Day 3 - Old Town to Tampa

Sunday, April 4, 2010

We pack..head out, and scrounge more biscuits, milk, hot water, and coffee. We follow a nice road...low drooping oaks with spanish moss...more cattle....more pine...very flat...eventually, sandy road side and then we begin to see water. Soon many shell encrusted small islands, and palms, boats, for rent signs.

We cross the narrow peninsula and arrive on the Cedar Key waterfront dock. We park the car and wander around, watching, more than tame pelicans socialize on the dock. Mary is amazed to be able to approach these beautiful waterbirds and photograph them at her leisure. Local lore tells of a man they called "Pelican Man", who befriended these wild birds and tended to injured and sick birds brought to him by the pelicans themselves. He has passed on now but the birds still wait for him.

We walk the back streets of Cedar Key, very reminiscent of Key West about 40 years ago. Caroly sketches, Mary takes photos. The weather is perfect. The water in the Gulf is tea brown..the sky a milky blue. The architecture is truly "Old Florida" with house colors like whitewashed blue, orange, green, and lime. Taking in as much as we are able, we return to the car and head back to the mainland, and turn south on US 19 toward Homasassa Springs.

Arriving at the Ellie Shreiber Homasassa Springs State Park, we soon find ourselves seated on a pontoon boat along with about 50 other people of all ages. We are slowly ferried along a jungle enveloped waterway. Our guide points out a pair of Osprey who had recently returned to the park to set up housekeeping. Everyone does their best to get a photograph for their scrapbook.
We disembark and walk a path that leads us through various, cleverly enclosed, outdoor arrival enclosures. Our first treat is to see a crystal clear, large spring area where we can view limestone that drops off into an abyss.

We find a viewing area below ground and get a closeup look at some great fish and marine life. We walk the park and observe manatees being fed where Mary takes a great closeup photo of the snout (whiskers and all) of this giant and gentle marine mammal.

As we walk on we spot motor boats, pontoons, jet skis and more beyond a fenced zone of restricted entry. The state of Florida feels that these boats and the gasoline and oil that they deposit, pose no threat to the chemistry of this crystal clear spring. The rangers assure Caroly that 50 million gallons of spring water are pumped from the aquifer each day and that this volume alone is sufficient to mitigate any pollutants as the water moves out into the Gulf. We ponder this rationalization. Mary doesn't buy it.

We walk back to the park entrance, separate from the yelling, screaming, easter celebrating flocks of families we have been weaving through for the past several hours. On the trail we spot Pileated Woodpeckers..wild...free, chasing each other.

We set off for Tampa, Mary's camera filled with shots of panther, bobcat, bear, birds, fish, snakes...all creatures residing here in this park.

We listen to Audubon bird tapes as we drive; we have solved one of the mysteries of the camping evening. The raucous shouting match we experienced at dusk as we set up our camp, were Barred Owls discussing territory differences. WOW...how basic is that?!

Our trip today was straight, level, monotonous, punctuated by cabbage palm clumps, mobile home clusters.... very, very long. Our conversations together kept us alert, and sometimes let our thoughts just wander. Will call this stretch "Pondering Alley". Ah, yes we are heartened to see that Zelda is contributing now and then, giving us the feeling that we were actually moving forward...getting somewhere. Somewhere was Tampa, FL, as if , a crystal city looming up from the Gulf..both modern and historic, and generally white, sandy white architecture.

Now we are paying strict attention to finding our accomodations, having to make up sleep and recharge our batteries after a long day of travel and exploration.