Wednesday October 21st 2020

Today was the third straight rainy day. Unlike the previous two days, today began cloudy, but dry. It was also very windy. So windy that a dead tree fell behind my RV home overnight. The tree only missed the motorhome by less than ten feet. The bulk of the rain came in the afternoon. As the sunset the clouds were starting to breakup, but not enough to create an impressive sunset.

I got a walk in during the morning before the rains arrived. At the Backwater River I was rewarded by a manatee sighting. The slow moving sea mammal was in the near the kayak launch. I was only a few feet away as it poked around on the bottom for food and occasionally poked its nose above the water for air. Despite several attempts I didn’t get any decent pictures. A brown oval in the water was the best picture I took.

Around noon I headed out in the car along the Tamiami highway east toward the Big Cypress National Preserve. A few miles after leaving the state park, I ran into the rain. It wasn’t bad at first. I was able to stop at one of the roadside areas and view an accumulation of alligators. It is amazing how close you can get from the safety of the boardwalk without the gators even showing any sign of concern. Today there were about six alligators visible. In March a couple of years ago there were many more.

As the rain got heavier outside exploring became impractical. I turned back toward my RV home. Overall I was out for only two hours, but I managed to get back before the really heavy rain arrived. For about three hours it rained very hard. Most of the campground became covered in standing water. It looked like the swamp was overflowing its banks. About an hour after the rain stopped the water level was back down so I could once again walk on the roads and high ground. My evening walk to the Backwater river didn’t produce any new wildlife sightings.

This pattern of rainy days is forecast to continue through the week. Tomorrow’s forecast reads like it will be a little drier, but I will believe it when it happens. The continued cloudy and rainy conditions are having an impact on my attitude. I’m feeling gloomy, lethargic and slightly depressed. I’m not sure what I’ll do if its a sunny day, but I need to find something fun and interesting.

Tuesday October 20th 2020

Today was the second consecutive rainy day. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as predictable as Monday. After misty start to the day, it appear to be clearing. I took advantage of the opportunity and headed out on my morning walk. It didn’t clear and I got caught in the heaviest rain of the day to that point. The little cloud burst only lasted long enough for me to get wet heading back to my RV home. A few more heavy showers followed. Some were short and others lingered for up to an hour.

I still managed to get in two walks to the Backwater River canoe and kayak launch. The first was a quick visit between storms and the second was at sunset. The photography opportunities during the first walk were limited, but during the sunset walk I had a little more success. The gator was back in the lagoon just before sunset. It responded to noise in the water it came out of hiding in the overhanging mangroves for the middle of the open water. About the same time the sunset found a hole in the clouds to display a bright red sky. Other than the color it was only a so so sunset.

In between the walks it was just a reading and watching TV kind of day. Tomorrow’s weather sounds like a repeat of today. I’ll need to find something else out of the rain to keep me occupied.

Monday October 19th 2020

At breakfast time this morning it began to rain. A steady to heavy rain continued until the lunch hour. It became intermittent during the afternoon and seems to have ended completely as I start to write this blog entry. I guess rain was in the forecast, but I only expected afternoon thunderstorms.

Outside activity wasn’t in the cards for this morning. I suffered through a few obscure TV programs while trying to deal with limited access to the internet. I suspect I’m at the limit of reasonable reception distance from the nearest cell tower. The phone usually shows only a single bar and the data connection speed seems to go up and down. Not having access to the normal network morning shows on the over the air TV networks combined with difficulty surfing the internet made for a challenging and boring morning.

About the time the rain started to let up, I drove into town to restock on a few groceries. I was out of milk, OJ, unfrozen meat and worst of all sweet deserts. Two hours later I was home again with a lot more than those few things. The nearest Walmart is about eight miles away. It was well stocked for a pandemic era store. My complaint about this store was the checkouts. They had about thirty self serve checkouts and only two open human staffed checkouts. My curmudgeon self wants the checkout service I’m paying for.

During the late afternoon I managed to get out for a walk in the state park. It was an exercise in creativity dodging many of the large puddles in and around the roads. Down by the Backwater river boat launching there was a little wildlife activity. The birds were sheltering in the trees and for some reason the mullet were jumping out of the water. It was almost like the fish were having a jumping contest.

I just edited my first paragraph to read “ended completely as I start to write this blog entry”. As I’m finishing writing the blog the rain has returned. The sound on the roof of my RV home is equivalent to a dull roar. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Sunday October 18th 2020

My day started lazy and relaxed surrounded by the bustling chaos of weekend campers packing up and leaving the state park. Next Sunday I’ll be part of the chaos, so I was interested in how the line at the dump station formed and other logistics of leaving. It is going to be tricky getting the car hooked up in the tight confines of the campground.

After all the weekenders departed I took a drive toward Naples and found more chaos on the road. A group of motorcyclists filled the road for near a quarter of a mile. They were two and three abreast in the lain approaching my direction of travel. It was loud, long and confusing as it approached. I guess this club didn’t make the three hundred mile run to Daytona Beach for Biketoberfest this weekend.

Most of the day I spent waiting for the weather to change. It started as a nice sunny day with a good breeze and a few fluffy clouds. Based on the internet and weather channel forecast, I expected thunderstorms during the afternoon. They never came. The day ended the way it started as a nice day with a few fluffy clouds. Since I don’t receive any local television stations, I don’t know if that was in the local forecast or not. As much as I complain about the quality of local TV weather forecasts, I feel a little out of touch without them.

Saturday October 17th 2020

When I woke up this morning the sleepy campground I got used to during the week was gone. All of the weekend residents were hopping with activity. They weren’t letting a minute of their precious weekend go to wast. Kids were riding bicycles, skateboards and scooters. Parents were loading up cars with the big kid toys like canoes and kayaks. Soon the cars were loaded with all the necessary items for a day of play.

When I walked over to the kayak and canoe launch on the Backwater river. I found the destination for several of the campers. Today was the first day I saw a significant number of boats in the water and people fishing from the dock. Everybody was taking advantage of the nice weather. Later in the day I spotted a couple of other kayak laden cars from the campground at one of the other kayak launches along the Tamiami trail. It is times like this that I’d like to have a kayak to explore with. Usually they rent them here and at other places in the area, but the combination of the season and the pandemic have limited those opportunities.

I walked another marsh trail for exercise today. The high water trend continues. At least I saw a couple of ducks taking advantage of the high water. After a week in the area, I’m running out of nearby places to hike. I’ll probably be driving further toward Miami to find more opportunities in the coming week.

Friday October 16th 2020

One of the historic displays at the Collier-Seminole State Park is a piece of equipment used in the 1920s to build the Tamiami trail across the Everglades. The Tamiami trail is the name of the first road from Tampa to Miami. The section across the Cyprus strands and water flowing grasslands of the Everglades was particularly difficult. To assist the laborers in the task was a Bay City Walking Dredge.

The dredge is an early twentieth century engineering marvel. A set of metal beams and cables along with a thirty horse power engine and a one cubic yard bucket dug the mud off of the limestone built up from the oceans. After the limestone was blasted loose the dredge brought it out of the depths to be broken into pieces for the road bed. The canals that line the side of the road as it crosses the Everglades were largely produced by the work of the dredge. The behemoth is truly an engineering marvel.

Today was one of those waiting for the weather kind of days. The day started with a little bit of sun and a lot of big puffy clouds. Most of the weather overnight remained to the east, but you could see it getting closer as the day went by. It didn’t disappoint. The slow moving storm front arrived overhead shortly after 2PM. By 2:30 the wind was blowing. It was pouring. Lightening and thunder were all around. It continued unabated for a good two hours. The campground was a soggy mess with massive puddles by the time the storm passed. It hasn’t rained since, but more is in the forecast for the overnight hours.

The campground started filling up for the weekend shortly before the storm arrived. A few unlucky people arrived during the storm. The smart ones just waited for the rain to stop, but a few pushed to get setup in the storm. The people arriving after the storm have been dealing with the mud. Anyone that misses the gravel sinks into the soft grass. All of people arriving for the weekend are once again changing the character of the campground. Hopefully it doesn’t get to to much of a party.

Thursday October 15th 2020

Today I walked the marsh trail in the Ten Thousand Island National Wildlife Refuge. The high water level was in play once again. The marsh looked more like shallow lakes than a marsh.

The area was interesting. An observation tower in the middle of the marsh affords a great view. If the water level was lower, I’m sure more birds and a few gators would be visible. Today I saw a few ducks a few bigger birds overflying the area and one brave Great Blue Heron walking belly deep through the water. I don’t think Herons swim and I not sure it could take off it had to fly. Eventually, it climbed into a bush to get out of the water. It flew out of the bush a few minutes later.

I might have walked deeper into the marsh on the trail, but the darn flies were a major annoyance. They didn’t bite, but every fly and its siblings had to land on me to verify I wasn’t a food source before continuing on their swarming way. Strangely if I stood still they didn’t bother me. It was only as I walked through there hovering area that they became royal pests.

When I got back to the state park this afternoon I found many of my neighbors had moved on. The place was emptier than it has been since I arrived on Sunday. I wondered, just for a moment, if I’d missed an evacuation order. A couple of new arrivals came in later in the afternoon, but I imagine a lot more will arrived tomorrow for the weekend.

I didn’t get a chance to visit the alligator in the Backwater River just before sunset tonight. I finished supper and was getting ready to go when a big dark cloud magically developed to the east. A quick check of the weather radar on my phone showed a storm approaching. A very loud and wet storm hovered overhead for about an hour. Consequently, I didn’t get any pictures of the sunset tonight.

Wednesday October 14th 2020

Today’s weather was a little more comfortable than the last few because of a nice breeze. The temperature still peaked around ninety with high humidity.

I drove east on the Tamiami trail toward Miami again today. This time, I stopped at several of the roadside pullouts and walked a few of the trails. The high water level made it hard to find a lot of wildlife to view. The alligators don’t have much bank space to take the sun. If they are in the canals and ponds they are at the bottom keeping out of the direct sun. I didn’t see many of the bigger bird species either.

Back at the state park this afternoon and evening I had more luck catching sight of animals. The big gator that hangs out around the kayak launch on the Backwater river decided to check me out on the dock while I was waiting for sunset. It came straight across the water toward me. Once it got close enough to realize I was more of a threat than food it veered off the bee line course. I got a couple of good pictures of its size.

Tuesday October 13th 2020

Today was another nice day in southern Florida. This area got a lot of rain before I got here on Sunday. It is only rained very briefly on Sunday night. For the most part it has been hot and humid, but dry since I got here. The mud around my campsite and the campground portion of the park in general is starting to dry out. I can’t say the same thing about the rest of the area.

Previous visits to this area of Florida have been in the winter dry season. There is always water on both sides of the Tamiami trail as it cuts across the state from Naples to Miami. Today it was much closer to the road surface. In one area to the east of here there were warning signs about water on the road surface. I didn’t find any, but clearly it has been over the road recently. Many of the trails in the parks are closed because of high water.

Today I hiked the nature trail in this park. It is primarily a boardwalk through the mangroves. I was looking forward to the “Observation Platform”. It turned out to be a wide space at the end of the boardwalk with tall mangroves on three sides instead of the two sides on the boardwalk leading to the platform. The whole walk was a let down. I didn’t see any interesting wildlife and the plant life got repetitious fast. The biggest excitement on the trail was avoiding wet ground and navigating around the standing water on the trail in the areas without a boardwalk.

This evening at sunset I returned to the Canoe and Kayak launch area on the Backwater River. The alligator was back. Tonight he was watching a pair of fishermen. Every time they cast the alligator moved closer. Eventually he just went to the bottom and hid. I moved on and took a picture of the sunset over the salt marsh.

Monday October 12th 2020

Today was focused on getting settled in and exploring the Collier-Seminole State Park. It was a humid day with a high temperature just short of ninety. This is about the same as I was experiencing in the Bradenton area last week, but I think it is near normal here for this time of year. Getting a local perspective on the weather will be difficult. Even though I’m only about five miles from outskirts of the city of Naples, I don’t receive any over the air TV stations. If it wasn’t for satellite TV I would be without entertainment. Cell service is also a little sketchy, but usable.

This part of the state park is located near the Royal Palm Hammock along the Backwater river. There are a number of historical displays and memorials in this part of the park. A memorial to Baron Gift Collier and advertising tycoon and land developer that bought over a million acres of land in southwest Florida in the 1920s is located in the park. He donated the land to the county to preserve the royal palms. The state took over the park in 1947. Baron Gift Collier is also responsible for finishing the western portion of the Tamiami trail in the 1920s.

In addition to completing my setup tasks around my site, I took a couple of walks around the campground. The area along the Backwater river has been recently modernized. There is a new seawall along the water with several docks for fishing and to support kayak and cannoning. The area even has a handicap kayak launch. During normal times a concession would be renting kayaks and canoes. I don’t know if it will be open this winter. All of the canoes and kayaks are stacked well away from the water.

My second walk to the Backwater river was just before sunset. The area was empty and the water was relatively calm. I could here the shark music from Jaws in my head as I watched a log like object moving toward me across the water. It was a good size alligator. The amphibian moved slowly watching the shoreline. When there was activity like a car driving by or a loud human noise it stopped and got lower in the water. Only its head was visible until everything calmed down again. Eventually it reached an area just beside the boat ramp. I think it was waiting for a safe time to climb the boat ramp and cross the parking lot to a marsh area. It probably had to wait until after darkness arrived. My patience was exhausted long before the gator moved. I took several pictures of the gator. I’ve included a few here to provide a little context.