much, much, more. Oh, and it might come in handy for you to know, should you be wanting to search for something in Dunedin, Florida, or map something here, that the zip code is 34698.

Dunedin Marina - Moonlight Paddle Launch

In recognition of our summer-like temps (high of 82F), I offer up this archive picture from a moonlight paddle sponsored by a local kayak outfitter, Osprey Bay Outdoors. We launched from Dunedin Marina in the evening, just a little while before sunset. Then we paddled to a spoil island less than a mile from the launch for a Jimmy Buffet, Margaritaville style party. We all had drinks, burgers, hot dogs and s'mores while we watched the sun go down. Then we partied for a while, and paddled back to the Dunedin Marina under a brilliant moon, arriving around midnight. It was a lot of fun. And hey, it's Florida, that's why we live here, isn't it?

You can't see my boat in this shot, but it looks very much like the third one from the left. It's a Dirigo 120, by Old Town. You can see the Old Town information about it here. It's not a real fancy boat, but I love it just the same. This area is perfect for kayaking, with rivers, bays, harbors and the Gulf of Mexico all nearby. Of course, the weather makes it enjoyable just about all year round.And here I borrow a great idea from my fellow blogger in Brasov, Romania, including some satellite images from Google Earth. Modern technology is AWESOME! The picture on the left is the spoil island we visited for the party. The middle image is the Dunedin Marina. The image on the right shows both the Marina and the spoil island, so you can get a little bit of an idea of the distance. Click to enlarge.

Dunedin Florida - The Fenway On The Bay

This is the Fenway On The Bay resort hotel. It is located in Dunedin, Florida, on Edgewater Drive, where I showed you this home, and that home. It opened in 1925, and is now the subject of a campaign to save it. See the photo below. You can check out the Save The Fenway website here.

This photograph was taken right at sunset, so the building's sunset color was accentuated even further. It is a beautiful old part of Dunedin's history. In fact, as you will read on the Save The Fenway website, the first ever radio broadcast in Pinellas County (that's where we are), was broadcast from the Fenway during opening ceremonies! It's cool stuff, complete with lots of photos. Check it out.

A picture of the sign that alerted me to the campaign, and a second photo of the Fenway, with less 'sunset' on it.

City Of Dunedin Florida - Pioneer Park Bandshell

I know this is in Pioneer Park, in the City of Dunedin, but I am not sure one would call it a band shell. Stage perhaps, covered stage? Either way, it is a lovely structure, and it looks great in this park downtown. I can also tell you that they have a Green Market here, and show movies in the park here from time to time. Usually older movies. Some recent titles have been Arsenic and Old Lace, as well as Casablanca.

From here, many shops and restaurants are in walking distance. They are too many to name, but some that I have mentioned before include Casa Tina, Cafe Alfresco, The Enchanted Branch Gift Gallery, and Palm Latitudes. In the future, you will see more and more of these places, as I do my best to capture life in Dunedin, Florida in pixels, for you.