Tarpon Bay and Otter Creek

2/12/13

Tarpon Bay and Otter Creek
This morning we took the Whaler to see if we could get from Otter Creek to North Prong thru one of the smaller mangrove creeks.

We went up the western side of Tarpon Bay, spotting numerous birds, including flocks of duckie looking birds that were neither teals nor coots. (my bird friends are banging their heads right now). I lost count of the alligators, though this one wanted his photo taken.

Once, when I had the outboard shut off, drifting to listen to the birds, I heard two otters calling to each other, but I never saw them.

Our mission to connect the two waterways was not possible by Whaler, so we ran back out Otter Creek, and down to North Prong. We also tried to get through a creek from there to Avocado Creek, but couldn't squeeze through the overhangs there either. We were however, within a half mile, and there was a lot of waterflow through the creek. If I'd had my kayak and a canoe paddle...

We returned to North Prong, and ran into Rookery Branch a quarter of a mile to drift out while we ate lunch. We stopped for a couple of minutes at Canepatch before returning to the MERCY.

We came down the Little Shark River to anchor in a more open, slightly less buggy area. 25 21.008'N 081 05.198'W We ate dinner and watched my favorite movie of all time, Captain Ron; that Casey and Mary didn't remember seeing before. Every boater needs to watch that movie!

I'm loving life with solar panels and an inverter!

Above Tarpon Bay, Everglades

2/6/13

Lila told me she had never seen a glossy ibis, and I promised we'd try to fix that! We left the MERCY anchored, under guard by our croc friend, and took the 19' Whaler through Avocado Creek, with a stop at Canepatch campsite and into Rookery Bay. We came down North Prong, crossed Tarpon Bay, went through a little creek over into the North Harney, cruised by to see my osprey buddies, and back to the boat.

Photo by Doug Rudolph

We spent the day looking at airplants, and orchids, and birds, and fish, dolphins, manatee, alligators, crocodiles, turtles... didn't see any snakes, no pythons!



Photo by Doug Rudolph
Frog on an airplant

We returned to the MERCY to go down river where we anchored 25 21.005N 081 05.210W, in a little more open place, where a gentle breeze kept the bugs off, and we could still hear the nearby woodpeckers, and later, owls. The dolphins cruised by, and the place was a pretty good flyway at dusk as the birds flocked past us.







Orchids
Photo by Doug Rudolph

Squawk Creek and Rookery Branch

2/4/13

In the morning, I decided I had to investigate a little beyond Avocado Creek into Squawk Creek and Rookery Branch.

Squawk Creek was interesting until it shallowed up enough I turned around. The dark, tannic water was amazing clear on the upper end. The creek was full of snook, and I saw one sawfish! I wasn't aware they went into that much fresh water.

I guess at this point I should mention, that this trip goes from the salt water of Florida Bay, turns brackish, and eventually fresh.

Anyhow, we reentered Acocado Creek, and continued into Rookery Branch. It sounded like a place to see birds, right? There were so many alligators that I wondered if it were an alligator rookery! There were a LOT of herons, woodstorks, ibis (including glossy) turkey vultures, and crows. It is a fun place to see big birds.

I returned out Rookery Branch, and into North Prong, to Tarpon Bay, and meandered through the bay, a couple of my favorite creeks, and back to the MERCY by way of the west side of Tarpon Bay. There are so many great places to explore in the Everglades!

I returned to the MERCY and cruised her back down to the Little Shark River to be able to give my guests arriving the next day the African Queen type adventure up the mangrove rivers....

Great Avocodo Creek

2/3/13

We spent the night on the hook in the upper end of Shark River, right before the big split. 25 23.201'N 081 00.923W

I awoke this morning to heavy dew, and hundreds of dead no-see-ums stuck to the wet surface of the boat. I washed their corpses off, worried about whether they'd stick once they dried!

We had agreed the night before that we wanted to explore Avacodo Creek with the 19' Whaler. What a great decision that was! In addition to a few alligators, which are always fun to see, we saw and amazing array of air plants and orchids, along with an assortment of large birds; herons, ibis, woodstorks, etc. See the Birds of the Everglades section.

We idled down Avocado Creek, stopping frequently to look at air plants and orchids. It was during one of those stops that we heard something crashing through the bushes. I don't know what the pursuer was, but a dark, almost black mammal was evidently running away from something, made it to the creek, saw us and plopped into the water about five feet from us. We weren't real sure what it was, Scott guessed a mink. It didn't dive into the water, but plopped. That may have been the result of the sudden realization we were there, but it sure looked odd.

We also went ashore at Canepatch campsight and walked around. There are a lot of banana trees there, as well as a lot of interesting plant life. Scott disappeared into the bushes and returned announcing he'd found a shell mound, but couldn't persuade Stratton or I to investigate into the buggy, poison ivy laden jungle. (Actually, we were each off exploring in different directions.)

I like to collect sea beans, and asked Scott if he could show me some trees they came from. He did. We found a couple of Nickerbean bushes, and although none had seed pods hanging from them, a dig in the underlying duff revealed a handful of gray sea pearls. These are the first I hadn't found on a beach somewhere! Allen, if you read this, and ask me, I'll send you a couple!

Scott and Stratton had a time that they had to be back home.... hmmm.... Superbowl? so we ran the Whaler back to Flamingo, via the wilderness waterway across Whitewater Bay, said our farewells until next time...

I returned to the boat via Joe's Creek, and up the River (I know, its the long way, but, I hadn't been that way in awhile) My Whaler's plotter looks like I've been trying to put tracks on every waterway, and I suppose I have.

Little Shark River to the Harney River

2/2/13
Little Shark River to the Harney River

There is plenty of water for our 4ft4in draft vessel to navigate from the Little Shark River, up to Tarpon Bay, and into the Harney River, a favorite trip of mine.

We anchored in the Harney River 25 25.580'N 081 02.052W while we explored with the Whaler. I wonder if the ospreys remembered me from last year.
I was excited to show the guys places we explored last winter.

 

We took the Whaler down the northern branch of the Harney, to the Harney River chickee, and up the wilderness waterway until it was impassable with the Whaler (above marker 16) at Broad Creek. Then we backtracked to ww14 and went down that creek to the west, out its south fork to cross the Harney River, and then E on the little creek that joins back into the Harney River on the opposite side of the island from the chickee. We returned to the boat along the Harney.

We returned to the upper end of the Little Shark River to anchor for the night 25 23.201'N 081 00.923W and grilled a pork loin and told stories, and wow! what a great time! We sat on the roof and star gazed until the mosquitos ran us back inside.

We spent my birthday checking out alligators, birds, air plants, mangrove creeks, and well, it was my kind of birthday! I heard rumors from the guys about a birthday cake that was left on the counter at the house. They brought a great enlarged photo of Allen and I on their boat, the Egret, in the Bahamas.