01/19/07 Paddling Orange River:
Manatee Park is just west of Fort Meyers on FL 80. A power plant pumps warm water into a small canal that flows into the Orange River. When a cold front comes in manatees head into the canal to keep warm for the night. The park has a boardwalk along the canal for viewing. There were no manatees when I was there. Even if there had been they'd be difficult to see in the dark brown waters. You'd be able to see them when they surfaced for air but that's about it.
The park also has a canoe/kayak launching area. I put in there and paddled upstream about 5 miles. I think it goes 7 miles or so. Although large houses encroach on the river from both sides it's still a pretty nice paddle. A lot of cabbage palms, lots of palmettos, many large ferns and many live oaks. The oaks, instead of being covered in Spanish moss are covered with air plants. No wildlife though except for a few turtles. I saw one egret and one heron on the way back and that was it.
01/20/07 Paddling Telegraph Creek:
No manatees in the Orange River canal again. Got there at 8am and while I was there 10-12 kayaks put in. Not a good river to commune with nature on a Sunday. Went a few miles to the Hickey Creek Mitigation Center, whatever that is. A brochure said they have a kayak launch there. A sign on their bulletin board says to go to the Caloosahatchee Regional Park. That park says launching is not available because some group has the campsites around the launch for 2 months and no one can drive back there. It's a 10-15 minute walk to the launch otherwise. Tried the Franklin Locks off US 41 the other day. Icons on a sign indicate a boat ramp, picnic area, playground and such. Followed the sign and everything is gated. There is a ramp on the other side of the Caloosahatchee I plan on using soon.
Didn't want to do Hickey Creek today anyway. If Orange River is gonna be crowded, so will Hickey Creek. Instead drove past the Franklin Locks on FL 78 to Telegraph Creek and put in by the bridge.
Starts out 25-30 feet wide and a few feet deep. Some houses the first mile or so and then they finally give out. A few cabbage palms, lots of palmettos, live oaks with Spanish moss. The oaks give out and cypress trees replace them. Banks up to 10 feet high in some places. Some sand, some mud but mostly limestone.
The creek narrows and becomes more twisty farther up. The only people I saw at all were a local couple in an aluminum canoe with a pretty big motor on it. The guy was able to maneuver it quite well through the narrow spaces. They ran out of water up ahead and turned back. It was then I noticed the tide had about run out. Almost no current and it kinda snuck up on me. I went up to a log jam and turned around too.
Saw nary a critter on the way up. Nada. Saw a heron and an egret and some turtles on the way back. Then I rounded a bend and said howdy to 3 sandhill cranes right near the water. Must have been mom and dad and a big kid that just wouldn't leave home. Then saw a 4 foot alligator followed by a 5 footer. The only other critter I saw was a small dead coyote or maybe a fat fox floating in the water. I didn't get close to it but did see pointy ears and a pointy snout.
01/22/07 Driving Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge:
This day was not what I had hoped. I particularly wanted to get to this area for Sanibel Island and the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Sanibel Island is supposed to be a major area for beachcombing and seashells. The whole island is money and about money. They charge me $6 just to drive onto the island and I'm surprised they didn't charge me for driving on their roads. They did want to charge a $2/hour parking fee if I went near their beaches.
The wildlife refuge wasn't a great deal better. They wanted a parking fee to park at the visitor center and another fee for the 4 mile scenic drive. Fortunately my Golden Age covered that one. The refuge, like the rest of southern, coastal Florida is all mangroves. There were a few birds about. Some white pelicans in the distance, some small herons and some roseate spoonbills. I found 7 of them roosting in a tree and got another picture with 2 of them plus 4 other different kinds of birds. A young osprey was quite happy having his picture taken so I got a close up of him. And that was about it.
I came in about 7:30am with moderate traffic. Leaving at 10:30am I was passing unending line of cars on a Monday morning. There is a free picnic area at the end of the causeway so I just stopped and hung out there a while.
01/27/07 Paddling Fisheating Creek:
Been having some not so good weather. Yesterday we caught some of the artic chill hitting New England and the mid-west and temperature went into the 30's. Good time to go back to Manatee Park to view the manatees. They were in and I took about 75 pictures. Only a few were worth keeping.
Fisheating Creek isn't really in the Fort Myers area but I'm including it anyway since I don't have anyplace else to put the report.
This was a great trip except for one thing, not much water. Turned away from the highway and ran out of water right away. That seemed to be the main part of the creek. Turned the other way towards Lake Okeechobee and had better luck.
Much of the Fisheating Creek shoreline is cypress tree and much of those are covered with air plants or Spanish moss. Winter is the dry season and the creek level was way down in January exposing the cypress tree root system. This really added to the scenery to see all the roots forming tunnels and passage ways along the banks.
But it also brought the water down to inches. The bottom and much of the banks is white sand. Fisheating Creek is a twisty turny river and sand bars build up in the bends and the only way to get over then is to get out and pull.
I was paddling with some people and was out ahead. I turned to see if they were coming yet and saw a large river otter pop up on the exposed sand bar I had just passed. As I watched a second one came up on the bar too. I got a couple of decent pictures before the people appeared and scared them off. I caught a glimpse of another one on the way back as it slid into the water and then a 4th one poked its head up in the river to check me out. Cool stuff.
It was a lot of work out there today and I only covered 2 miles out and another 2 back. The otters alone made it worth it. I'd like some more water next time though.