Fun Days with good Friends

Thursday January 9 & Friday January 10, 2014
Myakka River State Park Site 77
Sarasota, Florida

 

 

THURSDAY

 

Not sure what we really did with most of the day but in the afternoon we biked about 2.5 miles down the road from our campsite in the Palmetto Ridge Campground to Bill and Nancy’s campsite in the Big Flats Campground.

On the way we stop at a point where the river comes close to the road to see the beautiful roseate spoonbills. I’m not sure who the ducks are along side the roseates, perhaps Judy can tell us.

 

 

 

Further along, beside the bridge, we see the alligators lazing along the bank.  The wildlife doesn’t seem to be as abundant this year as last year when we were here but there is still plenty to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather has been warmer for the last few days so we are able to sit out around their picnic table and  chat for a while.  Then we play a few games of Sequence.  It’s been a long time since David and I have played it even though it is a game we have in our coach.  We haven’t played cards in ages either.  Somehow we don’t seem to have the time.  At first it was going to be Bill and I against Nancy and David but both David and Bill are serious about their games and Nancy and especially me, not so much.

 

 

 

 

So we play girls against the boys.   David gets right back into the swing of things but I  have more trouble scoping out the board and my hand and playing in a timely manner.  Poor Bill has to remind me it is my turn a couple of times.   The boys won the first game and although we didn’t notice it, Nancy and I won the second game and didn’t even know it.   It was really too funny that we just kept playing until Bill pointed out that we already had two sequences!  Now there’s a good sport!   What fun, although I think I was a bit of a trial for the boys. 

 

 

 

FRIDAY

 

 

Bill and I are at the ranger station at 8am when it opens to get permits for a hike to Deep Hole which is in the Wilderness Preserve area of the park.  The limit per day of people allowed on the trail is 30 and you must have a permit signed by a ranger and a sticker on your car to park there.

We had done this hike once before a couple of years ago with our friends Gin and Syl but somehow took a wrong turn and never made it so this time we both had maps and directions so there would be no mistakes.

 

We have all found that the birds seem less abundant at Myakka this year than last and we are hoping that they all might be at Deep Hole.  And even if they aren’t, apparently there is a huge gathering of alligators there.

 

So at 10am we set out on what turns out to be an 8 mile hike in and back.   One bird that Myakka has in abundance all the time is vultures.  They keep the place nice and tidy and decorate the dead trees.

 

 

 

We haven’t been on the trail 10 minutes when Eagle eye Nancy (pun intended) spots a bald eagle in a tree.   Her spotting ability at great distances just amazes me.   She’s pointing it out to us all.  You can see the damage done along the edge of the trail by the feral hog population which despite serious efforts at control is still a real problem for the park

 

 

 

 

When we reach the end of the road, and come out in the clearing, the wide expanse and big sky is gorgeous.  The temperatures are warm and the over cast sky helps a great deal.

 

 

 

As we approach  the water, sure enough, this is where everybody is, vultures, alligators and birds of all kinds.  The alligators are the log looking things on the far left bank, over a hundred of them at least.

 

 

 

And then we notice on the edge of the water, ringing Deep Hole, are piles and piles of dead fish.  We speculate that perhaps they were killed by the very cold weather but that’s just a guess.  All of them are not dead yet so whatever happened, was very recent.   This isn’t going to be such a great place to visit in the next few days as they begin to rot.  I’m not sure even all these vultures can clean up this mess.  But thank goodness for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are several kinds of catfish in the park and some of them are invasive species like the armored catfish.  Our fish identification skills aren’t good enough to tell if these were the natives or the invasives.   The catfish are the dark fish which are all clustered right next to the shore with what we think may be talapia, also an invasive species, behind them.  If you are a fisherman and know for sure what we are looking at please comment and let us know.

 

 

 

This seems very sad to me but it’s all part of nature’s plan and does benefit many species also here today.

 

 

David even found this crab crawling all over the dead fish.

 

 

 

 

 

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Everyone is getting along fine.  The gators all seem fat and lethargic.

 

 

 

 

The birds are beautiful and we spend several hours here watching them and marveling over their numbers.   Flocks of white pelicans,  groups of wood storks,  black necked stilts and things I’ve never seen before like an osprey just standing in the middle of the water and two eagles standing on the edge.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After ooohing and ahhing and snapping and binocing, it is time for lunch.  We walk back up the road, where Bill finds us a great log beside the trail to the back side of Deep Hole.

 

 

 

After lunch, we walk around the back.  David is in the lead and sticks his head in an opening onto the hole.   Nancy and I could hear the huge splashing as the alligators hit the water when he surprises them.   He got a few pictures of it but was the only one to see it.  He had no idea they were right there.   You can see them up on all fours and heading out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn’t take long for things to settle back down. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gators are as thick in the water as on the land.  I wonder if you could just step across on their backs from one to the other.  HA!  RIGHT!

 

 

 

Nancy and I can’t get enough of it all.

 

 

 

 

Piles of gators, walking all over each other.   Out of my way they seem to say.

 

 

 

 

And we keep seeing eagles.  On our way to the lake, at the lake, by the water, in the trees.  We even think we are seeing a mature and an immature in the same tree.  They are a long way up there though.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally it really is time to go.  So after one last look around, we start back down the trail;.

 

 

 

What a great day with good friends. 
Nothing like sharing mutual joys!  
Thanks Bill and Nancy, we love hiking with you!!