The Fak

Coming home from vacation in the Florida keys, I stopped off at a new observing site which is commonly used by the Southwest Florida Astronomical Society. It's in a preserve called the Fakahatchee Strand, which is in turn part of the Big Cypress Basin. Most local amateurs call it "the Fak." This was the first time I'd been there, mostly because I won't go to a new site without first checking it out in the daytime (it's also locked in to my GPS now, so I feel comfortable about finding it it in the dark). You can see my Flickr album of it here, and a Google Earth file here. It's actually quite beautiful.

I was impressed. It looks like this site has two things going for it:

1. It's a lot closer to me than my regular dark sky observing site at Kirby Storter (probably will shave 45 minutes off a one-way trip)

2. It looks much more shielded from car lights than Kirby Storter, as you must travel about a mile down a dirt road from the highway.

Only a real observing trip will let me compare, obviously, but it's nice to know I've got another option as far as observing locations go. The site is surrounded by (man-made?) lakes, so I don't know how that will effect fog conditions. Can't wait to find out!

Clear skies (especially for me tonight)!