Feb 19, 2012 Matanzas Pass Preserve and more

We are in the back of the RV park. They put us right up against the preserve-like about a foot. outside the windows on that side we don’t shut the curtains and we just see tropical flora. I got up early today and went into the preserve. It was really cool. I came back and got John and we hiked it again.  It is a live oak hammock with a Mangrove swamp next to the estuary.  A hammock is an Indian work for shade, they are little areas of higher ground in the swamps that have hard wood trees on them.

Today they shoe horned in this bus behind us, but see how close to the jungle we are. This is the view out the bathroom window

The view out the bedroom window. The entrance to Matanzas pass preserve

Mangrove roots, and shoots

Historic beach house- it was built in the 1940’s and was the 4th house on the island. It has a rain cistern, all the fresh water on the island had to be captured from the rain.  This is what palm trees look like in the wild, no one trims off the dead branches.

Rosary peas. They are deadly poison-but pretty

burnt palm trees and part of the path

Wild morning glories

morning glory and I don’t know what these red flowers are

common buckeye butterfly and John on the path

Mangrove trees.  They have those cool aerial roots

a mangrove tree wrapped around a palm tree, a tiny (1 1/4 inch) crab-he blends right in

gumbo limbo tree, and a flowering beach vine from when we walked on the beach later.

Pirate ship rounding the end of the island. It clouded up in the afternoon, even rained some. Still was 80 degrees and humid. We were not sure if we would get much of a sunset. But there was a tiny hole in the clouds and here it is. Looks kind of like a flying saucer.

A perfect end to a perfect day-I made a strawberry pannekuchen. From a recipe from the RV rally made in the on the combo convection/microwave setting of our oven. Had cool whip on it.