Adiós primera Casita Aventuras

This is our last post for Casita Aventuras. We left the Everglades on Monday 3/7/16, turned the truck North and just kept going! We made it home Thursday.

Truck's thermometer and compass from Florida.

Próximamente: Casita Aventuras número dos!

The Everglades and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

We are coming to the end of our posts from our two month trip around the coast of the Gulf of Mexico with a few final photos from the Everglades and two from John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park off of Key Largo. 

Underwater coral

First the two taken from our glass bottom boat ride to the coral reef. The viewing from the boat was so much better than I thought it would be. However the underwater scenery passed by fairly quickly as we drifted over the reef and photographing it was not easy. I'm describing the photos as corals....I think. 

Underwater coral...is that a fish I see....?

   
And the final photos from the Everglades highlight its flora and fauna.

Close up of the mangrove roots. They look like they are walking.

Mangrove trees

An example of the epiphytes that live on some of the branches of the trees.

American alligator

American crocodile 

My favorite bird for this trip, the green backed heron

A male talapia making a nest

And let's not forget the mosquitoes!
The day after this photo was taken someone had moved the mosquito pointer to HORRIBLE.
My finger was kindly pointing to UNPLEASANT.

Just Birds

 I know everyone has been patiently anticipating a blog devoted to Everglade birds - so here it is!

Black Vulture guarding a nesting site.

  

Roseate Spoonbill in flight. - Paurotis Pond

Greater Scaup on Mrazik Pond

White Pelicans soaring on a thermal - Flamingo

Anhinga drying out - Royal Palm Key

White Ibis looking for a hand-out - John Pennekamp SP.

Great Egret fishing - Royal Palm Key

Purple Gallinule hopping around water lillies - Royal Palm Key

The Everglades- Flamingo, Florida

Arrived- Monday, February 29

We are in Flamingo, just us and the mosquitoes! We arrived just after sunset, set up the trailer while under attack and finished our bloody battle inside the trailer. We won the inside battle....

We've had no phone reception or internet while in the park, and the TV reception seems to be influenced by the time. We got the TODAY show in the morning with breakfast which would eventually fade away. Then starting around 6 PM we would start getting 1-2 Spanish stations, and by 8-9 PM we sometimes had 2 PBS stations. The later it got the better they came in. Later in the week we moved to Long Pine Campground and have very good reception...the better to see Downton Abbey with tonight!

The following are a few of our early pictures from the Everglades. The red shoulder hawk is fairly common and very good at posing on top of anything for a photo.

Red shouldered hawk

We went to the marina to go on a sunset cruise out onto Florida Bay, and buy insect repellent, 98% DEET. The manatees were in the marina, and I see George has labeled them as amorous...they just looked like they were rolling around to me. A lady taking photos called them "cute"...not a word I would use to describe them.

Amorous manatees

On the way out to the bay, we spotted ospreys who had a nest in a channel marker. There were at least two chicks in the nest.

Osprey pair raising chicks

And a beautiful sunset on Florida Bay...

Sunset on Florida Bay

This final photo is of the Spanish Moss hanging in the trees. We were told that chiggers like to live in this moss, you know those mites that burrow into you skin and make you itch? Ford used the moss to stuff the seats of model-T Fords back in the day. This could not have been a good idea....

Spanish Moss in West Indies Mahogany tree

Juniper Springs, Ocala National Forest, Florida

Juniper Springs, Ocala National Forest Florida

We are camping in a tropical paradise!

We rented a tandem kayak to go down 7+ miles of the spring fed stream which started from our camping area. The stream starts out so shallow that I was out of the kayak a number of times pulling it over sandbars until tributaries added more water and depth to the stream. It was really a beautifully untouched area of the Ocala National Forest. The water because it was spring fed is just so clear.

They did warn us, “Do Not try to walk out through the forest if something goes wrong. Just sit and blow your whistle!” There were numerous downed trees to get under and one set of small rapids that I worried far too much about. We saw tropical vegetation, fish, birds, many large turtles and a few alligators. I was tired by the end of the run. I had George’s phone to take pictures, so it took me too long to take it out and do what had to be done to get any pictures of the alligators, but I finally got a few pictures of the turtles...and the vegetation was very cooperative.

 We visited a horse farm in Ocala, Florida for a tour. They breed Gypsy Vanner horses, which were originally the horses of the Romani, Travelers, Gypsies of the British Isles. They used them to pull their caravans. The horses were beautiful as was the farm.

Manatee Springs State Park and the Shell Mound

Cypress tree and its "knees"

Magnolia cone

While staying at Cedar Key, we visited Manatee Springs State Park, and "no" we did not see any manatees. We were told where they had been in the morning and we looked, but we couldn't find them. The park did have a very nice boardwalk through a cypress swamp which was pretty fantastic or creepy looking, depending on what you think about swamps. The cypress have "knees" that grow up over their roots and look like little troll houses.  I liked the explanation that they add support to the tree base, but I am not certain that is true.

Loblolly pine.

Cabbage Palm

 

Fantastic cypress swamp (or creepy)

We also went on a self-guided walk through the woods (2 miles) to learn about the local vegetation, the results of planned burning and a recreation of a Native American chickee hut.

Chickee hut

Then there were quite a few vultures hanging around in the trees and on the fences, and they were creepy... I have no idea why they were hanging around. There must be food there somewhere. We just kept moving and looked lively!

Traveling along, we visited a shell mound which looks like a small hill, now being covered with plants and trees. This is a Native American site that covers 5 acres and is the result of 3,500 years of shells, bones and household debris disposal. It is 28 feet high and where the ground is eroded you can see all the shells.

George in the background walking up the shell mound. The whiteness of the path is from the shells.

Cedar Key, Florida (West coast of Florida)

Downtown buildings

We are staying near Cedar Key at a very nice RV campground. Cedar Key is a small "old fashion" town that has an artsy downtown street and a number of seafood restaurants and tourist shops on the water. We walked the main street visiting an artists' cooperative, viewing some street art, buying a few small items and picking up some stamps at the post office (Do you know stamps cost $.49 now?)

Seafood restaurants literally "on the water"

sign for a seafood restaurant on Main Street

mosaic street art

Swamphead Big Nose IPA with George in the background 

We had a lunch of oysters with pelicans flying by the windows. George had a choice of a local beer - Swamp Head Brewery - guess which one he chose? Wild Night, Big Nose IPA, Stumpknocker, Cottonmouth or Midnight Oil?  Big Nose...of all the names! Swamphead Big Nose!











There are no pictures of the Doppler Radar for last night. We heard the thunder and had some rain, but the severe weather front sort of split, passing to either side of Cedar Key. The weather alarm did go off rather loudly at 4 AM, for a tornado watch for the county, and that's how I know what the radar looked like. Our RV neighbor said that split happens quite often.

Fort Pickens - Gulf Islands National Seashore

These are our beach photos from Fort Pickens-Gulf Islands National Seashore. This is a barrier Island not far from the Alabama state line.  It has elevations of no more than 6 feet with "roads will flood" signs consistently reminding you of that fact. The sand is absolutely gorgeous made mainly of quartz eroded from the southern Appalachian Mountains. It looks like sugar.

When we looked to our right down the beach, we saw the fishermen and to our left, there was no one as far as we could see. The water was "refreshing" and luckily I didn't need refreshing!

Boardwalk over the dunes to the beach.

The only crazy person in the water...and I am married to him!

A view down the beach with fishermen surf casting.

Me with my sun hat tied down.

Had lunch with this pirate.
Pensacola Beach is right outside the park.

Now we're heading for Cedar Key, farther south on the Florida gulf coast.