Friday, April 20, 2012

Florida 2012 - Week 7

On our last night at Manatee Springs State Park, we have a firefly trapped in the trailer.  It flies around our bedroom as we are trying to go to sleep and many times flies in front of the closet mirror door, perhaps thinking its reflection is a mate.  Grady follows it to the living room, then back to the bedroom, but never tries to catch it as he does with regular flies.  It puts on quite a light show for us, but in the morning, Brad finds it drowned in our dishes in the sink.

Only about one hour away, near High Springs, we stay in O'Leno State Park for two nights.  There is no spring here, just the Santa Fe River which is unfortunately low of water right now so there is no swimming, snorkeling, canoeing or kayaking allowed.  Being inland about 50 miles or so from the Gulf, we are again in the forest - with bugs (ticks, house flies, horse flies, yellow flies, a few mosquitos and no-see-ems).  After we set up the trailer, we take a short hike (nothing spectacular to report other than cool trees dripping with Spanish Moss and very tall pines), but on our second day, we go to Ichetucknee Springs State Park, where there is not only one spring, but two.

Brad diving in the Blue Hole at Ichetucknee Springs
Blue Hole is a deep cave about 40 to 50 feet down and leads to a series of underground (and underwater) caves where divers are allowed to explore from Memorial Day (at the end of May) until Labor Day (at the beginning of September).  The spring around Blue Hole isn't very big, and only Brad swims here as there's a lot of grass on the bottom of the swimming area, and that just freaks me out.  I like to be able to see a clear bottom so I know nothing is hiding.  Brad really enjoys this swim and pulls himself down into the hole for about 20 feet before his ears can't take the pressure anymore.  The main spring, Head Spring, is not as big a swimming area as many of the other springs we've visited on this trip, and there are very few fish, but we explore it a bit anyway.  The water is cool - always 72F so we don't swim long.

Marilyn on the beach at Grayton Beach State Park
Since we've had enough of forests and springs, we decide to head to the beach and go to Grayton Beach State Park in the panhandle near Destin.  It'll be nice not to have to worry about ticks!  It's hot and humid while we're here, so thank God for air conditioning!  This is a great park; excellent sites and a beautiful beach with powdered sugar white sand.  The water is rough because of high winds they had before we arrive.

Brad and Marilyn eating lunch on the beach
We spend some time on the beach just relaxing and doing a bit of walking, although Brad's not up to much of that yet with his bad ankle.  We do swim in the water on our last day; it must be 80F and it's much calmer than it has been since we arrive.  We explore a bit in the truck and on our bikes east and west of the park.  One day we have a fantastic lunch at Pompano Joe's which is a seafood restaurant overlooking the beach.  We watch surfers in the big waves left from the winds, and enjoy great food - Brad a seafood soup and huge breaded shrimp, me a Caribbean salad which was to die for!

Marilyn crossing the lake outlet to the Gulf
We also gawk at the million dollar mansions on the beach, some over $5,000,000 (six zeroes!) - but WOW!  No big condos here.  This county (Walton County) doesn't seem to allow big condos to be built, although there are some three-story high ones.  Mostly there are private residences - lots of money here.  There are some shops, but we don't browse.  The communities in this county seem to be very resident and guest conscious.  A bike trail follows the coast all the way - about 20 miles.  We ride a part of it.  One of the communities called Watercolor has all of their streets done with interlaced brick!  And there's lots of construction going on.  Each community runs into the next, but they have a small town feel, not like a tourist trap.  Absolutely lovely.
Overlooking the beach in Seagrove

Western Lake - a coastal dune lake (Gulf behind dunes)
One of the things that makes this area unique is the presence of "coastal dune lakes" which are found only here and a few other places in the world, namely South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Oregon.  These lakes are fed by streams, underground water sources, rain and storm surges, and are only connected to the Gulf during high tides and storms.  Some lakes are brackish whle others are fresh.  There are 15 lakes here on this 26 mile stretch, and they make for some beautiful scenery.

Captain Fantastic - The Village at Baytowne Wharf
When we arrive at a new location, we usually try to visit the local Tourist Information Center.  Through the one here, we discover that there are free concerts held weekly at the Village of Baytowne Wharf near Destin in a private community with this public space in the middle of it.  What a gorgeous place - again must be tons of money here.  The residents' taxes alone must be atronomical just to pay for the upkeep of the roadsides and medians!  What we can't belive is that everything is free - parking and the concert.  Perhaps the local business owners pay for the concerts to attract business.  It's a small park where the bandstand is, but we arrive early expecting that there might be a crowd (which there is) and get a good spot on the grass for our chairs in front of the stage.  Then Brad is in heaven because he finds out that he can get a tallboy (big beer can) for $2!  AND drink it in the park!  Many people bring their own wine bottles, others visit local restaurants and bars to get a traveller.  It reminds me of New Orleans' Bourbon Street.

The concert is fabulous.  It's a one-man show - a tribute to Billy Joel by 52nd Street and Elton John by Captain Fantastic.  Both acts are the same guy and he's GREAT!  The average age of folks here is about 60!  Many get up to dance to his music on the cobblestone apron in front of the stage.  The best part?  We're home by 9pm!  Just what us old farts like.

But our time comes to an end and on Saturday, April 21st, we leave for home.  We'll take 4 days to drive it since Grady doesn't like to spend too much time in the truck.  Well, I guess it's time to go - it's getting too hot anyway!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Florida 2012 - Week 6

In Crystal River, we stay in our first private RV park instead of a state or federal park.  Big difference.  Here, the sites are really close together and we get really unlucky parked between a couple of "seasonals" - people who stay the entire season (summer in this case).  During our second night, the folks on the one side of us are partying so loud, it's hard for us to sleep, even though I ask them at 11pm to keep the noise down (11pm is also "quiet time" in the park).  Not to go on about it, we complain the next morning to the office and get an upgraded site on their "lake" in a very quiet area of the park where we spend the last night of our stay.  Plus, they refund our one bad night.

Brad with a Gopher Tortoise on the trail
For entertainment, we spend one afternoon cycling in the Crystal River Preserve State Park on the 7-mile loop trail.  We are told by a couple of locals that we won't see any wildlife, but we see a cottonmouth snake and two gopher tortoises.  The snake and one of the tortoises I almost run over on the trail, breaking hard at the last minute.  Cottonmouth snakes are very venomous, so we have to be careful.  As the snake is stretched out across one side of the path, Brad moves to the opposite side so the snake is between us.  As soon as Brad steps too close for comfort, the snake instantly coils into a strike position.  I unfortunately miss that shot, but get a few other good ones.  This trail is great riding, and easy on the hard-packed sand surface.  The palm and pine forest is lush, with several water holes and a creek or two.  We also see only a blur of a wild boar in the bush, but we definitely hear him grunt as we startle his foraging.  So great wildlife viewing when we weren't expecting it.

Manatee eating lettuce at Homosassa Springs
As recommended, we visit the Ellie Shiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Homosassa Springs just south of Crystal River.  The park accommodates native Florida animals that are injured, hand-raised or unable to return to the wild.  There are, of course, manatees and alligators, as well as a Florida panther, bobcat, black bear, numerous birds like flamingos, hawks, eagles, egrets, and a variety of fish, snakes and turtles.  There is also an eastern couger here - she had been hand-raised and was given to this park when she got too big for her owner; and a hippo - "Lu" who used to appear in TV shows in the 1960s but was retired here as an attraction when the park was privately owned.  He will live out the rest of his days here.  There is a manatee show with a park volunteer.  He feeds these large aquatic mammals heads of lettuce.  They must eat 10% of their body weight everyday, and they are strictly vegetarian.  The manatees swim near the spring which is a hole 35 feet under the surface surrounded by rock cliff walls.  The park has built an underwater viewing area, which is a sight to behold, with hundreds of fish (snook, perch, and something that looks like a small tuna) and the feeding manatees.  Wow!  What a great place to visit for a couple of hours.

On the day we are to leave, we rise at 5:30am to get a 6:15 boat ride to the springs to swim with manatees near the Three Sisters Spring on the Crystal River.  We spot manatees right away, and one by one ease into the water.  There are four boats of us, about 50-60 people, and the sun has just risen, but the water is warmer than the air.  There are many rules because manatee are protected.  You are allowed only to touch them with one hand as they swim by you and you must not touch their face, flippers or tails.  We are also told not to talk louder than a whisper or very quietly and not to thrash about in the water kicking our feet as this scares them.  One of the manatee has a baby which we see nursing from under its mother's side flipper (this is where her nipples are).  I get to touch the baby, all 500 or so pounds of him, as he surfaces for air which they do about every 5-10 minutes although they can go up to 20 minutes.

We also swim in the actual spring which is down an alley of sorts off the main part of this creek feeding the river.  It's a large, deep hole this spring.  As we are swimming back out of the spring to our boat, our captain/guide says "baby manatee swimming into the spring" and the baby swims right under us.  It's apparently unusual for the manatee to go right into the spring, so this is a real treat.  There are about 4 or 5 manatee swimming with us this morning, which our captain says is the most they've seen here at one time since the winter, when the manatee come here to bask in the warm 72F waters coming out of the spring.  It's a very moving experience.  Unfortunately no photos since we use a disposable water camera, so have to get them developed when we get home.

On Easter Monday, it's off to Manatee Springs State Park, northeast of Crystal River.  Sadly, there are no manatee left in this spring as they've all headed out to the Suwannee River or the Gulf in search of warmer water.  As with most springs, this one is a constant 72F.  There is a lot of wildlife in this park, including deer which hang around the campsites, snakes which hang around the spring meaning I (Marilyn) won't be swimming, and ticks which seem to like Brad.  There are also mysterious sounds at night some of which we can identify as owls, but others - who knows?  Their prey certainly.  It's all very spooky although Grady isn't interested.  He likes watching the multitude of squirrels which chase each other around the trees.  The ground is covered with dead, dry leaves, and every movement sounds like a herd of buffalo.  Also there are many cardinals and other song birds which like to bathe in the water dripping from our water connection tap outside.

swimmers and scuba divers in Manatee Springs SP
Brad swims in the spring a couple of times, but because we saw a snake there on our first day, AND scared it INTO the water, I chicken out.  I just can't bring myself to do it knowing that I could come face to face with a snake.  Now, apparently, these are NOT water mocassins (aka cottonmouth snakes) which are deadly poisonous; these are brown water snakes and are non-venomous.  Even so, I'm not interested in sharing my pool with them.  Other people who come here more frequently say these snakes are always here but they never bother anyone.  I don't want to test the theory.

Brad at Salt Creek on the Lower Suwannee NWR
We also travel outside the park to drive a dirt road between two highways very near the Gulf.  This is the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).  There is a lookout over the estuary (a tidal flood plain that creates its own eco-system) (photo of Brad) and we cross several bridges over creeks along the road, but the water level is very low.  We see lots of tiny crabs, and we hear a wild boar, but see no other wildlife.

We'll be heading home soon.  We'll probably only make a couple of more stops before making the long trek.  Until next time...

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Florida 2012 - Week 5

St. Lucie South federal campground at St. Lucie locks
Well this is a different kind of RV park.  St. Lucie South is a federal campground with 9 RV sites, 3 tent sites and 8 boat slips at the St. Lucie Locks on the Okeechobee Waterway.  The waterway is a canal that connects the Atlantic Ocean on Florida's east coast at Port St. Lucie with the Gulf of Mexico on the west coast at Fort Myers through Lake Okeechobee.  There are a lot of fish in the canal - those acrobatic mullets which jump 3, 4 or 5 times resembling dolphins in a way, but the mullet always seem to land on their side; alligators; and snook which people are fishing for.  We bike ride in Phipps Park, a county park "next door".  Here there are several ponds, which look man-made, full of black ducks, turtles and a small gator, about 2-3 feet in length.

St. Lucie lock overflow and incoming pelican
All kinds of boats come through the locks, from big sailboats to personal fishing boats.  We learn that a boat is limited in the number of times it can pass through the lock system, because if the locks open and close too many times the water levels drop too much in Lake Okeechobee, which is already too low of water.  We also go to Jensen Beach on the Atlantic.  Again, a beautiful, eastern Florida beach.  Nothing spectacular to report.

Brad, Marilyn, Mike, Marion and Noah
Next stop, the Tampa area to visit our friends, Marion and Mike.  We've played volleyball with Marion for years and she now spends her winters down here in Valrico.  We spend one day just shooting the breeze with them, and another day cycling in a local county park - Aldermans Ford Park, which is so tropical Florida, with palms everywhere.    It's just beautiful.

Brad on the beach at Fort DeSoto County Park, St. Pete's
Brad and I also visit Fort DeSoto County Park on the peninsula near St. Petersburg.  It's a nice beach with the palms and pine trees providing shade right on the shore.  It's fairly crowded even though it's a weekday; I'd hate to see this area on a weekend or during March Break.  They also have cycle trails throughout the park, and a campground.  But what a great visit with Marion and Mike, whom we rarely get to see anymore since they moved to Ridgetown.

Off to the next adventure, Crystal River and then Manatee Springs State Park.