Manatee Springs

This is Manatee Springs State Park. The spring itself is a haven for snorkeler's and scuba divers. The water is clear and cold, but diving into the mouth of the spring will lead you through caves that open up into ponds (sink holes) around the park. I'm not one for cave diving, but our oldest son and I snorkeled in these waters a few years back. The cold water felt good on our sun burns, and we were fortunate enough to see a beautiful blue eel! (sorry, no photo available)




There is a nice boardwalk that follows the spring down to the Suwannee River. It's a great way to catch a little exercise, some shade, and view some wild life among the cypress trees.

Do you see it in the photo to the left?
maybe the zoom shot below will help!








It's a Florida Deer, just standing in the swamp posing for the camera. They're a bit smaller than the Missouri variety, as Lightnin and fellow blogger Pablo (www.roundrock.com) can varify.









There was a vulture convention taking place while we were there. There were hundreds of these big birds in the trees and in the sky. I'm told by my Florida wildlife expert(www.pureflorida.blogspot.com) that they are Black Vultures. I'm familiar with Turkey Vultures, which are prevelant across the midwest and central states.




Well it looks like Blogger is done letting me upload images for now, so I'll sign off and continue this in another post. I'll try to get it out later this week.