Everglades National Park, Day 9 – Saturday – February 16, 2013

 
Day 9, Saturday – Kayaking Florida Bay

Last night, another weather front moved through and the winds have shifted.  Instead of blowing from the Southeast and Southwest…it is now blowing from the Northeast.  The temperature has dropped considerably, but for the time, Florida Bay is calm.  We decided we would take advantage and try to do some paddling on the Bay today!!

Before we went paddling, Dan showed me how to fix a problem with Baby’s mud-flap.  It really is handy to have such talented friends camping nearby.  Yes, Gin and Syl arrived on Wednesday then Dan and Tricia arrived yesterday:o)) You can’t reserve a specific site, but we were lucky and managed to get sites all together.

Gin & Syl were across the street.                     Dan and Tricia were to our left. 

 

Baby’s mud-flap had not been installed correctly and never swung properly.

Dan made quick work of fixing the problem:o))

   Thanks, MacGyver!

 

 

 

We are camped in the T-Loop and drove over to the Marina

 to launch our kayak into Florida Bay.

 

 

With the wind coming from the north,

the Mangroves blocked the wind and made Florida Bay look like a HUGE lake.

 

(click on any photo to enlarge)

 

Yesterday, we launched at the marina into Buttonwood Canal. 

Today we launched at the Marina, but on the salt-water side into Florida Bay. 

 

 

We followed one of the tour boats through the marina to the bay.

 

 

We paddled on the right side and then turned to the left as we enter Florida Bay. 

 

 

As we made the turn, we met this fisherman and his dog.

He was heading way out past the point.  He told us there are some really big fish to be caught!!

He also says he spends the winter in South Florida fishing and spends the summer in Alaska!!!

Sure liked to know how he finances those adventures;o))

 

 

As we got out in the Bay, we looked back and saw the visitors center from the water.

At the top of their antenna tower is a huge Osprey nest.

 

Here’s a closer look;o)

 

 

The Osprey are everywhere…

 

They are quite large and very healthy looking!!

 

 

 

We saw Osprey after Osprey flying over our heads with huge fish!! 

 

 

A short distance off shore, there is a big Osprey nest on this little Mangrove Island?!?!!

 

 

We paddled closed enough to see there will probably be some chicks in this nest soon;o))

 

 

We paddled close to the shore so that the Mangroves blocked the wind!!

Everywhere we looked we saw birds.

 

These three pelicans took off over our heads;o((

 

 

 

A Great Blue Heron flew right in front of us!!

 

 

This Snowy Egret and Little Blue Heron strolled the shoreline. 

 

 

A Green Heron and White Ibis looked like they were deep in conversation;o)

 

With the wind blowing from the north, the water is blown away from the shore.  While it is always a shallow body of water, today it was extremely shallow.  We could see the bottom and actually hit bottom a couple times.  But there was lots to see down there as well. We hesitate to disturb living creatures, but this just had to be check out…

 

Bill pulled up this shell and we still could not figure out Who was eating Who??

 

 

We weren’t the only paddlers enjoying this wonderful day on Florida Bay.

 

 

We paddled out far enough to see where the rangers live.

Not a bad gig in the winter;o))

  Not so much in the summer;o((

We heard all the mosquito horror stories from the rangers!!

 

 

At this point, we turned around and headed back. 

We had already spent several hours enjoying this beautiful place.

Another view of the Flamingo Visitor Center and the beautiful clouds.

 

 

Heading back into the marina.

 

 

That’s the wall that was built to keep Florida Bay from flowing into Buttonwood Canal.

 

 

I guess all good things must come to an end…..darn it;o))

 

We had a wonderful paddle on Florida Bay. 

Got the kayak packed up and drove back to the campground. 

 

The wind out of the north was really strong and quite cool. 

When we got back, we found our neighbors huddled out of the wind behind Baby.

We have read about the Drum Circles that take place along the coast to celebrate Sunset. 

Not sure what we are celebrating in this “Coconut” Circle;o)))

 

Just being in this beautiful place with good friends is reason enough to celebrate!!!