Florida - Paddling from Garden Cove

We took a leisurely 7-mile paddle through the mangrove channels north of Pennekamp State Park this afternoon. We put in off Garden Cove Road at a spot recommended in Bill Keogh's "The Florida Keys Paddling Guide" and paddled in and around North Sound Creek. About the only wildlife we saw was large fish in some of the deeper channels. The water was too deep for wading birds. But we enjoyed the explore.

We drove down to Islamorada to have dinner at the Islamorada Fish Company. Since I haven't gotten any pictures of pelicans, I took advantage of the large numbers that hang out on the docks near the restaurant and fish market. (Note for next time. The setting of the Islamorada Fish Company is as nice as we remembered, but I actually preferred the fish sandwich I got at Sundowners in Key Largo.)

Florida - Anhinga Trail cont'd

Here are some more pictures W got with his telephoto. A moorhen.A wood stork.

Florida - Anhinga Trail

This morning was rainy so we stayed in. But it started to clear in the afternoon, so we headed for the Everglades, with the requisite stop at "Robert Is Here" fruit stand for a key lime milkshake. Yum. We walked the Anhinga Trail and of course saw lots of anhingas and lots of alligators. In addition we saw several green herons, a couple tri-color herons,and I even saw a bittern, but didn't get a photo. And the bromeliads were blooming to add some color to the scene.

Florida - Key Largo

We had a fairly lazy morning and spent some time sitting down by the water, where 2 manatees appeared right off the bulkhead. It is not easy to get a picture of a manatee since it is mostly a blob beneath the surface. But W managed to catch one when it came up for air. Bet you've never seen a photo of a manatee nostril before.This afternoon we headed out into Tarpon Basin in the kayak. We had a great time exploring the mangrove tunnels around Dusenberry Creek.And coming back we nearly paddled over top of 2 manatees, possibly the ones we had seen earlier.

Florida - New Smyrna Beach

We explored New Smyrna Beach a bit this morning. We went up to the inlet and walked around, then we drove by the house that used to be W's grandparent's and took some pictures.Then we headed south to Key Largo where we will spend several days, staying at the Hamilton Inn.

Florida - Silver River - cont'd

We enjoyed the scenery on the river, basically a cypress swamp. And here are more animal sightings.

Alligators

LOTS of turtlesand Rhesus monkeys

There are several theories as to their origin, but the prevalent one seems to be that there was a jungle cruise boat ride at the Silver Springs theme park in the 1930's and the monkeys were placed on an island in the river as part of the scenery. And they simply swam off and disappeared into the forest. We saw plenty of evidence of their swimming ability as many of the young ones played around in the trees and belly-flopped into the water while this matriarch looked on.

Florida - Silver River

We had a great paddle today on the Silver River. We drove about 1 1/2 hours northwest to the Ray Wayside Park on Route 40. We put in the kayak there and floated down a short canal to the river. We then paddled 10 miles round trip to the springs and back, seeing all sorts of birds and animals along the way. The springs themselves were impressive - deep blue holes under the boat.

We saw the following birds:

Limpkin, which was a new one for us

Cormorant

Great Egret

Anhinga

Little Blue HeronWe also saw a black-crowned night heron, great blue heron, moorhens, snowy egret, lots of white ibis, and belted kingfisher.
More to come in the next post.

Road Trip

Yesterday we started our road trip to Florida. We spent 10 hours on the road, including stops, and stopped at Fairfield Inn in Lumberton, NC for the night. Today we finished the drive to New Smyrna Beach, FL where we're staying in the Ocean Trillium Suites. This is the view from our suite. This evening we walked up the beach, stopping to take a look at the cottage belonging to Rose and Kay (our NY neighbors who unfortunately are currently at their home in CA), and ended up at Boston's Seafood restaurant for a yummy meal.

Next Step

It has been gorgeous weather for our stay at camp. We've had mostly blue sky and warmish temperatures. It's been perfect weather for maple syruping - maybe next year. The snow is melting, but it has a LONG way to go.Of course we spent most of this visit in the basement. We finished the drywall today and drive back to NJ tomorrow. Next month is spackling. Can't wait :(

A Strange-Looking Life-Saver

Can you guess what this is? It is a drywall lifter. We drove to camp yesterday to start the next stage in the construction project - installing drywall. W and Eric put 2 pieces on the ceiling when they were here skiing last week. But there were several more sheets to go and after a couple of attempts today we gave up trying to install a heavy 4x8 sheet on the ceiling without help. We rented this lifter, and what a difference. We will easily finish the ceiling tomorrow - hurray.