Tuesday, February 20th. Wild Blue stayed at anchor, we took the dinghy for a tour of the cove. Here are some of the photo highlights...
Our boats at anchor. Wild Blue is on the right; yeah, it’s my shot, so Wild Blue gets the foreground! :wink:
An iguana in the mangroves. This fellow was about 3.5 to 4 feet long and not the least bit afraid of us. I was just hoping he wouldn’t hop into the dinghy as we went by.
Joan has been facinated by the pelicans that sit in the mangroves. We don’t see the pelicans sitting in trees back home... perhaps because we don’t have much in the way of trees? Our pelicans can sit on a piling or balance on a bridge strut like pros.
More along the lines of this fellow here. We took the dinghy down a canal and saw this pelican on one of the pilings.
This next shot shows the Valhalla Resort - what I call a bit of Old Florida. A few chaise lounges, a hammock, some cabins. Not fancy by any means, but it looks very relaxing. There were a few homes down that canal, and not much else.
Here’s the opening to the cove, showing some very expensive real estate. No home on there, but give it a season or two without a hurricane and I think that will change. It is apparent that something used to be here.
After our cove tour, we pulled the dinghy up on the beach at the state park, got out our chairs, and sat in the sun, looking at the beautiful water.
The four of us were reading and visiting when a woman came up to us with something in her hands. “I am a guide for an Elderhostel. We just finished lunch, and we have this chicken left over. It would be a terrible shame to just toss it - would you like it?” Even though my Mother taught me not to take things from strangers, it took a nano-second for all four of us to say, “Sure!” We were just about to head back to the boats to fix some lunch - perfect timing! Now if we could just find someone who has too much ice cream!
It was a gorgeous afternoon. We watched people fish, read, and just enjoyed the warmth and the sunshine. As the tide started to go out, Joan and I walked in the crystal clear water looking for shells.
By late afternoon, it was time to head back to the boats. The tide had receded a couple feet; we had to carry our dinghies down the beach back to the water. I climbed in first, Joan shoved us off. Brent and Dixie were right behind us. With two sailboats going the same direction, it is always a race... we didn’t realize it is much the same thing with dinghies. Here’s a shot of Brent and Dixie in their dinghy - I think Dixie’s movement is to improve their aerodynamics!
Molly was happy to see us when we got back to the boat... well, certainly happy to see her food dish getting filled up once again. We didn’t stay long on the boat - we gathered up towels and toiletries and went back to the park to take showers; unlimited time showers. New, nice showers.
Then back to the boat again, where it was 5:00 somewhere. Joan made us drinks and we sat in the cockpit; she was reading, I was working away on the computer to put this story together.
We watched the sun go down. Watched a DVD for the night's entertainment. Nice day!
Best wishes,
Jim B.
