Manatee Springs State Park

  Chiefland, Florida, United States
Saturday, February 2, 2008

February 4th

The Suwanee River

"Way down upon the Suwanee River, far far from home....."  Here we are at Manatee Springs State Park where the spring feeds into the Suwanee River!

The Suwanee River

 
The Manatees come on up the 23 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to enjoy the warmer waters of the Suwanee during these frigid (just kidding)winter months.  The water here is about 72! Not bad!

Entrance

site 95

nice large wooded sites

 

Kayaks on the river

Andy and I kayaked out onto the river and enjoyed the slow grandeur of this magnificent river. Very little has been developed along it's shores.  I have yet to know whether this phenomena is due to regulations or a mindset.  The river is wide and deep and rusty red but clear!  I will also find out what it is that stains the water this interesting color.

red water of the Suwanee River

what stains the water red?

 

boardwalk through cypress forest to Suwanee

A boardwalk takes you out through a Bald Cypress forest to a viewing dock on the Suwanee River. The trees here are roosting places for Black and Turkey Vultures.  The Black Vultures were sitting so perfectly on two trees they reminded us of decorative lights placed along or mingled throughout the branches!

Black Vulture "tree lights"

Standing on the dock for a while ones eyes get accustomed to the changing light and begin to see the wild life.  Only a few feet below the surface we saw 7 huge East African Manatee lounging around,  turtles galore, Mullet (fish that jump feet out of the water for unknown reason..we think it for our great entertainment!),  large mouth bass,  carp that seemed at least 30 pounds and appeared to glow a neon blue (Andy confirmed this so it isn't one of Jodie's ......), Egrets, Ibis, Piliated and Red Bellied woodpeckers, White Tailed Deer, and on and on......nature is abundant.

Great Egret

Great Egret

As we strolled on the boardwalk we got to really experience the Bald Cypress in all its weirdness and wonder.  The pokey things coming up all around the trees are called "knees" and are attached to its roots to supply the tree with extra oxygen and nutrients that the roots which are often under water cannot get enough of.

Bald Cypress with knees

Very interesting looking!!!

close up of Bald Cypress and knees

Bald Cypress with knees and butter weed

dark forest to sunlit Suwanee River

air plants

air plants on Bald Cypress

There were two stumps which caught my eye for being some of the strangest growing symbiotic relationships I have ever seen!

What is this???

close up of "What is this????"

Tree on top of tree??

The weather here has been in the upper 70's and lower 80's so we went swimming in the spring head.

Such a beautiful live oak

park behind our sit heading to spring

 Walking over from our RV site we went by another spring that was totally green with duck weed except for a hole in the middle where the spring flowed.  It is so solid with duck weed that the dog and I thought is looked like you could walk on it.  The dog tried and almost fell in!  The water under the weed is crystal clear!!!!  This spring is fed by a system of caves that travel more than five miles under ground and under water!  Scuba divers are welcome to walk down the stairs and enter....how spooky is that???  A man died of running out of air only last week!  Good golly what a way to go.

This spring head is green with duck weed

duck weed makes the water look like concrete

On to the Manatee Spring Head.  It is aqua blue, 40 feet deep and so clear it looks like 4 feet deep!  The spring flows at 150 million gallons of water a day!  This river travels about 400 feet to where it feeds into the Suwanee.  The Dock is right out at the mouth because this marriage is a paradise for so many creatures.  Abundant food for all!!  The spring is a constant 72 degrees.  So refreshing!  Clear to the bottom made Andy, myself and many others comfortable to swim all day!!

Spring flows 150 million gallons a day

spring creates a river out to Suwanee River

BAld Cypress reflection

reflections in aqua water

February 3rd

Cedar Key bridge

Bridge to Cedar Key

Took off to Cedar Key....over a bridge and onto a tiny Island that is quaint and artsy and not new fangled much at all.  Seems the beaches are not much but terrific fishing and a great place to live.

gorgeous view

not much beach

fishing docks and gazebos

lagoon living

Slowed down pace with a great looking main street with many old buildings.

Cedar Key Main Street

Cedar Key is quaint

Cedar key is artsy

golf carts used by many

Pace is so slow here in Cedar Key that many use electric golf carts to get around.  We saw no evidence of a golf course (too small a place) but loads of carts.  Although we did stumble across a private airport! and sat as an airplane came on in!

Cedar Key's private airport

great landing

We even went to the Cedar Key Museum built on the Whitman's property.

The Whitman Homestead

Apparently the Whitmans where great collectors, naturalists, and historians as well as friends with John Muir (the great naturalist).  Nice museum and lovely homestead with terrific collection of shells and Indian artifacts.

preserving meats

beatuiful bowl

just to get the size of it

Raining on and off today.  During one of the rain breaks Andy and I decide to take a bike ride to find my back tire totally flat!  We break out the good old tube patch kit and get to work.  Dave and Dory from the next site over stopped by to lend a hand.  Good thing they did as we were fumbling without the right tools.  My tire is as good as new and we now know how to take it apart and put it together again. Thanks Dave.

Andy has been a member of a yahoo user group for people who own our type of RV.  From this group, he has learned a great deal and has fixed and made better so many operations in our little world!! Thank you and cudos to this user group.  Michael Vickey is one of these RV owners and a regular contributer to the user group.  We got to meet Michael and his better half....Hudson, his dog!!  We all hit it off right away and and had a great afternoon talking while it rained outside.  Michael kept checking outside for his friends to show up and play some music.  We saw them pull in and get themselves together with their van and tent in the rain as the day drew to a close. 

The next day after some walking and biking and enjoying the day, we heard music drifting on the air.  We wandered over to Michael's site to find a magical trio including the hammer dulcimer, guitar and mandolin!!!!  They sounded fantastic!  I say, "hi!" and realize I am looking at Dick Staber!   A friend of mine from Ancram, NY back in 1985-1990!!!  We haven't seen each other since then!  It is amazing to think about the journey we both had to travel to bump into at Manatee Springs State Park!!

bluegrass music floating on the wind

Dick (Bear) Staber

Michael Vickey and Judith Staber

a great bluegrass trio

hammer dulcimer and guitar

mandolin

We invited them for our first dinner party in our RV!  Andy and I served pork roast, collard greens, baked sweet potatoes and green tossed salad.  Judith and Dick brought chicken cacciatore and whole wheat spaghetti.  Michael brought a custard cream pie,  rye bread and butter.  We ate like kings and queens and had a grand time getting to know Michael and Judith and to reminisce with Dick. Our first dinner party a total success! 


Saturday was beautiful and we again used the trails to our great delight.

bike and hike trail

On the trail we passed the largest trap we have ever imagined!  Is this for bears??

trap along the bike trail

What is this trap for?

On our way out to the trails we saw divers going into the spring head of the 5+ miles of underwater caves!!!  I felt like yelling to them to get out of there!! I cannot imagine going under water into a one way 5+ mile cave in the pitch black!

divers going into the 5 miles of caves

last minute instructions!

Saturday night Dick and Judith were programed to play for an hour at the ampitheater in the woods here in the park.  It was as fantastic as we expected!  Many campers showed up and they got a huge applaude and response from an appreciative group of RVers.  They invited Michael to join.  The three of them together is even more amazing!  I hope they play in the future and I hope I'm there!!!

bluegrass concert at ampitheater

excellent bluegrass

Michael joins in

perfect setting for bluegrass

buegrass in the woods

Tired and exhilerated we all will sleep like babies......tomorrow we are off to Hillborough State park in Thornotasassa, FL. 

ratings for Manatee Springs:
--lousey showers....clean but need more curtains, hooks and shelves.
--great trails for both waling and biling. Not very challenging but very beautiful and lots of them to explore. 
--kayaking on the Suwanee is relaxing and lovely! put in closed over the winter till April so used the public ramp about 3 miles from the entrance to the partk. very easy  and nice ramp.
--poor internet and cell connections
--sites are big enough for a tent as well as RV    but  no privacy