This is how I used to remember John U. Lloyd State Park. It was the only beach in South Florida since Hurricane Andrew in 1992 where you could sit in the shade of a pine tree and walk 10 feet and hit the ocean. From this image (circa 2003), you can see lots of shade trees near the beach. I used to spend my Easters there staring at the ocean through the plumes of cigar smoke.
So, today on Easter Sunday, I decided to head out there again, so I could plant my chair under a pine tree and enjoy a nice breeze while looking at the ocean. I left my beach umbrellas at home since I figured I would not need them. Well, much as changed since Hurricane Wilma and Katrina made their way through Broward County. There is no more shade at John U. Lloyd. None. Zilch. It is nothing but bare beach, with picnic tables under no shade and a lot of newly planted sable palms with not even an inch of shade. They've brought in a ton of sand, so now you have to walk a lot to get to the beach. So it's bye bye to this beach for me. I figure to head back to El Farito. They at least have some shade, but you still have to walk to the beach a bit. In any event, I ended up at CB Smith Park instead after wasting $5 on the entrance fee to JULSP. Spent the day at the waterpark there. Not quite the beach, but it was fun.
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