Trip Update Jan 2007

Our time in Destin was spent hiking, touring, birding and biking. After a few rainy days in a timeshare, we were back to camping. Blackwater State Park provided a good location for canoeing some small streams. The stream levels were several feet above normal, which kept the outfitters from putting anyone on the river. This made it perfect for us. First we did Juniper Creek. We carried our bikes and canoe on a trailer behind the RV. On the shuttle my bike fell from the bike rack. It was dragged for several miles, before some roadside hunters flagged us down. The rear wheel of the bike was still attached to the rack, but the rest of the bike was left hanging. The worse damage was to the rear wheel which got twisted out of shape. As a result, Pat ran the bike shuttle by herself. The next day we ran Coldwater Creek. It was also running high and fast. There were several blockages on the river which would have made it very dangerous for novice paddlers.

We left the Blackwater area and headed toward Pensacola. On the way we stopped at Bayou Marcus Reclamation Facility to do bird watching from their 1.5 mile boardwalk over their wetlands area. Of course I could not resist meeting the operating personal of the wastewater treatment plant and getting the inside scope on their operation. Even before wetland treatment they were discharging an excellent effluent. We camped a few nights at Big Lagoon State Park. This was one area of Florida we had not explored before.

Time to go canoeing again, so we moved camp to Falling Water State Park. Believe it or not, they have a waterfall with a drop greater than 150 feet! We canoed Holmes Creek, but unlike the previous creeks there was little current. The river was swampy and took much longer to complete than anticipated. At one point a gator swam right up to the canoe and started to circle it. He disappeared as we reached for the camera. We also toured the Florida State Caverns then left the Panhandle and headed south.

In the Tampa area we canoed the Hillsborough River and took pictures of the amazing amount of wildlife along that stretch of river. We also went to an RV Super Show at the Tampa Fairgrounds. In Orlando we had a timeshare for a few nights. We went to Universal Studios and Island of Adventure Parks in one day. Cirque du Soleil completed our spending spree (worth every penny!).

We visited Blue Springs on a cold day and saw dozens of manatees. We canoed the Lower Wekiva River and Peace Rivers which were very scenic. We took a Swamp Buggy ride to see some wildlife. The later part of the month has been very cold (for Florida) so we have not seen many gators while canoeing. Hopefully February will be warmer.