For our third week, we are off to the St John's River in central Florida. This is one of few rivers that flow north. We hired a pontoon boat for the week and had friends, Trudy and Jim join us. Trudy very kindly agreed to be our cook, Jim our anchorman, me chief bottle washer  and Gary our chief captain.

Our first trip in the boat was to Blue Springs, Winter home of the manatee. Gary and I had been twice before but our friends had never been so it was a must on our schedule. The springs are a constant 72 degrees and because manatees cannot tolerate water temps 65 degrees and under, the springs were a safe haven for them. The day was cool but there were more manatees than we had ever seen before.

We saw many calves, several of them feeding underneath the front flippers of their mothers.

 The springs were quite shallow and clear. However, if you walked to the source you came to where the spring entered the spring - a huge chasm in the water. Scuba divers were allowed into the chasm to explore. I would love to learn to scuba dive but would not like to go into chasms or caves,

The next morning the boat was surrounded by turkey vultures resting in the trees, This is a very large bird with a bald head for sticking in the carcasses of carrion.

I had not taken a shower that morning and wondered if they were smelling me!!!!!
The day was very cool and Trudie dressed for the weather:

The weather warmed up later in the day, thank-goodness. We saw many lovely reflections and it was difficult to decide which ones to put in the blog. However, these are the ones I chose.

The above one was just the reflection not of the object being reflected. The next photo shows the complete picture.

On our journey to our next mooring we saw a sand hill crane.

This is a very large migratory bird with a very loud, raucous call that is distinguishable from any other bird.
The day ended with a magnificent sunset. Out of the 75 photos I took just of the sunset, I chose the following:

 Here is Chef Trudie in our kitchen preparing one of the lovely meals she made for us.

 I liked the above photo due to 2 species standing so close to each other w/o threatening each other.

The above photo shows two men fishing for tilapia using a bow and arrow. Apparently, per Gary he did spear a fish and landed it in his boat. The fish was a keeper size so these men had a nice fish dinner to look forward to.
The next photo shows fish beds at the Glenn Springs State Park. The water was blue and crystal clear. You could see the bottom of the springs and fish swimming about. The fish apparently wiggle in the sand to lay eggs and leave behind bald areas free of vegetation.

 I haven't shown many birds so here is my first heron waiting for his fish to swim by,

The ospreys below had a huge nest nearby but preferred to watch for fish on the manatee zone sign.

Cormorants sitting side by side. They have the loveliest color of eyes - turquoise.

 And, of course, my favorite bird - the pelican.

As we traveled down the river we saw two pontoon boats. One had a boat on top, the other an MG car. We guess the owner had the car on the boat for winter storage and in case the river flooded.

 OK, I must show my photos of a pair of bald eagles. What a majestic bird. Thank-goodness Congress never voted the Turkey as our national bird.

 I have always loved to fish (and so did Jim) so after getting my Florida fishing licence I dabbled at catching dinner. I caught the boat, the railing, my jacket and my finger before catching a nice size blue gill. Jim said he was a keeper but neither of us caught another one so we let it go.

I liked the photo below of the ibis.

 And this one's reflection with the red trees. None of us knew what the red trees where so if you know, let me know.

We saw several  storks along the river. These were at a marina waiting for homecoming fishermen to throw them some fish. Do you think if storks are dating it is called "storking".

This young man was ready to set of on a fishing expedition. There was hardly any room in the canoe for him and he could not stand up w/o overturning the canoe.

 The photo below shows a boat ramp for jet skis. You just ride your jet ski straight onto it and voila, it is parked, safe and dry.

I like the photo below due to the shimmer on the water.

Whilst at one mooring we saw some turkeys and they were the biggest we all had ever seen. Gobble, gobble, gobble.

This gentleman was fishing and had an audience waiting for him to catch a fish (a great white heron and an egret).

 Finally, you have heard the expression putting your foot in your mouth. Well, Trudie can do this literally. I cannot even get my foot to my knees so she has to be quite flexible.

Next blog, Coconut Creek.

Well, where did I finish off? I know, the gardens at Naples. After the gardens we made a quick visit to a very small zoo and the only thing that stood out was a wonderfully colored lizard-

Now, for a short story, When I was in OT school many years ago I was in a class called Small Group Dynamics. The purpose was to get us used to working with others. Our task for one lesson was to split into groups of 5 and visualize that we were in a hot air balloon that was going to crash killing everyone but one person in the balloon. We were to choose a character in history who we thought should survive and why. Well, my class mates chose people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King etc. etc.. I chose Walt Disney, When the group asked me why, I said because he can make me laugh, smile or cry in any language. The group voted me as the character to survive the balloon crash. Long live Walt Disney.
The next week we stayed in "The Old Key West" Resort at Walt Disney World. David, our son helped with all the arrangements which made life a lot easier for us. We were given bracelets by Disney which allowed us entry to the Theme Parks, the meal plan, fast pass and got us into our room.
It was a real asset to us and saved us a lot of time.

Our first visit was to Epcot (Environmental Prototype City Of The Future"). To greet you is a huge sphere, which on a night changes color.

We decided to take a backstage visit to the green houses (even Gary wanted to do this despite the extra cost). The greenhouses supplied the Disney restaurants and cafes and specializes in hydroponics and aqua-culture. The hydroponic area has plants grown in non-soil medium and watered with fertilizer rich liquid. Some plants are grown completely in sand and, again fed with liquid fertilizer.

The tomatoes in the above photo were named something like lean and lay (not the right name but gives you the idea of what they have done to the plants). The tomato stem is trimmed and laid down and reaches a length of approximately 30 feet. There was a wonderful crop of tomatoes (cherry) ready to be picked.

 In the aquaculture section, fish are grown from eggs and raised again, for the Disney restaurants. Tilapia seemed to be the most abundant fish.

The aquaculture section also raised alligators. When they are big enough they are sent to an alligator farm and raised until they are large enough for food, handbags or clothing. Poor things!!

One of the rides we went of finished with a questionnaire about our health and habits. We were then given a cartoon demonstrating our answers (see above). Gee, I wish Gary and I were really that skinny.
If you have been to EPCOT you know that it is made up of different countries to visit: France, Italy, China, Norway, etc.. Canada is a favorite of mine because of the gardens it has surrounding the "village".

Above photos shows the inside of the China exhibition. The most famous thing to come out of China was the terra cotta soldiers besides all the goods Walmart carries!!!!
Our final park visit was to Animal Kingdom. Gary had never been there so it was new to him. I went with my friend, Linda about 8 or 9 years ago. We had a great time except for an incident that happened in Animal Kingdom and this next passage is thanks to her.
I was taking photos of some monkeys and decided to try and get closer to the animals so I stuck my knee through the fence and leaned into the compound. I took my photos, leaned back and tried to remove my knee from the fence. However, it was stuck good and proper. Linda was about 10 feet away taking photos so I called to her for help because the more I tugged on my knee, the more I got stuck. Linda came over and then said "wait a minute" and ran away. I thought "good" she's is going to get help. But no. She wanted to take my photo before helping me. So, there I was whilst Linda clicked away, crying in pain (more like frustration). She remained my friend despite this incident and we are still good friends today. The next photo is for you, Linda.

All of the Kingdoms have shows and Animal Kingdom was no exception. My favorite was "Finding Nemo". The play used real people using puppets for the story. These puppets were held in hands, wires or strings. The people controlling the puppets dressed minimally in fish costumes.

My favorite character in "Finding Nemo" was Crush the turtle. I got a very good photo of him.

OK, I"m bear the end of a long blog. Let me finish with 2 of my favorite photos from Animal Kingdom.

Our week at Disney World has come to an end. We have really enjoyed it but would have enjoyed it more had the weather been warmer. We had several days in the 50s and had to wear winter woollies to keep warm. So much for the warmth of Sunny Florida.

The next blog will follow and give details of our boat trip with our good friends Trudie and Jim.