An Anhinga airs it's wings while perched high on the mast of a sailboat.

A sunk boat on a sandbar of one of the spoil islands. The Indian River is very shallow - usually only about 3 feet deep - except for one deep channel dug down the middle. The sand that was dredged up to dig the channel was piled up into what are called "spoil islands". They don't even have names, just "Spoil Island No. 1", "Spoil Island No. 2", etc.

<<< SideNote: old Indian River joke: man fell overboard and was thrashing and splashing and screaming "Save me! Save me!". Passing boaters yelled back "Put your feet down!". The Indian River is quite shallow - my brother used to walk across it (except for that deep channel). >>>

Fast growing trees like Australian Pine and Brazillian Pepper grow up on the islands, holding them together and giving visitors some welcome shade.

Lots of pelicans, osprey, eagles, herons and other birds nest in the spoil islands, and manatee and dolphins swim around them.

We were delighted to see a pod of dolphin swimming around our boat. Our guide told us that there are several individuals among them who are regulars in the lagoon.

Larger boats speed past us in the channel, but our pontoon boat rode the wakes out very smoothly. The lagoon has long been a primary route for transportation, trade and supplies along the east coast.

Unfriendly Indians, mosquitos and swampland have kept down the population of settlers over the years, but it couldn't last forever. Now you have to be rich to afford to live along the waterfront.

The bridge over the Sebastian Inlet, one of several points where the Atlantic feeds into the lagoon.

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