2014-04 Wild spirits of Cumberland Island

Yeah, I love the horses. I was a horse-crazy girl who read all the Misty books by Marguerite Henry, Black Beauty, Black Stallion, you name it...and cherished my collection of Breyer horses. So...I snapped lots of pictures of the horses of Cumberland Island. I'm pretty sure the white horse that was laying down is an albino. Beautiful!

2014-04 Cumberland Island National Seashore, GA

We had two days in this area, first day was sunny and fantastic, second day was rainy and cold. We picked the right day to take the ferry to Cumberland Island. This boat was reserved all the way into May, but we went down early in the am, got on the waitlist and got very lucky! Travel Channel named this "America's Most Beautiful Wilderness Beach" - it is absolutely gorgeous.

The island has a rich history. The Dungeness ruins served as summer home for many famous families in American history, including Henry Lee (father of Robert E. Lee), and the Carnegie family. John Kennedy Jr. was married in a tiny historic church on the island.

The Visitor Center is on the mainland in St Mary's

Lovely waterfront park



These walls with seashells were beautiful



Leaving the ferry dock at St Mary's



Our first stop - the Dungeness ruins



A nice stop for lunch on the water just behind Dungeness

 

 

We encountered several groups of "wild" horses (feral) in the Dungeness area. These are larger (up to 15 hands) with longer backs and longer legs than the smaller horses / ponies at Chincoteague and other areas north of here.  Popular myth is that these descended from horses shipwrecked or abandoned by Spanish explorers in the 1500's; more likely, these are descended from horses brought by English settlers in the 1700's with some mixing of other horses brought over in the 1900's. There are about 150 on the island today; some visitors never see them, so we were very lucky to have seen so many of these beautiful animals in this pristine environment.

 

 

After hiking around Dungeness, we headed across the island to the beach / Atlantic side. Great for beach combing and shell collecting, but we have limited space, so can only collect pictures!

Gary's catch of the day!

2014-04 An interesting morning at Gatorama

From Sebring, we took a morning trip to Gatorama (thank you Stuart and Kathy for the recommendation!). Definitely worthwhile and would be really fun for kids. Not only alligators and crocodiles, but also bobcats, panthers, peacocks, turtles and tortoises...we were told you really need to buy the food ($3) so you can watch the feeding frenzy, so we went ahead and paid the extra $7 for me to go "bareback" on a gator; this included the food bag plus photo op on an alligator (ie., only cost me $4 over the cost of the food alone). For kids, I highly recommend the "Catch a Gator" experience where you climb in a pool with lots of little gators and catch them (their mouths are taped, of course) - the kids all seemed to have a blast.

I was impressed with the cleanliness of the pens, all seemed clean and well maintained, and other than poor Goliath's sunburn (yes, they do sunburn!), did not see any critters which looked wanting....well except for the crocs which all looked a bit too eager to meet us.

The boardwalk starts by crossing the lagoons where the big guys are



They do a feeding of these big guys twice a day



Bobcat



One of several wandering peafowl

Watched a handler put his hand in this 15ft croc's mouth

The end of the boarwalk crosses a large lagoon with "problem alligators"
removed from various locations across Florida

 



 

Their marketing pictures show a 1970's era picture of a woman on a huge 10-foot gator...guess they may have had issues with big gators being so strong that it was truly dangerous. So...notice my gator's a bit smaller...it growled at me...can you blame it? This little guy was very strong and it was really worth the four bucks just to feel the rumble of his growl! Cool Experience!

2014-04 To Sebring and Highlands Hammock State Park

Our first day was a 2-hour shake-down trip; no issues encountered! We arrived at the Miccosukee Casino on the edge of Miami and met up with several couples from Jolly Roger. With $30 free play, BOGO buffet (not very good but they had an awesome chicken salad), and free overnight RV parking, it worked out well and we came out ahead. The next morning, another couple hours to the Sebring area, where we had reserved two nights at Highlands Hammock, Florida's oldest state Park.

We spent the first evening at Kathy and Stuart's just south of Sebring, enjoying a fantastic prime rib dinner (that girl can cook!) and a relaxing evening on the shore of Lake Josephine, where we also enjoyed the company of their resident Barred Owl. I also took home a few "souveniers", as in big spider bites all in a row down my back, nice. :-) We got a tour of the remodeling they did over the winter; Stuart is a pro and the place looks great. The house is in a beautiful waterfront setting surrounded by large oaks, and it will truly be a showcase when they finish remodeling. I know who I'm calling if I ever need remodeling. Come to think of it, the RV needs new flooring....



Barred Owl who gave us a little hoo hoo

 



 

Our camping spot at the state park backed up to a short pinelands trail typical of Florida pinelands , also known as pine rocklands or everglades flatwoods. It is a beautiful and unique ecosystem. The only critters encountered on my hike though the pinelands were a gopher tortoise and a bright green snake. However, Gary had a close encounter with something in the night; it was very dark, but whatever it was made quite a ruckous as it ran away through the brush.

Gopher Tortoise occupies upland habitat throughout Florida and is listed as threatened

Entrance to the campground, lined by huge oak trees

sunrise through the pines

Trying to save the 1000-year oak from falling over completely

On our second day after we got home from Gatorama, I hiked most of the nine short nature trails in the park, plus most of the 6-mile loop connecting the trails. It is an easy bike ride or short scenic drive (one-way loop). These are the biggest trees I've seen in a long time. I really missed big trees and tall shady woods.

I

Looks like a hobbit house..Frodo, are you there?



A bit swampy with a wet trail in places

I love ferns..one of my favorite plants whether in Florida or British Columbia!