Hey, there's nekkid people down here in Florida. No Sh**! And no clothes! And I ain't talkn' coed nekkid stuff neither. I took an early morning walk on a deserted beach at Canaveral National Seashore. Yup, a national seashore, one we (U.S. folks) all pay taxes to maintain. I walked out for about 2 hours and then walked back. And then there was (blush) 10-15 men just hanging out (pardon the expression) on the beach.
Forgive my Puritanical, New England background and prudery aside, I was shocked and dismayed to discover not a single 20 year old Playmate type amung'em. Not even a 90 year old granny type, nor anything in between. Just ugly old men. I passed by as quickly as I could (fully clothed, by the way). I still felt like Little Red Riding Hood with evil eyes boring into my back as I passed through a forest of Big Bad Wolves (shudder).
Hey, there might be nekkid old men down here but where's da snow? It's all fallin' north of the (Georgia) border. I haven't seen no icicles, no snowflakes, no nuthin. Can't do nuthin' fun around here, no skiing, no snow shoeing, no ice skating, no building snowmen. Uniform of the day is bathing suit, T-shirt and sandals. I put jeans on to go shopping because most of my bathing suits don't have pockets. For the most part nights are in the mid-50's and days in the upper 70's. Once in a while it dips into the upper 60's. Brrrrr!
OK, OK, when they have those big storms in the north, it sometimes goes down to the 40's/60's and on rare occasions the 30's/50's. This is central Florida I'm talking about. It's probably sweltering farther south... and I'm gonna find out soon.
The Halifax River, as I already reported, seemed like an ordinary river but turned out to have an extraordinary amount of winter bird life. Lots and lots of pelicans (mostly brown ones and white ones but a couple of other kinds too), great blue herons, American egrets, hawks and turkey buzzards that are really pretty in the sky, but ugly as sin on the ground. Dolphins frequently cavorted on the river and sting rays were all over the bottom.
Mosquito Bay (with Canaveral National Seashore wrapped around it, has a ton of islands in the upper portion, more islands on the eastern shore and lots of open water. The islands are populated with the same wild life and have many primitive campsites in easy reach of canoes (permit required). The upper islands would take 1-2 weeks to explore thoroughly and if you happened to hit the same area twice, you probably wouldn't even notice.
Merritt Island National Wild Life Refuge combines with the Canaveral National Seashore to provide a buffer area to the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral, should such a buffer be needed. Buffer from whom? Why the rabble, of course, of which I am proud to be a part. The refuge part of the island is a truly wonderful place to drive through. With nothing but wetlands on either side of the road, there is an over abundance of winter birds to view. In addition to the ones already mentioned, Ibises are there in large numbers along with tons and tons of ducks, and wood storks can be seen from the car. The two shuttle launch pads frequently tower over the background providing a stark contrast to nature.
And then there's the Black Point Wildlife Drive that brings you even closer to the waters. Near the end of the 7-8 mile drive is Cruickshank Trail, a 5 mile hike along dikes built years ago to try to control the salt marsh mosquitoes (which they failed to do). I took the 2+ hour hike (walk) and within the first 100 yards saw my first alligator in the wild. Fortunately he was across a small channel sunning himself on the far bank. I saw two more 'gators during the walk, all the same distance across a small channel.
I saw more wood storks along the hike and some rosette spoonbills. The ones I saw in the distance I thought were flamingos because all I could really see was the pink and I don't know of a lot of pink birds. Then I saw one closer and got a look at the spoon like bill.
A second drive through at daybreak was even more impressive.
Groups of hundreds of birds were everywhere no matter where you looked. American Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Ibises, dozens of wood storks, limpkins and dozens of spoon bills. And they were all mixed together as they concentrated on feeding themselves. This was truly a nature show. And they were right near the road. You'd leave one group of birds and there would be another group to take their place. I shot an entire roll of film before I even realized it. This has definitely been added to my list of "must sees" anytime I'm in the area.
Campgrounds are something else too. I was in one with orange trees and grapefruit trees with ripe fruit ready for anyone with the energy to pick them. Another campground had wood storks, Ibises, pelicans and spoonbills just wandering around as if they owned the place. This, of course, after I had spent a lot of time trying to get pictures elsewhere.
I'll be heading down to Key Biscayne and the Florida Keys in a couple of weeks and maybe on to the Dry Tortugas (70 miles off Key West) for a few days camping. Between now and then I'll probably be at the Loxahatchee River Aquatic Preserve and Lake Okeechobee. I may get another report off before I hit the Keys. If not, you'll know where I am.