Screaming Penguin

"Dr. Beach" has released his annual best beaches results for 2005 (what a gig this clown has eh? but you have to give him credit for making his own market for this stuff and being successful at it). Why is this significant this time, why does it warrant a post on the penguin? Well because I am quite pleased (and yes biased) to announce that Ft. Desoto near St. Pete Florida was rated number one in the nation. My old stomping grounds were the other side of the bay in Bradenton Florida, and I used to visit Egmont Key in the mouth of the bay, across the channel from Ft. Desoto, as often as possible (only accessible by boat, incredible island with only a pilot station on it now, but lots of history - great for exploring old forts and buildings in complete solitude - it has huge old turrets built to fight off the Spanish fleet - today is a National Wildlife Refuge (it wasnt in my day). Then more recently my parents got a place in St. Pete and I visit Ft Desoto just about every year for the great fishing (er, I mean to see family). Besides the Dr. Beach report about clean water, great sand, and uncrowded miles of shoreline in the Ft. Desoto park (its a county park, but an amazing one) be advised that you need a fishing pole to visit this area. Tarpon visit around May, snook are just about always around, as are trout, mackeral visit a few times a year, redfish are abundant, on and on and on - just dont wade fish and put your bleeding trout on a stringer tied to your waste as I sometimes see people do, the area in the channels used to also be known for hammerhead sharks (something that I guess does not affect the number one rating ;) - really its never been a problem, at least that I can recall, so long as you dont drag bleeding fish along with you as you explore).   'Dr. Beach' names Florida beach No. 1