Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, FL: Mike had a fire going this morning, so I took my smoothie out there and enjoyed another pretty morning around the fire. The deer came by as usual. Spent most of the morning making chili and baking a chocolate cake to take to my sister’s tomorrow in Tampa. After lunch we walked down to the spring one last time. There were some people swimming in the spring. I told Mike we should finally don our wet suits and do that, but he said “…go ahead.” Then someone told us there was a gator in there the past couple of days. Apparently the gator was swimming into the tunnel over to another spring. There are about 5 miles of tunnels that branch off of the springs. You have to be cave certified to scuba in there. Several have gotten lost and died under there. And you can’t use lights—just some kind of glow stick or something. Anyway, we walked the boardwalk out to the river. The wind was really whipping up the river—turning the once tranquil river into a cauldron of frothy white caps and rollers. No manatees. Didn’t stay out there long. Walked back and who do we run into but the Canadian couple with the dog. Chester, that we dined next to in Cedar Key. They’re staying out at Cedar Key for 10 days or so. Was really surprised to see them. They have to leave Wednesday to go back to Toronto. Walked the trail back to our site and sat around for a while. There were 5 pileated woodpeckers in the trees around us. They’re such huge birds and so prehistoric looking. Drove into Chiefland and had dinner and then back home. Mike got another fire going and we enjoyed that while about 15 deer wandered through. It’s like the wild kingdom in here.
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