Part 2 of the Florida vacation recap. This one covers the BEST days.
January 27 – Snorkel Hunter Springs, Bird Nearby Area and Three Sisters Springs
Tuesday, we got up and headed back to see the manatees. This time we would go to Hunter Springs, which had a beach access to our friends.
Now, as I mentioned before, cold weather had hit the area, and manatees were coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. Originally, we were going to do this swim, then kayak to Three Springs, then have dinner at an area seafood place. And while the cold weather certainly increased the manatees, it complicated other parts of the plan. Eventually, our guide suggested skipping the kayaks and adding a trip to a local aquarium and a hike around the Three Sisters Spring. The group was for it.
Hunter Springs turned out to be a little park with a sandy entrance to the water. There were only a few manatees there, but the water quality was WONDERFUL. I was the first one into the water… this time in a zipped wetsuit! Outside the water, it was hovering around freezing, but the water was a balmy 68 degrees and I enjoyed every moment.
My phone camera was working a little better today, and I got a few minutes of fish and manatee footage (see video below). There was even a short (off camera) interaction, but the manatees seemed more interested in simply resting. Fair enough.
After an hour and a half, I was finally getting cool, so I got out and got dressed for a little birding.
Action was light, so I walked two blocks to Kings Bay Park.
I returned to Hunter Springs to find the group getting out to travel to our next adventure, SeaDaddy’s. They had an interesting array of small exhibits dedicated to showing some of the local invasive animals and documenting the problems these animals brought to the area. Personally, I would have skipped this.
Somewhere in here, we ate the sandwiches we had prepared back at the condo. At this point, we walked two blocks to the Three Sister’s Springs park. We walked a trail that took us along some great bird habitat, onto a boardwalk around the springs, then back into a pleasant trail.
We made it out of the park a few minutes after the closed for the day, loaded up in the van, and headed back to the condo. It was a great day.
January 28 – Return to Three Sisters Springs, Explore Homossa Springs Park
Wednesday started the first of two extremely early days. We were out the door by 5:15 (which, remember, is three hours ahead of Oregon time, so 2:15). The reason is that we were taking the 7:00am boat back to Three Sisters’s Springs. The entrance (that narrow one) wasn’t open, having been closed off to protect the manatee friends. But it turned out not to matter.
The morning was the coldest yet, but we could already see the manatees popping their heads up and even playing some. As soon as we got into the water, a young manatee approached SL and started to barrel roll. It wanted to play. SL shrieked in delight and surprise and the tone was set!
There were manatees all around, but most were adults and were more interested in resting than investigating us fools. But there were a few juveniles who had clearly had enough of this loafing about, and they wanted to see what we were doing.
Due to the water quality and my general dinginess, it was difficult to track all the things that were going on. I tried to get a little bit away from the group so I could have some breathing room, and KW told me that one of the juveniles followed me, determined to investigate. It came up underneath me and all I could think was “hello, beautiful.”
At least twice a young manatee came up and nuzzled my face and arms (could I nurse?). But there were so many manatees, people, boats, water, rocks, etc. that I think a lot of the experience gets lost in translation. Let me assure you, though, this was one of the best things I have ever experienced. We were not supposed to float about them, which was hard because they kept appearing. We were not supposed to pet them, but… well… I have to confess that when they nuzzled me, I could not resist a chin scritch. No one could have.
It was a cold day, and eventually everyone (even me) got past their cold tolerance, and we went back to the boat. KW was heading up the rear and got a final goodbye from one of our new friends that is keeping her high a week later.
The boat docked and the group got dressed. There was NO ONE who wasn’t slaphappy.
Somehow, we managed to make it to Homosassa Springs State Park. There we had ample time to wander around, looking at various items. However, two unfortunate things were happening with me. The first was that the battery in my big camera was dying. I only made it a little way into the park before I was forced to switch to my camera phone.
The second, and I didn’t realize it at the time, was that I had developed swimmer’s ear (actually, more properly, labyrinthitis.) I remember at one point during the morning’s swim starting to feel off balance and a little nauseous, but who cared? One we were at the park, the dizziness was worse, and I spent the excursion feeling pretty fragile. The combination of dizzy, tired, warm, and overexcited wasn’t the best. I ended up touring, then finding a shady place to sit quietly and protect myself.
One area of the park is dedicated to rehabbing and housing injured birds. There was an interesting combination of wild birds just hanging around and captive birds who couldn’t leave but looked happy.
It was a day that I don’t think I will ever forget!