Last Day on the River

We were nice and warm last night. Up early for a short walk. Most of the over-nighters were still here.

We had an outside slip. Too shallow for us in any of these.

I spotted this little Blue Heron on the weeds, looking for his breakfast.

It looks like a spray of feathers on it’s back.

We had plenty of time to get to our anchorage at G109 so stopped and dropped the hook just outside of Blue Springs and looked for Manatees. We had seen at least a dozen on the river between Hontoon Island and Blue Springs. It was a busy place. Lots of kayaks (they have canoes and kayaks for rent) and boats of all sizes. Most just nose up to shore. We have a keel so anchor out. Blue Springs is a must stop and see during the winter. There could be 100 Manatees in the springs. I saw a couple nose right up to a kayak..just checking out the visitors.

We took our dingy for a ride and this one looked us over. She might even be saying hello.

Here are some of the others we saw.

 

Unfortunately…they keep track of them by their prop scars. Most have names if they come back each year.

This is the disturbance of the water made by a Manatee. We watch for those…then stop and shut down, if possible. Several times they’ve come over to the boat and looked at us.

These two were in Blue Springs. You can see the difference in the water. Nice and clear where the river is a dark tea color.

We cruised into our anchorage…spotted a nice gator sunning itself. He is currently cruising the area. Guess we are safe….no one will be swimming up on us in the night.

Tomorrow we will see how well the new trailer works for pulling the boat out.