Friday March 25th 2022

It started to rain in the middle of the night. I had to scramble to get the windows closed, but went right back to sleep despite the noise on the roof. This morning it was a cloudy and dreary day. On the positive side, it was much cooler. There was a short period in the early afternoon that the sun was visible, but later in the day the clouds were back in force. After being humid and near 90 degrees yesterday, today was in the upper seventies.

During the early afternoon break in the gloom, I took my first walk of the day. Today’s destination was a return to the Eco Pond trail. I’ve waked the half mile loop around Eco Pond several times during my stay. On all the previous walks I didn’t see any wildlife of interest in or around the pond. Today was the exception. Swimming out in the middle of the pond was a large white bird. With the help of the camera zoom, I was able to identify the bird as a White Pelican. These birds are one of the original snow birds. They are not year round residents of Florida like their Brown Pelican cousins. These birds migrate in from the north for the winter. They are much bigger than the brown variety and do not dive for fish from altitude. They are an impressive bird.

I returned to my campsite via the area reserved for the Eco Rental tents. The tents are busy every night. I took advantage of the time between checkout and check in to get a closer look. They are rigid structures with screens and canvas on all four sides. This allows the sea breeze to pass right through the tent. A big electric floor fan is also provided to help the circulation of air. Inside they have various sleeping configurations including bunk beds and double beds. There are no cooking or bath facilities in the tents. A restroom building is off to the side near a set of picnic tables and grills.

My second walk of the day near sunset was very routine. I didn’t see anything new or remarkable. I’ve been here a week now, but there is usually something interesting to see.