Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, Fl., 188 mile jump
About 10AM, we left St. George Island sad to leave, but carrying memories of fun and adventure. We will book two weeks next year; to do so, will need to book 11 months before we want to stay. Spaces are that hard to get! The drive followed the coastline for most of the first hour, passing though Carrabelle, a fishing/tourist town, and Panacea, an artist community, as we moved inland. Then we passed through the Apalachicola National Forest and heavily treed areas outside the NF, to Perry. There the landscape turned to horse and cattle ranches.
Arriving at MSSP about 3PM, we decided not to disconnect the trailer, so we might get out of here early. The campground we want to use next is a first come-first serve basis, no reservations. So, we need to get in line as early as possible tomorrow. It is on the south end of Tampa Bay, about 2 hours away. We have to go through the city of Tampa in order to get there. Being a Saturday will mean no rush hour, hopefully.
We stayed here at Manatee Springs last year; tonight we walked along the huge spring and its discharge stream about 1/4 mile to the Suwannee River where the manatee congregate when cold weather cools the waters they normally swim. The spring pumps out massive quantities of 72F water all day, every day. There were no manatee around indicating their waters were warm enough.
But, there were hundreds of mostly black and some turkey (brown) vultures, in the trees across the discharge stream. On a small island in the river near the vultures were maybe 100 egrets perching. A closer look through binoculars showed quite a few cormorants nesting with the vultures and a few egrets. It’s interesting they don’t segregate!
On the way back upstream, we came upon a pileated woodpecker hunting for bugs. He was loudly screeching at times and quietly working at others. A big powerful bird about 19” long having a red crest and mustache. A colorful and beautiful specimen was he!