Honeymoon Island State Park Access for Kiteboarding

[Whitey]

I met with the park manager of Honeymoon State Park this morning. He has agreed to work with us if we will work with him. He ask that I pass along the following to those that would like to kiteboard around the barrier islands in northern Pinellas County.

The area that is under the jurisdiction of the Honeymoon office includes Caladisi island, Honeymoon island, Three Rooker (the main island and the small island to the north of the cut), Anclote, and the North Anclote bar.

The park will allow us to rig, launch, return, and ride out of park waters from the area just to the west of dog beach on Honeymoon Island. There is a sign there showing the boundry of dog beach and we are to be just to the west of that sign. Under no circumstances are there to be any kites set up to the west of the vollyball court. We are to stay well to the east of the vollyball court, close to dog beach limit.

The park boundries are 400' out from mean low tide. In order to keep access from being shutdown we must ride in and out from the designated area and then STAY 150 YARDS OFF SHORE, until you are coming in to land your kite, at which time you can ride into the designated area to land.

The enforcement officers have been made aware of this agreement by park management and will direct anyone found setting up outside of the designated area to it. If you are found riding anywhere inside the park boundries you are subject to a ticket with an $88.00 fine.

Three Rooker Island. There shall be no power kite flying in park boundries at Three Rooker Island. He agreed to allow us to pump up our kites on the beach at the north end of the island, as long as you do not lauch it from the beach. You can pump up on the beach then you must take your rig out into the water (off park property) to launch. Then you must stay 150 yds off of the island at all times.

Protection of the birds nesting and raising young on the island between April and September are the concern of the state. There are many species of nesting birds on the island and in the heat of summer. When they are spooked off of the nest it only takes a very short time for the eggs to cook or the chicks to die when not covered by the mother bird.

The park manager has been very cool in working with us to keep access to the park, as there are regulations in the books now that if enforced would prohibit us from using the park. Please comply with their requests and if you see someone not complying, advise them right away. It is important that we police ourselves and not become a problem of enforcement to the deputies of the park.

I ask if we could get a sign put on the west side of the sign post that is there for dog beach to mark the proper area to launch from, and Pete said he would look into it.

Thanking everyone in advance for complying with these requests, as protection of places to play with your toys is very, very, valuable. If you loose it, it will be very hard to get it back. Enjoy the wind. Craig

[jetpack]

Is there any way you can eleborate a little more using the image attached? I can email it to you to edit.

For now I'm sticking to Sunset until I get better, but would like to venture other places someday.

I'd like to see a graphic representation of what the park guys are expressing.

Tyler

[Whitey]

Attachment 873

Can you open this and see it? I cant figure out how to make it a photograph on the post.

[Tony]

Craig-

Thanks for taking the initiative on this. Yes - I can pull up the PDF. Looks good. Question - can we ride closer than 150 at Calidisi or are all the islands 150 off shore? Again - thanks and I will spread the word.

Tony

[Unimog Bob]

here it is, just in case.

[Whitey]

We must not fly our kites on over or in park property. That includes all the islands mentioned. That's why the red line is around the north tip of caladisi on the map. This is due to the kites spooking birds off of their young or eggs. It is most important in the months of April thur September. Use common sense and all should be good. The days of riding 5 ft off the downwind side of the island in the shore glass are over. But with some cooperation from everyone we will have access to the entire area for kiting. 150 yards off shore is no big deal. If you want waves the whole southside of the pass is sandbar break. Just outside of the bar is nice rollers. The young girls can see 150 yards easy and the cougars have glasses.

[Jake]

That's the area where I have launched in the past. However, if there is an on-shore wind, it will be difficult to get out past the 150 yard zone unless the tide is low and you can walk out.

Thanks for your efforts in meeting with the park ranger on this matter. I'll pass the info on to those kiters who don't subscribe to this forum.

[Steve-O]

Unfortunately some of the bigger issues here are completely out of our control.

Drunks, loud music, dogs off of leashes, people wondering around the islands, illegal camping and campfires, the list goes on.....

I would bet that the majority of complaints from the bird folks are of this nature and somehow we got wrapped into that mess of human behavior...

Unfortunate, but the world we live in.

Play by the rules, and when the birds fly away, hopefully, we can enjoy the beautiful barrier islands of our area without too much restriction. A good thing the winds suck this time of year. But I guess that is exactly why the birds are there. I am sure a 30knot cold front in February doesn't make for a good nest environment.

Only time will tell.

Thanks Craig, you da man for keeping this situation drama free and coming up with the best possible resolution.

[Unimog Bob]

I am actually surprised that this approach or similar isn't being enforced along all of the St. Pete beaches, with the substitution of the swim areas markers as the 150 yards out idea. 150 yards out seems a tad much for SPB, but 200 feet seems reasonable.

I will be surprised if this approach is indeed not one day applied to all of St. Pete's beaches. To me it makes sense. This is how jet-skis are regulated along SPB area and we are almost as dangerous. Some could say more dangerous, because the beach-goer can't hear us coming and we could sneak up on them and hit them without forewarning.

I am not going to go ask for rules along the beaches or initiate talks with cops, etc.... but I won't be surprised if we "ask for concessions and compromises" in the future after being asked to not ride. Exactly how Craig just did. Good work Craig, btw.

We don't have in it writing, but Jim Wilson at Fort DeSoto also strongly prefers we avoid North Beach this time of year. It has to with birds and the huge numbers of people. It's not in writing or a rule (as far as I know) but he would prefer it.

[Todd RT]

No other launches anywhere on hmi or caladesi???? Just that one spot on HMI? What about other wind directions??

Will this be lifted when the birds are not nesting anymore?