Weeki Wachee - Private Tour 12-30-09

We put in at Paddling Adventures and took out at Rogers Park, running our own shuttle.  Here are some pictures I took. First some manatees we found near the headsprings.

But, lets not forget the paddlers.  Here is our trip coordinator.

 

And, next is his partner, trying her best to hide him.

And the friends from childhood.

One was hiding, but we'll find him later.

Now for some action . . .

Then further down stream . . .

And more real action . . .

After the excitement is was time to paddle on down, stop to see more manatee at "hospital hole", and on to our take-out at Rogers Park.

Weeki Wachee Private Tour 12/28/10

We opted for a short, afternoon paddle and decided to do and out & back from Rogers Park.  And, we wanted to see Manatee quickly.  Here are the paddlers.

Here's oldest son, Matt.

Brian.

And, Johnny. 

And, of course their Dad, Matt.

And, their sister/aunt, our friend Patti.

So, let's go find some manatee.

And, more . . .

 

Trip Review - Weeki Wachee 12-26-09

These are most of the paddlers, as Etta took the photo.  It was pretty cold and windy.  With Big Ds fleece and paddling jackets added to those of our guests, we headed up the river in search of Mud River.  After a bit of exploration we found the river.  Along the way some of our guests expressed a desire to see manatees.  And, two others expressed a desire to see something other than more marsh grass.  So we gave up on Mud River for the day.  The prior Friday, I had come down a creek from Rogers Park to the Mud following the directions of paddling guide emeritus, John Ennis.  So as we headed up the Mud, I was on the lookout for that creek.  Which we took.  After a nice lunch at Rogers Park we headed off for the manatees.  We found about 6 in Hospital Hole and enjoyed their antics.  Then another vote of our guests and we headed up stream on Weeki Wachee.

 

The Weeki Wachee River.

Sally and Etta enjoyed the huge staghorn ferns hanging over the river.

While Tim enjoyed this tree.   (?)

Nice trumpet plant.

  

Sally again.

Here's Mason shading his neck.

And Dan.

 

The dreaded albino alligator.

 

And who says we have no seasons in Florida.

 

Sally's twin.

 

Tim must have liked this tree.

And someone liked these trumpets.

Donna sure has on a neat hat.

 

Casey is about to try the rope swing.  Here Goes!

And, Dan tries too.

And, we had hot cocoa, too.

Christmas Day Bird Rescue

With the winds a bit high, and two fairly inexperienced paddlers, we changed the venue from Rattlesnake Key to Shell Island.  Here are Cherie, Donna, and Lisa who accompanied me this day.

We had a quiet and nice paddle to Shell Island and plenty of time for a long stroll on the beach.

However, on the way back up the beach we found a bird fouled in some fishing line.  Its beak was wrapped shut, and wrapped to his neck and his legs, which were wrapped quite well along with his wings.  So we captured the bird, got the scissors from our first aid kit and set about freeing the critter.  Here are the photos as taken by Cherie.  (Mighty nice photo work during anxious times and with someone elses camera.)

We try to keep a soft bag around his head to keep him calm while Donna cuts away lots of wrapped fishing line.

 

Donna is gradually cutting the line away from both legs.

 

You can see the line wrapped in and around its beak.

Then Lisa handled the pincers while Donna worked the scissors and I tried not to strangle the struggling bird.

We are getting close, but still have to cut line from around both wings.

Then we give thanks for seeing the bird in its great distress and having tools with us to help.

And leave our new avian friend to recuperate and fly away.

Cherie selected this as a wonderful way to have a non-traditional Christmas.  All five of us ended up with a wonderful non-traditional experience.