So we headed instead for a hike just a couple miles down the road in Lake Talquin State Forest.
We are also right across the road from the Apalachicola National Forest, so this is a great area of the state for spending good quality time in natural areas. The next morning we headed to one of those areas--Wakulla Springs State Park. Note to self--even if the GPS says this is the most direct way through the national forest, if it involves driving many miles on very sandy roads that are a foot lower than the forest around it, you should probably fire your GPS.
Our main reason to visit this Florida State Park was to take the boat ride through the protected section of the Wakulla River. It's unusual for us to buy tickets for attractions, but we had read good things about the wildlife we would see. So we paid $8 each to board the solar powered tour boat.
Jonah was our boat captain and guide. We had some second thoughts about boarding a boat with someone named Jonah, but we were glad we did. He was great at finding and telling us about the local wildlife. We would see so many alligators that we lost count. So we will beg forgiveness now for sprinkling in too many different pictures of gators in this blog.
We also floated right below one of our old friends--an osprey on her nest high above the water in a cypress tree. We really enjoyed watching these majestic birds at one of our campgrounds in Alabama, so it was good to see them nesting here in Florida as well.
Did we mention that there are a lot of alligators on the Wakulla River?
We saw many turtles sunning themselves on logs. Jonah pointed out that the rangers call this log the "Shell Station" because they can always count on seeing turtles here.
Speaking of turtles, here is a big one that must feel pretty comfortable that he is too big for the approaching alligator to swallow him.
Besides getting to see so many animals, it was a beautiful day to be on the water, with the fluffy white clouds mirrored in the water of the Wakulla.
Most of the gators were on the shore, but this big guy was in the water and heading our way. This picture shows the bumps on the his back clearly. Jonah told us that these are called scutes, and they contain blood vessels. Because an alligator is cold-blooded, he depends completely on absorbing heat from his surroundings to stay warm. These scutes give additional surfaces to collection solar heat.
Here's another picture of good-looking wildlife on the river. Denisa is glad to see that since his appointment with the dermatologist, Mark is doing great at wearing a hat in the sun. She appreciates the fact that he can rock that hat!
We are getting better at spotting alligators in the water. We look for a lumpy log that has eyes. You can't depend on seeing movement because these creatures can stay completely still without blinking.
With all those gators one would assume they are the star of the show on the Wakulla River. But the creature that we most wanted to see here was a manatee. These gentle giants are often called sea cows, because they spend most of their day under the water eating the sea grass in the river. Jonah instructed us that the best way to spot one was to see what looks like a big gray boulder just breaking the surface of the water.
Jonah turned our boat in the direction of the "gray boulder" and we were lucky to see our first glimpse of a manatee. We are again plagued with water stained by tannins, so our nine-foot gray manatee looks more red under the water today.
When the manatee was tired of us, we got a tail shot as this 1,000 pound giant drifted away under the water. We were so excited to get to see our first ever manatee!
With all the spanish moss draped on the tall water cypress, the Wakulla River looked like a movie set. In fact, it has been used for several different feature films. One was "Tarzan Against the World," filmed in 1941.
Another favorite moved filmed here is "The Creature From the Black Lagoon," from 1953. We glided by the entrance to the black lagoon, today appropriately guarded by a black cormorant.
Have we made the point yet that there were lots of alligators on the river today? We wished we would have counted, but there were literally too many to keep count.
Our last stop on the boat tour was beside the spring that gives the state park its name. Wakulla Springs is below the water close to the swimming area in the picture below. The double-decker diving platform has greeted park guests to the park for years. But the star of the park is Wakulla Springs, pouring out 250 million gallons of 70 degree water per day. We have seen this area on brochures with the 250 foot deep spring looking royal blue. Darn those spring rains that have continued to hide the beautiful blue water that Florida is famous for.
Before we left the state park, we took Jonah's advice and also rode our bikes on the trails. It was close to 80 degrees today, but we were cool riding through the shade of the tall trees of the forest.
The clear water in the swamp was another cool part of our bike ride today.
After the boardwalk section, we were riding through the thick forest on dirt trails with the sunlight filtering through.
Mark's getting pretty good at bicycle selfies!
Last stop was the lodge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Winter camellias are still blooming on the lawn even with the temperatures close to 80 degrees.
As if we hadn't seen enough alligators today, we saw the stuffed gator inside the lodge. This eleven-foot-two-inch gator named "Old Joe" was murdered inside this protected nature reserve.
Wakulla Springs State Park is a fun place to spend the day. After all those ugly alligator shots, we end our stay with another beautiful camellia. We have wandered through some of God's wonders today--both beautiful and ugly, and all awesome!
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