A beautiful day here in mid Florida. Temps up in the 80's, sunny, just a bit of a breeze. To top it all off there was a little bit of a rain shower late this afternoon. It cooled things down to the mid 70's, a perfect temperature to go for a walk. The only down side is that the humidity went through the roof and the under arm protection no longer worked to it's fullest extent.

   It was a great day for a walk though, so that is what I did for several hours this afternoon. I first walked around the county park here for a bit more than an hour and then decided it would be a nice day to head back over to Manatee Springs State Park. Spent several hours there wandering around the spring area and then walking a couple of the hiking trails. Took a bunch of pictures again, mostly of spots I have already shot. But the light was different, the sky was less blue and the colors more pronounced. So as a result there are more pictures of the park below.

   Did stop on the way back to the trailer in order to pick up a few things at a store. Needed to get a couple of mailing envelopes and a box. Otherwise it has been a pretty quite evening here at the trailer.

Manatee Springs State Park - Dec 3, 2012



One of many large 'Live Oaks' in the park, this one isn't all that huge, but I did like the way it all seemed to lean one direction, as if blown by a huge storm.



I finally managed to sneak up on one of the armadillos that seem to be very numerous here in Florida. Based on the size of their head they can't be all that bright, but they do seem to see and hear pretty well so it has been hard to get a decent picture of one of them.



Looking at the site of the actual spring. There were two scuba divers here today and they told me that they could go down almost 120 feet and then horizontally for several hundred feet before it got too narrow to go any farther. Not sure if that is any kind of diving I ever want too do.



This is the actual color of the water. Being crystal clear, and having a white sand bottom, it reflects the sky blue color very well. The darker spots are lines of algae on the bottom.



The red colored leaves are the dead needles on the Bald Cypress trees along the spring run.



One of the divers also told me that there had to be about a thousand 10"-16" long catfish swimming around the deep parts of the pool.

 

A view of some of the 'cypress knees' along the shoreline.



Nice shadows and highlights on the trees along the river.

Looking out towards the intersection between the Spring Run and the Suwannee River. I love how the late afternoon sun shines on the water surface.

Another view showing off the glow on the water surface.

One last view for the day.