4.7.10 Deer, Bald Eagle, Raccoon, Heron

When we were cruising near Blue Springs St Park, Jim spotted these deer on an island. It is thickly wooded and has some high ground….but the deer are feeding among the water plants. It looks like they are standing near a meadow…but she is almost need deep in water.

They look well fed…perhaps close to having a fawn sometime soon.

Yesterday we anchored in Silver Glen Springs. Ron & Karen are here with their houseboat. They have done a beautiful job on the inside, and that foredeck is a great place to spend time. You can see several boats and houseboats behind them. It was fairly busy until late afternoon…by then many had left for home. This is the view this morning, as the sun was coming up behind me.

Once we had our coffee cups full….we loaded Raisin into the dingy and headed for shore….we were not the only ones with “doggy duty”….though ours is much easier to load.

The resident Bald Eagle is standing guard….

This Blue Heron was waiting for breakfast to arrive….

and this little Raccoon looked as if he was washing his….

We stopped and introduced ourselves to John ..aboard Lilly Mae..she’s only 21’ but he has her fixed up for extended living aboard. He was sitting in the white seat  on the stern bracket…steering with the tiller when he came in. There is even a bicycle on board. By having his cooler, water storage etc on that bracket….he has uncluttered his living area. Very interesting person …living a relaxed lifestyle. 

We haven’t seen the Otters yet….but we did spot this gator on our way in…yesterday…..we thought it might be 9 –10 ft.

I was only able to capture part of him….later we spoke to Fred, who has a sailboat anchored just a bit below where we are…and he works on it during the day….he said the gator cruised past his boat and he thought it was bigger than our estimate…..Definitely will not be swimming in that area …nor after dark.

There are supposed to be thunderstorms this afternoon so we’ve decided to head S ..the batteries need charging and we’d rather do it cruising instead of using the generator.

We are anchored in the S end of Kitchner Creek, near marker  G23. There is a pair of Osprey nesting near us. I thought they looked kinda cute sitting together.

There were a couple of Herons nesting in a nearby tree. You can usually spot more than one nest in a tree top.

Well…it’s been a fun day on the water…so far no rain…but the sun is going down…time to head back to the boat.

Good night