Jan 31, 2012, Weeki Wachee River

We went back to Weeki Wachee river. Weeki Wachee means small spring, winding river in Seminole. John rented me a sit upon kayak. It was way less hassle than wrestling with mine, it did not cost much more than having them shuttle mine and the boat  boys carried it. It was 78 degrees air, 74 degree water, sunny skies, clear water, white sand and tropical foliage. It was a wonderful float.

great Blue Heron, John on the river

A cooter, and John on the river again

river foliage

John floating, John with a big cypress tree

the front of my boat and more lovely scenery

John sitting upon his kayak. Shooting photos of these cooters.

river flowers and two manatees. You can only see half of the big one. They swam under my boat and they were longer and wider than the boat. The manatees are huge! And these were small ones

beautiful river and some white ibis

two more manatees. They were in this deep hole on the river. The boat boys told me it is 115 feet deep there.  The rest of the river was much shallower

me in the sit upon

Jan 30 2012 Weeki Wachee Spring State Park

We went to Weeki Wachee springs state park. It used to one of Florida's premier roadside attractions, before Disneyland came.  They would do 8 sold out mermaid shows a day, with a 400 seat underwater observatory to watch.  The park also has buccaneers bay with is a nice swim beach and a couple of water rides and a scenic river boat ride.  Plus picnic areas, restaurants, gardens, peacocks, and a souvenir shop.

Weeki Wachee means small spring or winding river in Seminole language. It is 407 feet deep, the US deepest spring. It also has a huge cavern system under ground that scuba divers can explore.

Buccaneers bay, and the main spring, John is sitting in the lap of the mermaid statue. There are lot of anatomically correct statues around the park.

views from the scenic river boat trip. The water is crystal clear, 74 degrees and has white sand on the bottom.

Mermaid theatre. They have hoses with air they can breathe when they need to breath.

There were a number of fish and turtles who swam with the mermaids. Sometimes manatees join them and an occasional alligator.

the last show was a patriotic show done in bathing suits. And we have John’s by John

January 27-29 2012, Homosassa, Florida

We visited  Homosassa Springs State park. It has a big spring with a floating building on it, that has an underwater observatory in it. You can view the fish and if the manatees are close them underwater. It is a rescue park, most of the animals in it are disabled in some way and cannot be released into the wild. It has only native Florida animals

Manatee mail box at the park. The above part of the floating observatory in the spring

Mullet, the pole vaulting fish, and Lu the hippo. Lu is not a native Florida animal. He was a stunt hippo in movies and he retired here. When the park became a preserve and they were selling the no n Florida animals the towns people did not want him to go so they appealed to the governor of Florida and he granted Lu Florida citizenship, so he stayed. His birthday is in the end of January and they have a party for him. He gets a cake and the school kids who come for the party get cup cakes. He is 52 years old and weighs 6000 lbs..

Great horned owls and a barred owl

golden eagle- he had only one wing-guess the other one was injured, a sand hill crane

Lu, The ranger giving the hippo talk explained the splatter sign, then proceeded to stand behind it. . . Lu backs up to the wall there and poops  wagging his tail, splattering poop on who ever is standing there.  Hippos do that to males they want to impress and females they want to flirt with.

a great blue heron nesting in top of a palm tree, an anhinga-related to cormorants

gaters. I especially like the one in the front smiling. Manatees.

snooks fish seen from the underwater observatory and looking down from above

burrowing owls, a Florida panther. It is related to mountain lions, but smaller

Flamingos

the woman is carrying a bucket of flamingo chow to feed the flamingos, the ibis’s are following her like the pied piper. The flamingos paid no attention, she had to shoo them over to their food.

swan, white ibis’s

Florida black bear. He looks like he is holding court with the vultures, stork-who looks more like a vulture

ruins of Yulee sugar cane mill, and John (sassy) behind the sign at the monkey bar

Monkey Island. 5 spider monkeys live there. John and Sue having lunch at the Sweet grass tiki bar

The bus at Nature RV park in Homosassa. It is a big resort on the river that leads to the Gulf. Many RV’s on the river have their boats at a dock beside there homes. This lagoon in the photo leads to the river

Here we are at the RV rally in Brooksville, Florida. We are the first on the right. The second one on the left is another coach, just like ours. The first we have seen.  The rally is expecting 1000 RV’s. It is a an airport and we are parked on the unused runways.