Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Wakulla Springs - Alligators

If  you have been reading my blog you'll know that Dan and I took a road trip early in January.  Here's the overview.

I have been posting in chronological order about the trip but today I want to skip ahead and share photos of alligators.

Thirty minutes south of Tallahassee is Wakulla Springs State Park.  As the brochure states its "a 6000 acre wildlife sanctuary quietly hidden in Spanish moss-draped Florida woodlands ... The heart of the park is the world famous Wakulla Springs.  Cool water flows from majestic springs to create the Wakulla River, one of the last pristine rivers in Florida."


A boat tour is operated 365 days a year.  Three miles in a 40 minute cruise to see alligators, native birds, turtles and if you're lucky manatee.  We were not lucky in that regard.


We took the boat ride on a lovely morning.  We saw lots of birds.




Our first alligator sighting was this one swimming.


All the others in many sizes were just sunning themselves.










Inside the lodge (more about that in another post) there was this stuffed alligator, Old Joe.  He had been the largest alligator in the springs until he was "murdered".


It's an unsolved murder too.


Wakulla Springs was a wonderful find for us outside of Tallahassee.  Watch for more posts on the day we spent there.


10 comments:

Gosia said...

the big creatures are awful

Fun60 said...

Wouldn't like to fall into the water there!

Tom said...

...I'm glad not to live where here are alligator.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

That was a lovely trip in the baot and your certainly saw a great number of birds and alligators

doodles n daydreams said...

It looks like a wonderful day out.

Diana

Sharon Wagner said...

I'll be back walking with the gater's soon. In Orlando and Naples.

Stewart M said...

What a great looking place - with a bit of mystery as well.

The camera that I used detects movement and heat - so I think it would struggle with snakes!! Its all in black and white in the post as the footage was taken at night with infrared lights - if it was in the day time the video would be in colour.

Sorry for slow reply - just been in New Zealand for a while and blogging took a bit of a back seat!

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

eileeninmd said...

Hello, this sounds like a nice park. I wish it was closer, that would be a long day trip. I love all the birds and the gators. The boat ride would be nice too. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

Billy Blue Eyes said...

That brings back memories, I have been to the place twice. Think it's a great visit for a few hours and I was really sad when I read about Old Joe. Made me smile on the tour and they told us about the Tarzan movies being filmed there. You took a lot of nice photos which is more than I could with the 35mm compact I had with me. Thanks for bringing back such good memories of the place

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

We are planning to go to this Park! It's a day trip for us and one we haven't been to yet. You got some amazing photos! Aren't the alligators wild...so prehistoric looking! Enjoy your weekend!