Silver Springs State Park, Ocala, Florida
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years…Arphaxad the father of Shelah…and lived 403 years…Shelah the father of Eber…and lived 403 years…Eber the father of Peleg…and lived 430 years…Peleg the father of Reu…and lived 209 years…Reu the father of Serug…and lived 207 years…Serug the father of Nahor…and lived 200 years…Nahor the father of Terah…and lived 119 years…Terah the father of Abram (Abraham)…and lived 205 years. ~ Genesis 11:10-26
Well, if cold is what brings the manatees out, it certainly should’ve worked today! It was a frigid 36⁰ when we woke up today! By the time we hit the water, it was all the way up to 44⁰! Yeah. We dressed in layers today. At least it was sunny with no breeze. And I think, by noon, we were up around 60⁰.
The monkeys weren’t hanging out at the intersection at the end of the channel today. But we caught up with them later. 😊
The water today was crystal clear along the entire length of the river! Because there weren’t many people out? No motor boats? It was sunnier today? One can only speculate when one’s not educated on such matters.
Today we have bubbles. Wonder why?
What do you call four? : )
We spotted something new today as we were paddling upstream – – storks! Turns out Wood Storks come to Florida to breed and hatch during the winter when it’s the dry season and fish are easier to catch. Here’s some quick facts on Wood Storks:
- Wood Storks have been known to fly as high as 6000 feet. They will fly as much as 50 miles in search of food.
- They’re not quite as tall as a Great Blue Heron, and they weigh 5-6#.
- They nest above water to prevent predators such as raccoons from feeding on their eggs and young.
- A group of storks has many collective nouns, including “a clatter of storks”, “a filth of storks”, “a muster of storks”, “a phalanx of storks”, and a “swoop of storks.”
Wonder why they have so many group names??
They kinda blend in with the trees.
Once we arrived at the dock, we pulled out and ate lunch again. There were hardly any people this time, but one guy showed up who happened to be a local who grew up here. He smiled when we told him about the cold weather and the manatee information we were given. He says there are 5-6 manatees that are in Silver Spring River year-round. They don’t leave and new ones rarely arrive because of a dam that was built on the river that goes to the Gulf. (If you turn left instead of right at the channel we paddle on, it turns into another river right there that goes to the Gulf). So there you go.
A few of these people stopped to use the facilities, but most just passed by.
He also told us that there were monkeys hanging out just around the corner, and he’d seen a manatee up near the outflow this morning. It’s always a wonderful and beautiful paddle on this river, but now we were really excited!
Just like he said, there they were! Right alongside the river! They were back in a bit when we first arrived, but one came scampering out to our boat and made like he wanted to jump right in! Absolutely NOT! We know they can fly pretty far when motivated, so I gave him a stern talking to as Blaine backed us up. He left us alone and went after another kayak who treated him the same. Meanwhile, we moved down a bit to watch all the shenanigans – especially by the little ones. So fun! I know many of our pictures look like they were only two feet away, but they were closer to a minimum of ten. It was just great lighting at the time, and I used Blaine’s phone instead of mine. Made a difference today.
One more thing. While we were sitting there minding our own business – and the monkey business – we saw a pontoon boat approaching and heard one of the two lady kayakers admonish the people on the boat who decided it would be a good idea to feed the furballs! You NEVER feed wild animals! It only causes problems, and the decision by the Park Rangers to have to destroy them.
Reluctantly we moved on.
“The distance between the eyes is about 4-5”. Therefore, according to what we overheard the glass-bottom boat captain say the other day, this gator should be about 5’ long.”
Well, I didn’t go up and lay down next to it (I’m 5’2”), but it sure looked like it was about 5’.
We’ll keep checking. 😊
Eventually, they got tired of sharing the river with us and took off.
We really don’t understand why motorboats are allowed on a river with manatees in it. . . .
We heard from a few people that they’d seen a manatee, and it would’ve been easy to spot them today – – if they’d been around – – but we never saw a one as we paddled on towards the outflow area.
We decided to take the Fort King Paddle Trail today. It winds back in off the river for about a mile loop and comes out at the area where they rent kayaks and canoes. It was nice, but there wasn’t much to see in there.
We seemed to be going backwards from everyone else though, and it became more evident as we got closer to the rental dock. And most of the people on the water really had no idea what they were doing.
That’s okay. Everyone has to start somewhere. : )
Seeing as how it was so clear today, we made the trek around the outflow area once again. It really was clear, but the sun was reflecting off the water again, so the phones were unable to grab a nice shot.
It’s the tree that peaked my interest today. Look how that Palm tree’s growing! Crazy!
It’s because there’s another spring nearby. : )
And then, the hunt was over!
On our way back, we ducked into this cove and lo and behold! Manatees! At first, we only saw one, but by the time we left the cove, four of them had come to visit us! What a joy and immense blessing! The fourth one seemed to be about half the size of the other three, and a local woman in her kayak said she’d heard that one had given birth last week. I don’t know about a week old, but it was definitely smaller and when I looked at manatee facts, I guess it seems possible.
- Manatees are about 4-4.5 feet long when they’re born and average 60-70#
- Full grown ones weigh between 800-1,200# and grow up to 10 feet long
- They can eat up to 150# of food per day
- They can live up to 40 years in their natural habitat
- Manatees reach sexual maturity around five years old
- Mothers can only give birth every two years because gestation is twelve months
And yes. You’re going to have to scroll through a lot of pictures. : )
We think their backs are brown because there’s algae or something growing on them.
Blaine touched one and said it felt kinda slimy.
The ones we saw two years ago were gray and felt like elephant skin.
We were only with them for fifteen minutes, but it felt much longer! In a great way! Thank You, Father for the gift! The gift of Creation, and the gift of vision and the gift of a lifestyle that enables us to enjoy and share that joy!
We weren’t done with our trip today though. We still had five miles to go! One thing we saw that was pretty incredible, happened so fast, we weren’t able to take a picture. A turkey flew all the way across the river right in front of us! What a crazy thing to witness!
We didn’t watch these long though because 1. the current was strong here, and 2. they were headed into the woods. Since it was nearing sunset, maybe they were going to bed? : )
