Airplane Island

How many islands does Florida have, anyway? I've seen statistics that there are at least 4,500 Florida islands larger than 10 acres in size, and that 1,700 of them are in the lower "Florida Keys" area at the bottom tip of the state. Island aficionado that I am, I would regard even the islands that are less than 10 acres to be worthy of consideration, so even if this blog were to solely focus on the islands instead of also covering cocktails, cigars, haunted houses and ice cream, you can see I have enough grist for my mill to last well into my next life.

But today a concept struck me that I hadn't really considered: swamp islands. Apparently solid land masses speckled amongst the marshy swamps of the Everglades are also counted as islands by those who count such things. Consider the case of Airplane Island, which is listed on many websites that unfortunately do little more than acknowledge its existence.

According to Topoquest:

"Airplane Island is a island located in Collier County, FL at N26.17703° W81.39786° (NAD83) and at an elevation of 13 ft MSL."

Okay. Fair enough. But their map just shows a vast range of swamp with no clear-cut delineation of this alleged Airplane Island. And when you consult Google Maps and check out the satellite imagery, you can't see a golderned thing. Just swamp. And those channels cutting across nearby - are they paths in the swampwater cut through by boaters, or what? I dunno. But I'm gonna go there soon and find out. I'll send you a copy of the report.

A website called Traveling Luck lists the size of Airplane Island as "11km" on some of its pages and "0km" on others. So, uh, does this mean the island did exist but has now sunk? It also lists many other swamp islands, such as Hog Island, Flinthead Island, Sick Island, and Lone Chicken Island.