Exploring Blue Springs

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blog 02-20-18 Exploring Blue Spring

Watson and I took a long walk this morning around the campground, I wanted to tire him out so I could go to the spring without him. It was warm already promising to be in the mid 80s by afternoon.

Air conditioner on, dog in the camper, I headed for the spring to see what was going on. As I drove down the road there was a school bus in front of me so I knew I was in trouble. This spring is one of nature's holy places and seeing it in the quiet is heavenly, spiritual. It was not meant to be today. I had to remind myself that it's important for the kids to learn about nature but a lot of them were talking with each other or on their cell phones. Not everybody is as lucky as I was to have a childhood surrounded by nature. These kids are probably from a more urban area so this is very different for them. Some of them were looking at the fish.

I wanted to be a forest ranger when I was a kid, good thing it didn't happen, nobody would be allowed in my forest.

So I immersed myself in observing the spring run and waited til the kids jumping on the platform were gone. There were long nose gore(a 2 ft long fish), tilapa, minnows and several other species of fish, but no manatees. The river water is warmer now and they don't have to come into the spring for warmth. Pictures.

There were cormorants drying on a fallen tree and black vultures souring overhead. Hooray birds.

The spring offers lots of activities including swimming and scuba diving, kayaking, canoeing and you can rent a party boat. There is no swimming now because it is manatee season but during the summer this is a very popular spot.

I'll let the pictures tell the story with explanation on the write up.

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