Summer at the Springs

Summer is the perfect time to go swimming in the ice-cold waters of Wakulla Springs.

I met Adrienne, Maggie, and Ed there.

They were staying in the cool lodge that overlooks the springs.

Every time you go into the lodge, it feels like you have stepped back in time.

 I had a great time catching up with Adrienne.

 It was sunny the first day we were there. On the second day, mist rolled in over the springs. It wasn't raining, but we could hear thunder, and they cleared the swimming area.

I watched a flock of teals swim through the mist.

Birds and Turtles

 On Wednesday morning, we drove up to Wakulla Springs. The water wasn't as blue as it was last time, but it was still incredibly clear and beautiful.

 We took the boat tour.

 There were more birds out than I had ever seen before at Wakulla Springs: yellow-crowned night herons, great blue herons, great egrets, pied-billed grebes, anhingas, cormorants, a tricolored heron, a prothonotary warbler, a tree full of cattle egrets like this one.

Lots of little blue herons.

Two ospreys flying back and forth from their nest.

The wood ducks had a fleet of speckled ducklings, and the moorhens had tiny fuzzy black chicks like these.

 We drove back to Tallahassee for dinner. Afterward, we walked around Lake Ella. I wanted Rowan to see all the ducks.

 Whenever we got near the water, turtles swam up and begged for food.

Rowan chased the ducks. They didn't seem to mind: Lake Ella ducks are very laidback.

We Also Saw

Just a few more things that we saw at Wakulla Springs.

A huge alligator.

 A tiny alligator.

 An osprey's nest.

 A little blue heron with a turtle friend.

 A moorhen.

 A wood duck.

And a yellow-crowned night heron! (Not a black-crowned one as originally reported, but still really cool. You hardly ever see them during the day.)

Hidden Pictures

Hiding in these pictures: a great egret, an alligator, a row of turtles, and another great egret.

The Great Blueness

 So David and I went to Wakulla Springs to celebrate our 9th anniversary, and I have pictures of alligators and turtles and birds that I'm going to post later. But first I just want to show you the water. Look at this water!

This is looking down into the deepest part of the spring pool, the 185-foot drop to the entrance of the world's largest underwater cave system. Usually the water here is black and mysterious. Today it was a brilliant, shimmering, luminous blue.

 Bluer than I've ever seen it before.

 In the shallow parts of the spring, the water was clear, and we could see all of the underwater plant life.

 We watched schools of blue-gray mullet swimming past.

Our tour guide said that the water gets this blue about one week out of the year.

A Swim

Yesterday I accomplished one of my summer goals: I went swimming at Wakulla Springs.

I met up with Ed, Adrienne, and Maggie, who were spending a night in the lodge.


We sat out under the cypress trees at the shore of the river. Lots of other people were at the swimming area, but it still felt peaceful and relaxing.


The water was ice-cold.

And crystal-clear.

As we were swimming out by the rope, we saw a couple of gray whiskered snouts break the surface of the water, just outside the swimming area. Manatees! Two of them were swimming with us, and one was further out in the middle of the spring. (None of them are in this picture, though; my camera was on shore.)

After our swim, Adrienne and Maggie showed me the lodge's original elevator, the oldest one I have ever ridden on.

It's so beautifully made, and it still works.

And then we went to the soda fountain for ginger yips.


Eat ice cream; sit under shady trees; swim in a cold spring. Repeat until summer is over.

First Shots from the New Camera

David got a new camera for his birthday in February. It took a while for us to figure out how to download the pictures, but here is one of the very first shots: our violets in bloom.

A Great Blue Heron at Wakulla Springs.

An iris by the pond at Maclay Gardens.

A Southern Banded Water Snake (not venomous!) at Maclay Gardens.

Me.

Another iris.

Azalea in full bloom.