Camping With The Manatees - A CCB Trip Report

[bama_ed]

Walking around WDW yesterday with DD, she said in a way it felt like she never left from her DCP assignment this past spring (at Boardwalk in Custodial). She was in the parks nearly every day on her time off and driving the roads daily so she knows alot about it all. Her running commentary at BW was funny. Anyway, BW had its gingerbread display in the lobby. It has an impressive hanging piece as well.









It was getting to be mid afternoon so we caught a bus from BW to Disney Springs (long wait). Which was VERY crowded for 330pm. DD wanted to see the new World of Disney store. Me too. I hate it now. It used to have rooms that were somewhat merch specific. Princess stuff over here, watches and jewelry and finer stuff in there, housewares back in there, music/ears/puzzles, keychains/cups in its room, toys in that corner, t-shirts and golf shirts in their spots. Oh and park specific ride hats, shirts, merch in its corner. Now it's one big open space mostly and it all appears to be clothes and stuffed plush things. A few kitchen house and a corner of toys. The magic is gone as far as I'm concerned for WoD. We finished up our other shopping then headed back to the DS bus stop for a bus to FW to get the car and go. Waited 30 minutes (lots of waiting when relying on Disney transportation).

Then boom, hit the road up Hwy 417 as relayed earlier and watched the end of the Clemson-ND game and the whole Bama-OU game. Now Bama is a 7-point favorite in the nattie. We shall see.

Headed to St Augustine today for some light sightseeing, lunch, and going to church up there.

Back around the manatees tomorrow including a boat cruise on the St. Johns river.

Bama Ed

 

[tiggerdad]

Looks good Ed, as always. Glad you made it down that crazy interstate construction disaster in Orlando. I got to see it up close in October when the DW took the Jacksonville detour.

Was just chatting with SouthAlabama5er about that game last night. Too many dumb mistakes kept it closer than it should of been.

Glad you made it over to FW and still got to see some folks even though you weren't staying there. Be glad you are where you are. The day after you left we got 6" of rain and more on the way. Sun hasn't shown clear in days. Just a miserable wet setting around here. We're heading over the T-town Tuesday to visit family.

Be safe.

 

[bama_ed]

Was just chatting with SouthAlabama5er about that game last night. Too many dumb mistakes kept it closer than it should of been.

It will give Saban something to be unhappy about during practice this week. He needs something legitimate to harp on to keep the edge sharp.

 

[bama_ed]

After posting yesterday's update this morning, we hit the road for St. Augustine. I had not done much research on it; DD had gotten a lunch recommendation; DW is interested in camping at the State Park near St. Augustine on a future trip based on what research she had done. So our prep level was all over the board going in.

Here's what I'm looking for when I'm sightseeing: History. Authenticity. Art. Novelty.

Here's what I'm NOT looking for: Hop on-hop off trolley tours with talking/rolling commentary. Tacky t-shirt shops crammed cheek to jowl. A "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" museum. A "Pirate" museum.

As I said, I did little prep. So driving in to the lunch recommendation first, I found myself trapped in Tourist Town Central behind one of the talking trolleys creeping through red lights in a row of traffic. The lunch spot was on a narrow, brick paved street in the old town which is not Suburban-friendly (pedestrians think they have the right of way - what's up with that? ). And Ed said some words-not-in-Spanish about the driving techniques of his fellow car enthusiasts.

But I found a cheap pay-to-park place. Then it occurred to me that St. Augustine is Key West all over again. KW has a Ripley's, tacky t-shirt shops, the tourist trolleys, a Pirate Museum. Been there, done that (got the tacky t-shirt to prove it). So once I recognized that, I was in search of the Novelty - what was unique in St. Augustine? Where was the Authentic History?

So we visited three old churches (nice) and the Country's Oldest Wooden School House.



It's just inside the old Spanish city gates.



St. Georges Street in St. Augustine seems to be the equivalent of Duval Street in Key West. There were LOTS of people out and about (80F).



My favorite historical site was the old Ponce De Leon Hotel built by Henry Flagler (partner to Rockefeller and rich with Standard Oil stock) in the late 1800s. He built Florida literally by extending the Florida East Coast Railway down the Atlantic Coast and establishing luxury resorts along the way (St. Augustine, Palm Beach, Miami) and then building the Railway down to Key West and a luxe hotel there. We were too late for the last historical tour of the day but we will hit it next time we are in town. It's now restored and working as Flagler College.







We attended a Sunday evening church service at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine which was beautiful then headed home to Blue Spring picking up a pizza along the way.

One full day remaining here tomorrow. The plan is to do the boat cruise on the St. Johns, walk the manatees trail one more time, then start packing up tomorrow afternoon. It will be New Years Eve so I'll be watching more bowl games while packing and loading. I hope to roll out Tuesday morning early on Jan 1 and make it home same day (no New York City ball drop at midnight for me). Hopefully the rain will be over and done with back home.

Bama Ed

 

[tiggerdad]

What!? No pirate museums? Arrrggghh!

I'm all for the history, and I'm in complete agreement on the stupid tacky t-shirt shops. Only Ripley's I've bothered with is in Gatlinburg, always skipped them everywhere else.

 

[bama_ed]

Last day, ya'll.

It's been a good trip: a mix of chilling around the camp (bowl games on tv, mild weather, walking over to the day area and checking on the manatees) and going places and seeing things (St. Augustine and WDW/FW).

So our cruise is over and it's early afternoon now. We've had lunch and now I'm watching bowl games and will start packing up and loading as much as possible after I'm done here. It's our best day here yet weatherwise: 82F, slight breeze, less humidity (54%), and blue sky (pix at end of the next post).

We slept in and left the camper at 9am for our 10am cruise. It's a short walk on a paved trail from the campground to the day trip area where the spring is, the cruise operator, and kayak/canoe rental place. It wasn't too busy yet and still not crowded.



A few kayakers were out early this morning and we could hear them from the shore getting their rowing instructions and rules about not interacting with the manatees.



The spanish moss displays are pretty impressive in the morning sun.



We were on a pontoon boat cruise at $25 per adult for a two hour eco ride. We took the boat on the right with no sides.



During the slow speed times (vast majority of time) you could get up and move around a bit as the boat went to either side of the river channel to give both sides the chance for the up close view.



We saw plenty of turtles, various bird types, gators, but no manatees.











Let's roll on to the next post.

 

[bama_ed]

No manatees. Our narrator captain said the week before we arrived they counted 300 manatees one morning in the slew that's blocked off because of the consistently cold temperatures they'd been having. He said this past week they counted 22 (I can vouch for that). He said it's needs to be cold about three days in a row with night temps in the 40s (to get that water temp down) before the manatees will come into the spring for their overnight stay. I scheduled this vacation 11 months ago and who knew it would be this warm this week, right?

But we had seen some manatees in their natural habitat and seen them from a short distance. So I felt some disappointment concerning NUMBERS but not quality.

Finally we came back into the dock where there was more activity on the water (boats, kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, etc.).



We tied up to the dock and got off the boat and started to walk across the floating bridge to the mainland. This bridge right here.



As we were on the bridge, we noticed three manatees (female and two calves) swimming close to the surface approaching the bridge from the right side of the bridge in the picture. I clumsily got my phone ready (swipe, unlock code, pick camera app, choose the "take picture" option) and waited for them to swim under my feet (on the bridge) and out the other side. We were very close to them:





A fourth manatee (adult size) was about ten feet behind these three. We FINALLY had gotten to see some manatees up close.

Headed home in the early morning. Site #14 is nice - a modern comfort station is right in front of us.



Next camping trip is in March 2019 to Jetty Park at Port Canaveral for spring break. We plan one day at MK and three days seeing spring training baseball (Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, and Atlanta Braves (at Disney)). Then the Gulf DIS Meet in May.

Everyone have a safe and blessed New Year! Keep those trip report posts and pictures coming on the main Camping Board. And check out Blue Spring State Park if you get the chance.

Bama Ed

 

[CDNCruiser]

Thanks Ed, we enjoyed the trip report!
I think we'll be taking a trip to Blue Springs soon after we arrive in February!

Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2019!

Gary

 

[bama_ed]

Good choice, Gary!

Hope you get some nice cold weather to result in lots of manatees (lol).

BTW, the trail to the day/manatee area is just past site #18. If you do a day trip from the Fort, try to get there early (gate opens at 8am). Like I said in an early post, the wait to get in the gate can be an hour later in the day. The eco cruises are at 10am and 1pm and the website does accept reservations (no deposit required).

https://www.sjrivercruises.com/

Ed

 

[2goofycampers]

Another great TR, thanks for taking the time.

 

[Teamubr]

Thanks for letting us come along. Great TR!

If those places weren't so far away, I'd love to take a week or 2 and see some of them.

j

 

[bama_ed]

Thanks for letting us come along. Great TR!

If those places weren't so far away, I'd love to take a week or 2 and see some of them.

j

Jim,

Happy to take you all with me (so to speak).

The Florida State Park system (which I prefer when I can use them) has so many great diverse options. In the Panhandle, Central Florida, and the Keys, there are great options (if you can book well in advance if you want to travel in winter). Lesser known options are county camping/park system options like Turkey Lake in Orlando, Manatee Hammock near Titusville, Fort De Soto near Tampa, and the campgrounds in the Broward County system; again, the early bird gets the worm.

I feel like I've only scratched the surface.

DW wants me to try to book Anastasia SP at this time next year which is just south of St. Augustine. She wants a longer, more in-depth stay there.

"To hear is to obey", says Horace Rumpole. I support him in this.

So that's my charge for the coming year.

Bama Ed

PS - I am home, made it in less than 10 hours (little traffic on NY Day) and listened to LSU beat UCF on SiriusXM during the drive. Now watching Ohio State vs Washington; will hang in there to watch Georgia play Texas. Tomorrow starts the corporate job thing again (only three days this week thankfully).