Rainbow Springs State Park, Dunnellon, Florida

Rainbow Springs is a very nice park!  If you're trying to find the campground, use the Dunnellon High School on SW 180th for GPS reference.  The Rainbow Springs Headsprings State Park is located several miles away from the campground.  Our campsite was a nice concrete pad with full hookups.  The Headsprings looked similar to Salt Springs however this is a 500 million gallon per day of fresh (not salt) water spring:

The park had several nice waterfalls to check out:

While we were staying in Rainbow Springs, Charlie & Janet joined us to check out nearby "The Villages" - which looks like a nice place to retire, a 2nd visit to Salt Springs and Rainbow Springs park where we were staying:

The river here offers tubing, kayaking, diving, swimming and small boating activities.  We were able to put our kayak in at the campground and paddle upstream to the headsprings and then float back to camp (1.5-2hr round trip).  Along the way we saw hundreds of turtles - some sunning with their feathered friends:

This otter followed us up stream for a ways:

We saw many turtle parties along the river banks working on perfecting the turtle pyramid:

Here's a look at the headsprings area from the water:



We saw several ducks along the way but none as colorful as these woodducks:

And these snake-like creeping birds would slither along the surface with their heads only above water before diving for small fish:

If you looked closely as you passed by the clumps of grass that just reached the waters surface you would see lots of little turtle heads sticking up:

We also saw a huge turtle (logger-head we believe) which reminded us both of a certain Bickford family member (we won't mention any names but we nick-named the turtle Teddy):

To give you some idea of how clear the water is from our kayak, here's a little video:

And what looked like a lot of fun (except perhaps for the fact there were gators around) were the people cruising the river with scuba gear (water is always 72 degrees):

This Anhinga hung out on the same boat ramp water hazard every day . . . this day it did a little dance for us:

Rainbow Springs campground had several armadillos throughout the area:

 And when we hit Salt Springs with Charlie & Janet we may not of seen as much wildlife as our 1st visit (perhaps they've migrated south to warmer weather) but we did still see the fish jumping:

along with some exotic birds that we've yet to identify:

and several manatee kicking around, hundreds of different fish in the springs and not as many as last visit but still many different birds.  Still a good take in February!!! 

On our way back from Salt Springs to Rainbow Springs, we stopped at Alexander Springs.  Similar springhead area as the others.  Some wildlife to see - mostly birds including this hawk:

This looked like a nice place to kayak.  They do allow you to bring your own or rent from them.  We decided to pass on kayaking today but would recommend checking it out!

Another day we took a short trip to Crystal River State Preserve to do there 9 mile bike trail.  We saw 2 deer, an opossum and several winged creatures while in the park.  There was a nice ramp for kayaking here too.  The 1st 5 miles of the bike trail were hard packed sand and grass but after that the ground softened up and it felt like you were riding with 2 flat tires.  Great work out!

We're now off to Amelia Island and St. Augustine in the Jacksonville, FL area for the next 10 days . . . more to come

Lovers Key State Park - Fort Myers, FL

I spent a day at Lovers Key State Park when I was in Ft Myers on my own.  Very nice Park!  They have a nice beach, great areas to kayak & fish, some paved bike trails and a nature trail which I biked.  The trail was mostly packed sand and grass which went along the inland waterways:

I didn't see a ton of wildlife here either but much more than the whole town of Sebring, FL had to offer!  This osprey was hanging out on top of a dead tree at the side of the bike trail:

This crane and anhinga were sharing an island while they dried out their feathers:

This blue heron was trying to hide amongst the mangroves:

And this female osprey was hard at work tending to a nest while the male made sure she was doing everything right:

This park didn't have camping but a great place to go visit for the day if you're in the area!  More to come from Rainbow Springs next week . . .

Highlands Hammock State Park - Sebring, FL

So I went off to the middle of the state of Florida.  Acres and acres of orange, grapefruit & lemon trees along the way (and not much else).  It really seemed like I was in a different state.  This site (#108) was a little tight but there were some good sized sites in this campground.

The park offers some biking trails.  I tried the 8 mile off-road loop - 1/4 of it is very soft sand that is difficult to even walk your bike through.  Good workout though!  There is also a 3 mile paved loop with many short hiking trail heads off it.  I did it on bike - beautiful ride through the fern canopy:

In general, this place was a little creepy.  Nice scenery but almost no wildlife:

The waters here had no wildlife in them unlike everywhere else we've been - eerie but looked cool.

Aside from the deer that jumped in front of my truck as I drove into the park, the only other wildlife I saw all throughout the park were armadillos:

There were lots of wild grapefruit trees:

and wild orange trees throughout the area too:

I was advised to go to the 7 Lakes area of the park to do kayaking.  When I got there, it was an over sized puddle with several feet of mud to drag your kayak through to make the water - don't bother!  Might of been a good place to hike but the only other person there was a very strange dude high on life (or something else) so I left.  Decided to drive around Jackson Lake in Sebring to see what was there.  Again, no animals and the 2 beaches I stopped at were closed for "aquatic spraying" - maybe that's why no wildlife?  Then I drove out to Avon Park Air Force base wildlife refuge but due to bombing, the area was closed for a few days - call ahead next time!

Another day I hit Lake June and Winter Scrub State Park.  This too was a little strange but par for the course around this place.  The road into the park was barely passable if you were not in a truck due to downed branches.  I was the only one there.  I did the very short hike off the parking lot but all I found there were spider webs (in my face).  I walked down to the waterfront (Lake June) where there was no wildlife except this large gator cruising the shoreline (and people boat, swim & ski in here):

I hiked about 1.5 miles in on a sand road without seeing much wildlife except these 2 eagles off in the distance up in trees:

On the way back out of the park, this large sandhill crane was walking along the dirt road:

And finally I stopped at another park along Lake June on the way back to look for more wildlife.  This guy was the best I could come up with:

Now I'm off to Ft Myers to Woodsmoke RV campground for a few days to pick up Suze.  We head for Rainbow Springs early next week.  More to come . . .

Crystal Lake RV Park, Naples, FL

What a great find this place was.  It's not cheap but nothing is down here this time of year.  This is the nicest place we've stayed at since we've left.  70% of the units are park models, 20% are beautiful Class A buses and the rest are 5th wheels.  This place offers everything and has activities going on every day - great place to retire to!  Here's a look at our "camp site" . . .

Many people working on their left handed "Taylor" putting out front of the club house (weekly competitions with 50+ people):

And out back there is tennis, shuffleboard, boccie, a lake with boats to use and horseshoes where I put on a few demonstrations during our stay:

And a beautiful pool & hot tubs area to relax in:

We're stayed about 8 miles from the beach.  We visited the Delnor-Wiggins State Park several days while here.  The beach was pretty nice:

Me and my egret friend spent a lot of time fishing while we were hanging here:

 I managed to pull in a fish that looked tropical and no one nearby knew what it was so I let it go.  Found out later it was a sheepshead which is highly sought after - good eating!

Also caught my first spotted trout keeper but let it go for the bigger one (that I never did catch):

Meanwhile these osprey were keeping a close eye on all fishing activities on the beach:

The best place to enjoy all this activity is all the way down to the end of the park (lot #5) where there is an inlet to Naples own inter coastal waterway.  Keep an eye out for these guys when you hit the restroom - they like to drink from the outdoor showers:

Suze found this hermit crab crawling on the beach:

  We also hit the boat ramp here with our kayak and explored the inter coastal waterways.  We saw these American Oystercatchers along the way:

And many of these herons and egrets among the mangrove roots:

And we're unsure about this either red-shoulder or coopers hawk we saw kayaking:

And almost every time just before or just after high tide, we would see the Dolphins wrapping up their hunting in and out of the inlet:

Another day we drove to Sanibel Island (just off Ft Myers Beach).  We brought our bikes and started from the J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  You share the ride with cars but there was plenty of wildlife to see along the way.  Not sure what this little guy is:

Everyone was telling us this one was an eagle . . . may be a young one?

And there were thousands of Ibis, Egrets and Pelicans throughout the wetlands here to see:

On a 2nd visit to this same reserve, I caught a few Roseate Spoonbills (check out the beak on the bird with it's wings up):

And also found a Bald Eagle hanging in it's nest:

And the first "live" horseshoe crab I've seen . . . moving across the water:

We're now card carrying members of the national Audubon Society after visiting the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples.  At first it seemed a little lame walking the boardwalk in the middle of nowhere with some hackapotimus hacking up a lung every 2 minutes which would scare away any panther, bobcat or chipmunk within 2 miles.  But as we progressed down the boardwalk, people were pointing out wildlife that we may have missed otherwise . . . like this hawk for example:

Not the best action picture but I did catch this guy as he was taking off too:

Suze found this turtle hiding amongst the lily pads:

This little blue heron walking on top of the lily pads hunting for food:

You had to look really close (or have a 20X zoom) to see this gator hanging out among the lily pads too:

Another day we hit Everglades National Park from the Everglades City side (south west coast).  This side of the Everglades took a little more work to find the wildlife but if you were patient, you'd find plenty of gators:

We even saw some hanging in the water here:

There was a beautiful blue heron hunting amongst the Spanish moss in the swamp:

And this diamondback rattlesnake crossed our path:

And like many other places we've seen, the various species of birds all seemed to get along as they hunted together:

Suze has gone back to NH/MA to wrap up some work stuff while I knock off my honey-do list.  While still in Naples, I hooked up with our friend Ann Rossi and her husband Joe who were finishing up renovations on a beautiful rental place they just picked up on Ft Myers Beach.  No pictures but I had a great time hanging with these guys for the night!  Roger also came over to keep me company for a day - we got up close to a forest fire that was threatening houses and a shopping center nearby:

I went off to Highlands Hammock State Park in mid-Florida before coming back to Woodsmoke RV Park in Ft Myers to pic Suze up this week.  We're both off to Rainbow Springs State Park further north early next week.  Stay tuned for more updates . . .