The best $2.50 you can spend in Florida is at Robbie's Marna

Announcement- I went to Florida for 12 days. I have a lot of experiences and photos I want to share. In doing so, I will have many posts about Florida. I will try to give useful info in each post for anyone interested in visiting these great places.This is the first one I hope you enjoy

In between Mile Markers 77-78 on the Overseas Highway you come to Robbie's Marina. It is easily visible when coming over the bridge going south.

Robbie's is famous because trophy sized Tarpon hang out around the docks. For a fee of $2.50 you can go out on the docks and see the Tarpon. You can also buy buckets of fish for $4 that have between 6-8 fish in them and feed the Tarpon by hand. Doing this has been on my bucket list for years. On the third day of our vacation I got to check it off of the list. Robbie's opens at 7 am and we were there just after opening. What I didn't realize was how many other photo opportunities I'd have. Even if you are afraid to let a two hundred pound Tarpon rip a piece of fish out of your hand, it is worth the $2.50 to see the monsters anyway.

Laurie took dozens of photos while I was feeding the tarpon (I bought three buckets of fish). This photo below is by far the best. The fact that she got one photo of their lightening speed feeding is amazing. Much more below the photo of the tarpon

 The Tarpon aren't the only animals around the docks trying to get a free meal. There were Snowy Egrets and Great Egrets on the docks. Though, they did not seem to be freeloading. Pelicans are a different story. They have no fear. They will try to steal the fish right out of your hand. One did steal a fish from behind me while I was holding it. They were pretty annoying actually. There were also White Ibis hanging around. Like the Egrets, they were there, but not bothering anyone. Photos of birds and another Tarpon below

Snowy Egret

150 pound Tarpon a thousandth of a second after eating
out of my hand

Multiple Trophy Tarpon below me

Great Egret

White Ibis

Coming Face to Face with a
Brown Pelican

Eye to eye

Up close and personal with a Great Egret

Snowy Egret