Tuesday 13 April 2010

Florida diaries 2

We have now left the birds at St Augustine behind and am now at the Crystal river for the manatees, Now they did see some yesterday, a female with young and showed me the video, Nice and close but in very green mirky water so i am in no illusions that photography at this time will be crap to non existent but i am look forward to the experience, 20 years ago i went to the Epcot centre in Orlando where there are manatees in a glass tank, I walked past the tank and a manatee followed me as i walked, I stopped and walked back and it followed and somebody mentioned it as the crowd watched, I went to the glass and it came up and we just watched each other, it was an amazing experience and i have always wanted another manatee experience, Its taken 20 years for it to happen and today could be the day,either way i have discussed a return in the winter for a week or so's diving to get 'the' images that i dream about,He did mention that a croc joined them the other day which was a little un-nerving, We have the boat to ourselves tomorrow so we can do and go where we like, Going back to St Augustine i have to say was a great way to start the trip and in another 2-3 weeks it will be on fire as there will be lots of young around, there was just the 1 when i was there but i got some great shots-coming soon on a blog near you,Everybody was amazed at the amount of rosette spoonbills there,normally just 1 or 2 but about 30 or so at the moment and it looks like they may nest there for the first time ever,my first encounter with these beautiful birds, If you are looking to go i recommend the sleep inn as its not expensive and close to gatorland and if you get a photographers pass at gatorland before you get to the inn they will discount your rooms-win win.I or should i say Marian treated me to s decent goggles and snorkel so i have been practising in the pool all afternoon-its a dreadful life-honest
I have only gotten around to downloading and backing up as i have just not have the time to process so for now you will get the odd image and i will do some galleries when i return,Here is one from Gatorland that i really liked, I would like to add that Gatorland is a zoo type place but the rookery is purely wild birds, It seems that birds like to nest where the gators are so that the nest isnt raided by raccoons,snakes etc



Dave

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