Sunshine on my shoulders

Tuesday I traveled from Gainesville to Ft Myers a journey of about 300 miles. The weather again was sunny & warm.

As I was heading south on I-75 I noticed a sign for Manatee Viewing Center Being curious and having no particular schedule, I exited the highway to check it out. It was a lovely facility next to Tampa Electric, where their processes heat the water in the canal. Plenty of tourists there to try to see a manatee, plus a school group. There are volunteers there to answer questions and tell people who stop about the manatees. The Manatees appeared in 1986. There is a walkway next to the canal that has speakers with a narrated description of the native plants that are there. There was manatee with buoy attached to him near the end of the walkway. Found out he had recently been released after medical treatment and they wanted to keep track of him for a while. There was a little butterfly garden where I actually saw and photographed a butterfly. Great thing - it was all free! Click here to see the pix.

True destination for the day was Myakka River State Park in Sarasota. After paying the entrance fee ($4) there was a long, tranquil drive to the parking area where suddenly I was among crowds of tourists - tour guide said this was busiest day of the year so far. I really want to take the airboat tour - I got there at 1 pm, next available (last of the day) airboat tour wasn't until 3:35. I got the last available ticket and it was worth the wait. I wandered the area near the dock while I waited for my tour. I noticed a bird hovering in the air over the lake and was able to get pix of this osprey diving down and catching a fish - took me a while to figure out that it was an osprey. I got one of the seats in the bow in from of the captain so the view was perfect. We saw lots of birds and lots and lots of alligators. Also saw a small herd of deer. Highlight was an alligator swimming next to boat, I got pix and a video with my iPhone. I wished had more time to explore there - missed canopy walkway and birdwalk. Would definitely go back again. Click here for the pix.

I needed gas and was happy to see a gas station when I got back to I-75, the park is in the middle of nowhere. I got to Ft Myers about 6:30. I had supper with Blair. After supper we sat in the rocking chairs outside the entrance to the motel. We caught up a bit and planned our adventure for the next day.