A wild stretch of beach beauty, not far from the concrete condos and resorts less than 30 minutes from St. Petersburg? Yup, Fort De Soto County Park (Pinellas County) is that place. The park is made up of a chain of five keys or islands over 1,136 acres. In addition to the Fort itself, a bunker-like structure built into the hill in the late 1880’s to protect Tampa Bay, there are beaches, trails, boat launches, picnic areas, snack bars, a campground, a bike trail and plenty of restrooms. Also, two fishing piers and a dog park (dogs are not allowed on the beach.) When we visited yesterday, it was too windy at the beach to launch the paddleboard. On a previous visit, the paddleboarding was great!