Florida Trip, part 3

The next day we decided it was a good time to explore the area of the park we were camping in. The weather was good for canoeing so we rented ourselves a canoe. While we were at the marina we finally saw manatees! For all our hunting they were under our noses the whole time. Apparently they like to hang out at the marina because the boats bring in fresh water. There was a whole group.

The water looks dirty but its actually full of tannins from the mangrove leaves. They stain the water and even the skin of the dolphins and manatees. 

After spending about an hour ogling the manatees we found nice loop trail that gave us a good view of the different ecosystems in the park. We weren't really experienced at canoeing so it took some time to get the hang of steering it. The trail started in a barrow, a man made deep pit where they dug out the limestone to build the roads. We had a hard time finding the trail and kept drifting where we didn't want to be. There is something unsettling about trying your hardest to paddle away from an alligator yet you keep drifting towards it. I think we expended a lot of energy inefficiently but we finally got on the trail and figured out the steering more or less. The second part of the trail was the red mangrove salt water marsh. In the south part of the park salt water and fresh water mix, and after we got out of the barrow, where the water was artificially deep, the water was only a foot or so deep which is normal for the park.

We could see a bunch of fish darting around in the water, it was crystal clear.

Transition to the saw grass prairie 

The next section was the saw grass prairie, it was by far the hardest paddle because we had to paddle through the grass, the canoe moving over it. It created a lot of drag and it was very draining. I wondered if we had bitten off more than we could chew. We were also serenaded by the growling of male alligators looking for a ready female. It sure was beautiful...

The trip finished full circle in a deep barrow again, Despite the heat (it was the hottest day at 85 degrees) the water was ice cold. We passed (very distantly) a huge 8 foot salt water crocodile (the very south of the park is the only place they live due to the salt water) but I didn't stop to take a picture. Crocodiles and alligators aren't very threatening on land because they can't move very fast but it is quite unnerving to be in their world. I was proud to have finished and in a little over 4 hours. 

After we lunched and rested we decided to finish the day and use our legs a bit and we hiked along the coastal area of the park. The water line was mostly covered in trees

There were a lot of spider webs along the trail as well complete with their resident creepy spiders (shudder) and it was the one time where we had problems with biting insects but it was nice to see another ecosystem in the park.