Long Point Park, Melbourne Beach, FL

We hope you all had as warm and Merry Christmas and as Happy a New Year as we did!

We've hit a cold spell in Florida the past month but Christmas day itself was in the mid-70s and beautiful!  Thanks to Susan's Mom & Dad (Janet & Charlie) for making our holidays special!  They spend their winters near by our latest stop at Long Point Park in Melbourne, FL. 

New Years eve we checked out the Palm Bay neighborhood all decorated for the holidays:

While staying at Long Point Park, we moved around a couple of times but our favorite spot was right on the inter coastal waterways:

Here's a look out our back window where we'd see fish jumping and dolphins & numerous birds hunting:

Here's one with a couple dolphins on the hunt just off the shore from camp:

Several nights we had the moon rising out our back window:

And the sunsets at Sebastian Inlet State Park bridge were incredible:

Still learning how to take pictures in the low light - this sunset was enhanced by huge smoke clouds from wild fires in the area:

Often at our camp site and all over Long Point you would find heron, ibis, crane, egret, pelican, anhinga & more and often they would all be hanging out together:

Hadn't mentioned before but since we've been in Florida we've enjoyed seeing hundreds of butterflies migrating - haven't been able to catch a picture of one until this past stop (perhaps they are slowing down with the cold weather too):

From our camp site we were able to ride bike trails along A1A for more miles than we'd be able to.  Here's another slow mover we caught while hiking Pelican Island SP (a 7 mile bike ride from Long Point):

We found this osprey resting/hunting half in the water while hiking Pelican Island:

Another day we were out with Charlie & Janet and found this guy running wild.  Evidently they cause a lot of problems down here with lawns and fairways . . . he came within a few feet of us:

One day we drove to Loxahatchee, FL to see more animals in the wild at Lion Country Safari.  You drive your car through the preserve where the animals roam - right up to your windows in some cases.  Here's an ostrich reminding us to keep our windows up:

Here's a 500 lb aldabra tortoise that was running circles around the car:

This wildebeast won the staring contest:

Here's a male & female impala grazing just a few feet from us:

These kulan's look a lot like a few Big Mouths I know from Cinci:

A nilgai (largest Asian antelope) chilling out:

What'cho looking at?  glares this Asiatic water buffalo:

A rare Indian blackblick:

This East African watusi came right up to the window:

as did this waterbuck:

These zebra and white rhinoceros were grazing together:

This 2.5 ton white rhino could have been a real challenge for our F350:

The park included a large walk-thru area to view more wild life and to relax to have lunch (the white ibis were looking for scraps too):

  You can get up close and feed the giraffe:

All kinds of colorful ...

and exotic birds to see:

There were so many more animals to see here.  Highly recommend a visit if you're in the area.

Another day we took a trip down to Jupiter where we checked out the Jupiter Inlet lighthouse from a deck bar across the inlet where we met our friend Roger:

We also checked out the beach while we were there.  Nice scenery but not our favorite beach to sit at:

Another day we hit the Sebastian County links where Suze (and her Caddy Mom) gave Charlie and me a lesson on consistency:

Another day Roger, Charlie & me went golfing at the Habitat course.  We saw a couple of each of these critters:

I noticed this guy looking back after I had just played my ball within 10' of the rough where this one lied:

And what would be a blog posting without mentioning the last 2 Pats games.  Blow outs but the only thing that made the insignificant Dolphins blowout enjoyable was that our Miami Dolphin fan friend Roger joined us to watch the game:

Were in Pembroke Pines (between Ft Lauderdale and Miami) for a week before moving over to the west coast in the Naples and Ft Myers area.  More to come . . .

Salt Springs Recreation Area - Ocala National Forest

We started off very cold here . . . record low temperatures in fact!  Below freezing for 3 of the 4 nights we were here.  Back up in the 70s the last couple of days though so no complaints.  The campground is pretty nice.  If you have a Nat'l Parks Pass, then it's ridiculously inexpensive to stay here.

We did go for a hike on the Salt Springs Observation Trail.  Short trail, soft sand most of the way, didn't see a lot of wildlife but nice shot of the moon and good exercise when it's 45 degrees!

Another slightly warmer day we walked the Yearling Trail.  It's about a 6 mile hike with some sections of trail difficult to determine where to go.  We did see 1 deer springing across the trail right at the site where Calvin Long's house once stood - the place where "The Yearling" was filmed.  This deer moved way too quickly to catch any shots (probably because it's also hunting season here).  That seemed to be a theme with all the deer we saw here this week.

Another day we rented a canoe and sailed from Juniper Springs Recreational Area for 7 miles down river.  What an awesome (but very challenging) trip!  This is no canoe ride for an inexperienced canoeist!  Very narrow, strong current, sharp turns and all kinds of trees as obstacles lying in the water - it's a blast!  Here's a couple shots of the river:

To give you an idea of how challenging the river was, here's a video:

Note the rapids, the fish & the otters in this video:

Along the way we spooked several flocks of ducks but they flew away much too fast to catch them on the camera.  Here's a couple of shots of 2 otters we saw playing and feeding on the fish:

We also saw many large turtles basking in the sun but I was only able to catch this little guy before he too went under:

And then there is the park where we're staying.  They call it Salt Springs because there are natural salt springs rising in the park which feed into the lake there.  Here's a view of the park on your way down to the water:

And here a view of the Salt Springs from the Park:

You can't sit here for more than 10 seconds without seeing or hearing some kind of wildlife in action. One of the 1st things we saw were my Big Mouth buddies (aka Turkeys) from the mid-west:

There are many different types of birds which we'll try to identify here.  1st a Little Blue Heron:

Here's a Anhinga, these guys were everywhere:

Another one in an awkward position made it look like a different bird at 1st glance:

The Little Blue Heron up close:

An Anhinga drying his wings in the sun:

A Great  Blue Heron:

I caught this Heron in flight on it's way for a landing:

This White Ibis was doing some fishing:

And these guys (Osprey & Anhinga we believe) would fill up the trees:

Here's one of many Osprey in the air together:

And the Moorhens & American Coots (ducks) were everywhere you looked too:

Caught one in flight here:

The birds were every where and they didn't seem to be bothered by each other for the most part:

One of the coolest but not welcomed by other birds was a Coopers Hawk (we believe) that flew in under the Spanish moss to hide from the osprey & turkey vultures overhead that were not happy about it's presence:

Here's one of the Turkey Vultures overhead keeping an eye on the hawk:

Now making our transition from birds to the sea life in the springs, here's one last Great Egret having a little fish snack:

As your standing on the walkway that surround the springs, you can look down and watch all kinds of sea life basking in the warm salt springs:

Still pics don't do this justice so here's a little video with some of the fish in the springs:

We also saw turtles & blue crabs making there way around here.  Here's one of the turtles coming up for sun:

And here's one of thee Blue Crab hiding under the rocks:

Back to the osprey and the moon above the lake:

We mentioned before how we saw many fish jumping at the same time in St Joe SP.  Well they seem to have the jumping fish here in the Salt Springs too:

Another crazy thing the fish do here is the lay on their side and flap their fins on the surface:

Here's one with several fish jumping one after another:

While here we were lucky to catch glimpses of several manatee who had just arrived for the winter.  Our view was obstructed as they appeared to be playing in the lake:

We departed Salt Springs and are now camping at Long Point Park in Melbourne Beach, FL  for the next 2.5 weeks.  More to come . . .

Grayton Beach State Park - 2nd time around

So we’re back to Grayton Beach for a couple more weeks – can’t get enough of this area!  We were doing some Xmas shopping at Pier Park in Panama City Beach when a nasty storm rolled through:

Temp dropped a good 40 degrees after this storm came through.  Cooler weather seemed to be the theme of the next couple of weeks here.   40s & 50s (some 60s) - still beats 20s & 30s back home (:

We went to McTighs (our favorite local Irish sports pub) to watch the Pats blowout the Jets on Monday night!  Great place to catch a game, good food, drink and friendly owner & wait staff! 

This visit to Grayton we saw Eagles every other day.  I had my best view while working on the trailer roof as 1 flew over quite low - but without a camera.  Here’s one of a pair of Eagles we observed flying wing to wing for several mins while biking – tough to catch a good pic of them:

We've been on the lookout for bobcat as there are signs indicating they are in the area.  We've been checking out all different animal tracks and thought we were on to something with these:

but learned later that these are most likely canine as the bobcat walks with it's nails retracted.

We’ve been doing a lot of biking here again.  The trails are great for hybrid bikes (except for the spiny spurs that have caused 5 flat tires so far):

Every day we explore new trails through the town of Water Color.  Nice packed sand trails with these elaborate bridges in between:

Many of the trails have markers to point out (and educate) interesting nature facts (if you stop to read them) – Deer moss here looks like mold on the forest floor:

Not bad for over the shoulder picture taking . . .

Going to try uploading a couple videos of these wonderful trails weaving there way through the town of Water Color:

While staying here, we hit a couple of the local State Parks nearby.  Falling Waters SP boast sinkholes and the longest waterfall in FL.  The trails were mostly railed boardwalks (protecting us from falling in):

Here’s a shot of one of the many sink holes here:

And then there’s the longest waterfall in Fl . . . not much water and what makes it the longest waterfall is that it flows into a sinkhole:

OK, I can't figure out how to upload this picture without losing the rotation 90 degrees to the left (so turn your head to the right or your computer to the left)!

The other State Park we visited Rocky Bayou SP.   Nice park but nothing exciting to see so no pics.  Both parks look like nice places to camp but I wouldn’t go out of the way just to visit.

We did see what looked like an oil slick just off the shoreline but it turned out to be a massive school of tiny fish.  This picture shows the “least terns” (seagull like birds) diving for these fish.  The pelicans seemed to be waiting for the larger fish to show up:

I'll try another video here of these birds in action:

We also saw several rays cruising by close to shore (you have to look close and you'll see the dark spots - they'd travel in groups of 3-4):

This last week here was birthday week for me.  We went to Bass Pro Shops in Destin where Suze & the Taylors (thanks for the gift cert!) bought me all the fishing gear I need to look like I know what I’m doing.  After several no nibble outings, I decided to go fishing at high tide for a change (which happened to be at 10pm) where I caught my 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd fish.  I believe they are all catfish (nasty finned fish):

Although they may have been keepers, I threw them all back in looking for bigger.  Next time!

The Pats delivered a wonderful birthday present with a blowout of the Bears this week . . .  and for a bonus, the Jets lose ugly to Miami!

We’re now at Salt Springs in Ocala National Forest.  No cell or internet here (but the local library has free wifi and comfy seats) - the park looks nice so far.  We're only here a few days before heading over toward Melbourne . . . more to come!

Blog Update notifications

There are many of you who have signed up to follow to our blog . . . not really sure what that does for you?  Some of you have commented on the blog but I've yet to figure out how to respond to you through the blog?  I also thought by signing up as a follower you may receive notice when we post a new blog page - but that's not the case.  So, I have setup an email distribution for those who would like to be notified when we post updates to our blog.  Some friends and most family (: are on this new email distribution whether you want to be or not.  If you want to make sure you are on this all important blog update email distribution, send an email to me at scott@bickfordpc.com and let me know you want to be notified as soon as new postings are available.

We decided we're going to hang at Grayton Beach State Park instead of moving to Topsail this week.  We're now planning to stay at Grayton until Dec 13th at which time we'll make our way to Silver Springs Camp in the Ocala National Park for 4 days before heading to Micco, Fl  for the Holidays.

More updates to come soon . . .