Blue Spring State Park-the Manatee

December 4-18, 2024                                                     Most Recent Posts:
Blue Spring State Park                                              Walking in Old Towne
Site 15                                                                             Anastasia State Park
Orange City, Florida

I left Anastasia State Park after 2 weeks and drove 83 miles to Blue Spring State Park for another 2 weeks.

These short drives are  one of the things I love about spending the winters in Florida State Parks.

IF you can manage your route, which is really not at all easy, you can limit the distance you have to drive between parks.  And they are all different and wonderful in a myriad of ways.

As you can see,   I was lucky enough to snag one of the few paved sites which is nice after sand and more sand in nearly all the Florida parks.  The sites are tucked in along the campground loop on only one side so the view out your windows is likely to be wonderful forest in all directions.

I was last here in 2019  and was really looking forward to seeing the manatee again.  I find this the best place to see them, sometimes in large numbers if it is cool enough in the winter.

The path to the spring was a short distance from my site and I walked it every morning as early as I could to see the manatee that had gathered in the 72 degree warmth of the spring run.

One morning, on my way I ran into this fellow snuffling along through the grass and then across the sidewalk.  Armadillos are just so strange looking with their tiny ears and armor like skin.

Like nearly all the Florida State Parks, Blue Spring sustained damage from the hurricane this past fall.  I was sorry to see that the boardwalk from the path to the campground up to the spring head was closed for replacement.   The spring head is particularly beautiful 

The other half of the lovely boardwalk leading down the spring run to its mouth at the St John’s River was open and I could see manatee along the way.

Early in the morning someone from the Save the Manatee Club monitors and counts the manatee in the spring run.  They are the only ones allowed in a boat on the spring run.  Boats are not allowed in the winter due to the gathering of manatee and not in the summer because the run is open for swimming. 

For over 40 years Wayne Hartley, who I believe is in the boat above,  has been the principal investigator for manatee research conducted at Blue Springs.  What a fantastic job and life’s work.

On this day, my first at the park, there were 617 manatee counted in the spring run.

The Save the Manatee Club is Florida’s leading manatee advocacy group.  It was founded by Jimmy Buffet and State Senator Bob Graham when he was governor of Florida.  The group has a 24/7 Manatee Cam you can check out at this link.  It is underwater and as seen here, attached near one of the viewing docks that extends out into the spring run.  There are not always manatee on the cam but it’s fun to check.  They would have been on the cam when this picture was taken.  The manatee with a tracker attached by a belt above his tail is being specifically monitored.  Probably for health issues.

Nose up.

Manatee come up for air about every 5 minutes though if they are resting they can slow that rate to every 20 minutes.   It is sometimes a bit shocking to be kayaking along and hear this huge intake of breath behind you.

The spring run is beyond beautiful even in winter when the trees are not their brightest green.

My first sunset, taken from the back of my campsite.

On my second day, the temperatures were a bit warmer so the manatee count was down to 477.  Still an amazing number.   Over the next few days the counts were 436, 531, 521, …..

Except for the reflections of the light on the water, the beautifully clear spring run makes it possible to get pretty distinct pictures of the manatee.

This beautiful mosaic manatee has been on the boardwalk for at least the past 13 years since I first came here.  I couldn’t find any information about it on line and at this point I am no longer at the park to ask. 

Just like people, none of the manatee noses are the same.  Some are long and some are short, some are thin and some are stout.

Manatee are not the only wildlife around the spring run.  This Great Blue Heron and Double Crested Cormorant are sharing a viewing spot.

Double noses.

This was the temperature on my birthday this year and a major reason why there are so many manatee in the spring run this early in December.  In my experience, to see the manatee here in numbers, you usually have to be here in January.  But as we all know,  things are no longer the same as “they used to be”.   I do come to Florida over the winters to escape this sort of cold weather but I’m happy to see it while I’m here.

On this day, the wind was blowing and ruffling the water.  It gave my pictures what I thought was a bit of a surreal look.   Manatee count on this day 628.

My normal routine is to come out first thing in the morning before the park even opens and then last thing before dark and stay until after the park closes at sunset.

This picture is looking down the spring run to where it joins the river.  The three sunset pictures are posted from roughly the same spot in sequential time at various levels of zoom.

                                                                     6:31pm

Though I seldom see Ibis when I am walking on the boardwalk, they fly in to roost at night in flocks.

An evening gathering of noses at day’s end.

                                                            6:39pm

                                                                    6:58pm

I apologize for SO many manatee pictures but they are just the most wonderful creatures and spending time with them was how I began an ended every day I was at the park.

In mid day, I was out on the river and saw them there though being so close to them made it harder to get good pictures.    A kayaking post from Blue Springs is next.

Walking in Old Towne

November 27-December 5, 2024                                       Most Recent Posts:
St Augustine Florida                                                       Anastasia State Park
                                                                                             Fernandina Beach Florida

It’s been longer than I intended since  my last post.  A lot has happened. But before a posting on why the delay, I want to finish from St. Augustine in November.  About time since it is almost Christmas.

My previous post was all about staying at Anastasia State Park and the things to visit within walking distance.  You can find a link to that under “Most Recent Posts”.  I neglected to include this photo of a fellow park resident, the gopher tortoise.   He’s just magnificent isn’t he and I did not want to neglect to showcase him.

Be prepared.  Parking in and around St. Augustine for the day is an expensive proposition as you can see.  One of the advantages of returning to favorite places is that you get to know them and how to get around.

I’m a walker and over time I’ve discovered a few secret side streets that are do not have hourly meters or require a city parking tag.   Believe me there are not many and you must be willing to walk.  So today I parked and hiked through the Old City Gate into St. Augustine. 

The gate was constructed in 1808 out of coquina and was part of the final reconstruction of the city walls. The history of the gate goes back even further, to 1702 when the city was attacked by Carolinian Governor James Moore and his troops. After this attack, the city began building a fortification around itself, including the northern protective border known as the “Cubo Line”. The Cubo Line was mostly made of earthworks, but also included a moat, a cannon, and a wooden gate. The gate that stands today replaced earlier the entryways made of wood

Many of the buildings in the old town are several hundred years old.

There is, of course, a sight seeing tour where you can learn a great deal about the city and its history.  They were just going around behind the gate when I walked through.

Through the city gate you walk down St. George Street which dates to the city’s founding in 1565. It’s the heart of the old town with many original buildings turned into commercial establishments.

The oldest structure on the street is the 322 year old school house.

One  of the most unusual sites on St George Street to which I return each time I walk down it is the St. Photios National Shrine.  

This first national shrine of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese is located in the Avero House.  It is dedicated not only to the memory of the first Greek Orthodox pioneers who arrived in the New World in 1768.  They were known as Minorcans.  They arrived in St. Augustine as indentured servants with Andrew Turnbull. The colony failed, and only a third of the colonists survived to return to St. Augustine in 1777 as refugees from the New Smyrna Colony.  It’s a fairly gruesome story.  The shrine is also dedicated to all the following generations of immigrants who came to this New World seeking freedom, justice, and a better life for themselves and their children.

. 

The shrine is a wonderful  quiet oasis in the midst of a busy tourist area.   I can feel myself relax when I step through the small entry way on the building’s right side into this beautiful courtyard.

Inside the mosaics and art work are magnificent.

The passageway through the several rooms of the Shrine reveals exhibits and galleries. At the end of the passageway is the Shrine’s serenely beautiful Saint Photios Chapel. Here, you are surrounded by magnificent Byzantine sacred icons on its walls and above in five domes.

Back outside, St George Street is somewhat of a shock.  Notice the 2nd story balcony here.

St Augustine has a long history with pirates.   The city was a key port town in the new world and  was continually a target for buccaneers in search of riches to plunder and townspeople to torment.  The Spanish built the fort Castillo de San Marcos between 1672 and 1695 to protect the city from pirates  including  Sir Frances Drake in 1586

In addition to revisiting favorite spots in the town, I try each visit to seek out something new.  This time I visited The Governor’s House. 

This historic site has served the city of St. Augustine since 1598. It served as the administrative headquarters and residences for colonial governors appointed by Spain, then Britain, and then Spain again. In 1821 when Spain ceded Florida to the U.S., the Government House building was used as a courthouse and briefly as the Capitol building of the new Territory of Florida. Since it was purchased by the University of Florida several years ago, it is called the Governor's House Cultural Center and Museum.

Parts of the current building's coquina walls and windows are believed to date back to St. Augustine's first Spanish colonial period

Today in the exhibit room was a showing of oil paintings done in and of St Augustine in the 19th and early 20th century.   There were many more than shown here and I spent the mid afternoon admiring the art and recognizing the locations.

Anastasia Island where Fort Clinch is located.  Frank Henry Shapleigh 1892.  How things have changed. 

Old  Gateway of St Augustine     Samuel Freeman Pratt 2874

Anastasia Island Lighthouse Laura Woodward 1892

Once back outside I headed to Aviles Street which historians of St. Augustine say  is the oldest street in the nation.  Not sure the folks in Plymouth Massachusetts would agree but archaeologists digging several layers under the brick paving recently discovered pottery shards from the early 1600s.   Aviles was known as Hospital Street because it was the location of the second Spanish Military Hospital.  A museum about it occupies that building today.  I did not visit.

It’s a wonderful narrow street with its homes and shops right on the street as is fairly common in the old part of the city though not all the streets are this narrow.

Here, in the far distance you can see the towers of The Bridge of Lions a double-leaf bascule bridge that crosses Matanzas Bay (the intercoastal waterway), connecting downtown St. Augustine to Anastasia Island. The bridge is a major thoroughfare in St. Augustine and is part of State Road A1A. It's a popular attraction for visitors and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  I didn’t get a picture this time of the name sake Lions which stand at the foot of this draw bridge.  Notice the Pirate ship in the foreground.

You can take a sail on this pirate ship for the right price.  Comes complete with pirates.

The bridge, the boats and the entire city are festooned with lights from mid November until mid January every year.  Known as the Nights of Lights, it is quite a sight.  I visited it last year with my friends Mary and Pete.  You can find that post here.

On my way back to the car before it got dark I felt I needed some fortitude for my last steps of the day so I stopped here,  former hippy that I am.

If this doesn’t make you smile, nothing will.

Mini donuts of every kind imaginable.  It would take months to sample all the ones I wanted.

I finally decided it was a coconut day and had a samoa and a coconut.  They were fresh, warm and delicious.

I left Anastasia on December 5th and moved to Blue Spring State Park where it turned out to be cold enough for 678 manatee to take refuge in the spring run on day.  That’s for next time.