Drama on the Low Seas

Location: Bushnell, FL

Within the campground, there are three fresh water ponds -- really pits left over from some excavation that have filled with rain water -- and, as is common in Florida, each one has a resident alligator. The alligators here are quite small as alligators go, somewhere around 4 foot long, but big enough to hunt the turtles and waterfowl that also call these ponds home. And there are a lot of turtles -- in this photo, each bump breaking the surface of the water is a turtle nose.

There is also a healthy population of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis) in one of the ponds. These waterfowl have black bellies, bright orange bills, and startling white wing patches that are displayed when they fly. I did get to hear their call -- it is a very pretty, clear trilly whistle (hence the name). They are very much a southern species -- their northern-most range is Texas, Florida, and Louisiana, and they are typically found in South America. Their name in Spanish is quite interesting: Pichichí or Pixixi.

But this morning's drama was all about the other ducks that live on this same pond. They had been splashing and preening on the shore of the pond when they spotted a nose moving towards them through the water. This nose was not a turtle nose! As the alligator got closer, they got more and more agitated and moved onto the shore, always keeping an eye on the predator. The alligator continued to stalk the ducks, dipping underwater as he closed the distance to his duck dinner. From the shore, it was not hard to figure out where he was submerged -- all beaks pointed directly towards the approaching gator. When he got near the shore, he broke the water's surface as he watched the now very focused ducks, apparently trying to decide if a sprint might net him a meal or just be a waste of energy. After about a minute, the alligator must have decided that the ducks were out of reach as he then submerged, the ducks calmed down, and then they waddled off. The drama was over.

M-I-C, See Ya Real Soon! K-E-Y, Why? Because...

I've been in Central Florida for a couple weeks now, so I decided it was time I visited Mickey. Walt Disney World is about a hour and a half from here, and, depending on the route you take, you can run into rush hour traffic going in and out of Orlando. The day before, Florida experienced what is arguably the worst accident of recent memory: a 70 car pile-up on I-4, caused when thick fog and smoke almost instantaneously reduced visibility to zero. This accident happened between Orlando and Tampa, and was not on the road I was taking to WDW -- but I-4 was still closed 24-hours later (it would not reopen until the following morning), and roads all over the area were likely to be affected. My "Disney Strategy" has been to be there when they open and hit the popular attractions first, so I set the alarm (yuck) so I could both beat the traffic and the crowds. But when I looked out the next morning, leaving early was not an option -- it was another day of heavy morning fog, and I was not willing to risk a repeat of the day before just to see a Mouse, even if it is Mickey. So I waited until it about 9:30 when the fog had burned off before leaving. Besides, it's mid-January. How busy could WDW be?

I got to the Magic Kingdom around 11, and discovered "very" was how busy they could be. There were kids and parents and even some retirees everywhere (and, since this was the middle of the week, why weren't all these kids in school?). I pushed on because I wanted to see the newly re-done Pirates of the Caribbean. When I got there, the line was about 20 minutes, so I sighed and started the "line crawl." The revised attraction turned out to be, mostly, a pirate here and there redressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, complete with dreads and eyeliner. I have always liked Pirates, but now I just found it to be tedious. I exited, had lunch, and found the lines were even longer than before. The crowds were really starting to annoy me (really, WHY weren't these kids in school?), so I took the monorail to Epcot where the visitors were mostly retirees, and almost everything was a "walk on." I got to revisit some old favorites like the Test Track (better than a coaster) and the Living Sea, and saw how they make Mickey Vegetables in The Land (see photos).

Spaceship Earth (inside the huge silver geodesic dome, seen here with the IllumiNations Orb that is waiting to be towed to the center of the lake for the sundown show) was supposed to be closed for renovation, but it was open for "testing" when I was there -- so I got to see the changes. The journey through history on the way up has been shined and polished, and emerging into the starry sky at the top of the dome is still impressive. The major change is the ride down. A touch-screen monitor is now in your car, and you are asked some basic questions about your travel and adventure preferences. Then an animated sequence, based on your responses and featuring "you" -- is shown. The image of "you" is taken at the beginning of the ride, and if no one is seated in one (or both) of the seats, a cartoon figure is displayed instead. It was interesting, but I missed having more to look at on the way down. Here are a couple of stills of "me," my cartoon companion, and our rocketship (as always, click for a larger image):

I kept wanderng, and when I got tired, I left -- and realized I had walked all the way around both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, including the World Showcase. Now only two more WDW theme parks to go!

Living at The Oaks RV Park

Location: Bushnell, Florida

A bluegrass session may spontaneously break out (note the charming lady bass player who wore her beads to the hoe down):


The pool is open in January and discovered I can still tread water (the regular way OR using only my arms OR using only my legs -- take THAT, Esther Williams!), float on my back while watching white puffy clouds sail by, do the sidestroke, or just veg out:


The park's name is "The Oaks" and the name refers to all the Live Oaks here. They are lovely with Spanish Moss on them (and how quintessentially Florida!):


HOWEVER -- these lovely oaks also have lots and lots of acorns, and those acorns, sometimes with the help of wind and sometimes with the help of squirrels, come tumbling down. Remember the old story about thunder being Thor bowling? Well, the acorns falling on my aluminum roof sounds like Thor is playing a fast game of marbles -- I can hear each one hit, and sometimes they also bounce and roll. But, hey, I'm an aThorist, so I'm really going to blame gravity! One of the "old timers" here said this is a particularly plentiful year for acorns. Lucky me.

Weeki Wachee

In 1947 a man named Newton Perry opened the Weeki Wachee spring to tourists. The spring is so deep that the bottom has not yet been found; the water is crystal clear and almost entirely composed of fresh water; and the temperature is always a swimable 74 degrees. 64 million gallons of water surge from the spring each day to form the Weeki Wachee River (first photo). Eight miles later it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Perry looked at the clear, deep spring and saw opportunity -- the site, he reasoned, was perfect for an underwater show. He had been a Navy Frogman, and quickly discovered that a person could use a pressurized air hose to breath underwater. He built the underwater theater that would allow the visitors to look through a glass window and see the shows performed 16 feet under the surface. And then he hired mermaids.

The air hoses allowed them to stay underwater for long periods of time as they performed choreographed dances, drank soft drinks, and even ate bananas. They also helped with the advertising -- when not in the water, they would run to the street -- in their bathing suits -- and "lure" cars to Weeki Wachee.

I had heard, off and on, about the Mermaids of Weeki Wachee, so I decided to go see them. While I was waiting for the show to start, I took a very nice half-hour boat trip on the river that flows from the spring. The river was so clear that it was very difficult to tell how deep it was. We saw great blue herons (see image of heron with nest), lesser herons, pelicans, turtles, ducks, and lots of fish.

When I sat down to see the Mermaid show, I started chatting with the woman next to me who was there to see her daughter swim in the show. It turned out that she, too, had been a Mermaid. Since the spring where the Mermaids perform is open to the river, fish or animals can swim in. She told me that once when she was in the water an alligator joined them! He didn't threaten anyone, but they sensibly cut their number short and got out.

The first picture here is one of today's Mermaids drinking the traditional soft drink underwater. The second one is one of the Mermaids during the show -- but look to the upper left of this picture (click for a larger version) and you will see two manatees that swam into the spring and joined the show. It was ironic -- the mermaid legends are thought to have begun when sailors spotted manatees and mistook them for the half-woman half-fish of legend. They must have been at sea a long time!