Starting to get back into my usual routine now that I'm back to flying solo again. Basic breakfast this morning along with my reading of the comics and the doing of the daily crossword. I started picking up the trailer after that, as today was moving day. Several months ago I had made reservations at Paynes Prairie State Park, just up the road about 10 miles, to camp for the next 6 nights. I wanted to be a little bit closer to Gainsville and the weekend dance that will be there this weekend.

    There was no real hurry to get going this morning as there is never in assurance that the site I reserved would be vacated before this afternoon. So it was nearly 2:00 p.m. before I finally had everything hooked and ready to go. My stay at Fisherman's Cove RV park had been a good one, even though it is so low key there that it verges on being pretty much asleep most of the time. Perhaps that is why I like it.

    No problem getting in to my site this afternoon. They had all my paper work ready when I pulled up and the campground is mostly empty right at the moment. Of course that is usually the way it is in most state parks. Plenty of room during the week and then completely filled up on the weekends. Good thing I made my reservations so long ago.

    I have a new space, or new to me anyway, this time here. Like most, it is set back in the trees and while there are other campers around I think it will work out very well. The site isn't as level as others I have set up in at this campground. It took me at least another 20 minutes of fussing before Esmerelda was set up and reasonably level. The problem here was that there was a good cross slope, as well as a slope down from front to back. A couple layers of 2"x boards under the downhill set of wheels, as well as using the four scissor jacks, finally leveled it good enough. There was a bit of worry when I saw the front jacks foot starting to slide downhill at one point, but I got that settled down and everything seems to be stable now.

    Just hung out for most of the evening. I have been working on photo's that were taken several weeks ago in an effort to catch up. It will take a little bit of time to get them all done, but I got enough of them done to post a few more this evening. More of them will get posted over the next few days or so. Time to go read a magazine or two before going to bed. Enjoy the pictures.

Wakulla Springs State Park - Feb. 1, 2014

Wakulla State Park provides a one hour boat tour of several miles of the river for $8, one of the best deals around as far as I am concerned. Lead by a local ranger, you are likely to see just about anything while out and about. Last November, on another trip, there were dozens of manatee's in the river because of the cold weather. This time around there were none, but plenty of birds and other life to look at instead. 

My girlfriend, Rima, standing on the top of the 3 meter dive platform overlooking the spring basin. Just beyond the buoy you can see is the entrance to the spring, a hole that is more than 250 feet deep at this point. One of the largest springs in Florida, Wakulla Spring pumps out more than 1 billion gallons of fresh water per day. (Yes, that number is not a mistake). All of the water you see in the following pictures comes out of this one spring, except for a very small amount, only 10 million gallons per day or so, that comes in  from another close by spring. 

Looking out at some of the swampy land around the Wakulla River. You can see the trunks of the bald cypress, which normally look much more like needle bearing fir's. The only difference is that they lose all of their needles every year just like other trees lose their leaves. Cypress love the water and can, in fact, sprout in water that is 18"-24" deep. Once they grow above the surface of the surrounding water they start collecting detritus until they have made their own little island. 

 

Two pairs of Hooded Merganser's. Sure glad I got a new bird book for Christmas... I tend to forget the names of things if I don't see them very often.

Even though it was rather grey, and not all that warm out, there was a lot of wildlife out and about. 

A White Ibis.

There was enough sun out that some of the turtles were out basking. 

Nice smile huh!

 

Three different birds in this shot. On the left is a cormorant, then a White Ibis and then a Tricolored Heron. 

A female Anhinga, or Snake Bird, sitting out and drying her wings. 

There were a few alligators laying out in the sun, but this little one caught my eye.

Another White Ibis. 

If you look close at any of these pictures you will start to see all kinds of other birds in either the trees, walking on the marsh grasses or swimming. The whole area was simply awash with life. 

Note: More Photo's from Wakulla Springs State Park in my next post.