Really Florida!

Sorry I’ve been neglecting you of late; I’ve been watching Fay as she makes her long, slow trip of Florida.  It certainly has been interesting!

I live in SE Florida, so I’ve felt the effects of Fay from the time she crossed Cuba on Sunday.  And it’s only today (Saturday) that the skies are clearing up — I actually can see some blue sky and sunshine!

One thing about tropical storms and hurricanes, their effects last quite a bit beyond when they cross your area.  I went through Frances and Jeanne in 2004, then got hit again by Wilma in 2005.  Fortunately, Fay brought mostly rain and a few tree limbs down here and there.

But it was interesting!  Fay had been keeping me in the house, and it wasn’t until Thursday that I got a chance to survey the neighborhood.  The lot across the street from me is a prime example.  It’s low-lying to begin with, and does tend to collect water in spots (it’s part of a wetlands area).  But now, all 5 acres are pretty much a lake.  And I expect the lake would be over my head in various places.

As you’ve been hearing, Florida had been having something of a drought in the last few years.  Well, I think I can safely say that the aquifers are filled up again!  And although Lake Okeechobee is still on the low side, it’s been getting lots of water.  And more to come, from the rivers that flow into it from Central Florida.

The main part of the tropical season hasn’t arrived yet; it’s the first couple of weeks in September.  And there are two systems out there to watch.  But with any luck, they won’t bring any winds or rain to Florida.

This is one of the reasons I encourage people to not visit Florida in August and September.  While Fay didn’t cause the theme parks to close, they had to be wet and miserable for the people who came to Florida for a vacation last week.  A tropical system doesn’t have to be a hurricane to ruin your vacation!

Now what I’m about to write about the upcoming weather in Florida is purely speculation, but I think it may hold at least a grain of truth.  Unfortunately, we won’t know for sure until after the fact.  Here goes.

I have three cats, and the other day I noticed that their coats were unusually thick for July.  In the past, I have been able to gauge with some sort of accuracy the upcoming winter weather based on their fur length and density at various times of the year.

Well, this year, their coats are what I’d normally expect to feel towards the middle of September.  So, I asked my brother, Bruce, if he had heard of any predictions for the upcoming winter.  (Bruce is an amateur meteorologist, and has been following weather for as long as I can remember.  He’s pretty good, too.)

Lo and behold, he said that yes, the kitties might be right on, as this upcoming Winter in Florida is predicted to be colder than average.  Now he went on as to all the particulars as to why, but the upshot — it could possibly be like the winters of 1989 or even 1977 (when it snowed as far south as Miami).

So, there’s no telling as to how the Winter weather in Florida will pan out until maybe 7 or 8 months from now.  But you heard it from the kitties first; “It’s gonna be chilly ’cause we’re getting furry!”

In this 5th post of Florida vacation ideas, we’ll talk about feeding your mind with museums, historical sites and other ways of getting to know Florida.

Get a Little History

Granted, Florida doesn’t quite have the history that other states do — heck, Orlando’s orginal name was “Mosquito”, if that gives you a clue what it was like, pre-tourism.

Still, we do have history here; you just have to look in different places. For example, the Castillio de San Marcos in St. Augustine harkens back to when Spain and France were trying to decide who should get “La Florida”. If you’ve never been, it’s a must-see.

There are sugar mill ruins, old plantations, treasure museums and more. There’s history here, and part of the fun is finding it.

Be Amused in a Museum

If you think life is a circus, why not check out the Ringling Circus Museum in Sarasota?  I know, it’s more common to see a State Fair than a circus tent these days, but this museum will help you remember the wonder and excitment of the Big Top.

While it’s also part attraction, the Kennedy Space Center houses a lot of fascinating information on the early days of space travel.  Not to mention there are still launches of various types on a fairly frequent basis.

If you’re near the Gainesville area, check out the Florida Museum of Natural History.  It’s housed at the University of Florida, and it’s a fabulous walk though time.  The displays and themes are always changing, so there’s no telling what you’ll find!

In the Florida Panhandle, check out the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola.  Not only is there an air museum with 150 restored aircraft, but also there’s artifacts, flight simulators and an IMAX theater.

Any More Ideas?

So, how has that been, for some Florida vacation ideas?

Do you have some you’d like to share? Post a comment and tell us about them!

Sorry I’ve been away for so long, and hopefully I’ll be back in a more regular mode of writing soon.

But meanwhile, I wanted to share something that happened with me this morning.  Call it the “tale of the wood storks”.

David and I decided to go out to breakfast this morning, and once we got to the restaurant, who should be strolling along the road but a momma wood stork and her two babies.   They didn’t seem particularly surprised to see people.

Well, we left momma and babies by the car and went into the restaurant.  About 5 minutes later, who comes strolling along the sidewalk?  You guessed it — the wood stork family.

We asked our server about them, and Nikki said that they come by all the time.  Occasionally they will tap their beaks on the glass window and stare in.  And naturally they are always interested in food (although the restaurant staff doesn’t feed them — it’s prohibited by state law).  It still doesn’t prevent the wood storks from hoping anyway!

I wish I had brought my camera along, so I could have taken pictures of these rare birds.  But I never thought to see any just walking by a restaurant!

Goes to show you — in Florida, just about anything is possible.

I must say, I didn’t know there was such a thing as a National Rip Current Awareness Week, but you learn something new every day here in Florida!

In all seriousness, rip currents aren’t anything to be joking about — it’s very scary to be caught in one, and it can kill you, if you don’t know how to handle it.

Since I think it’s worth repeating, here’s the full text of the public service advisory:

The week of June 1-7 is designated as National rip current awareness week. Over the past two decades, rip currents, which are narrow channels of water in the surf zone of the ocean, have caused more deaths in South Florida than hurricanes, lightning and tornadoes combined. In the United States, over 100 people are estimated to die
from these killer currents each year. In addition, lifeguards Rescue tens of thousands of people from rip currents in the United States annually.

In Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Collier counties, an average of 3 to 7 people die from rip currents each year. In 2007, a total of seven people drowned at Southeast Florida beaches. So far in 2008, one drowning and several near drownings have occurred.

Tourists are often victims, but local residents are also at risk. In addition, other people suffer near drownings and are left with life-long debilitating effects. These deaths and injuries are preventable with knowledge of how a rip current works. Rip currents can be referred to as the fair weather killer because they can occur when the weather appears to be generally nice.

A rip current is a strong channel of water that extends from near the beach through the breaking waves to about 50 to 100 yards offshore. The seaward pull of the rip current makes people feel that they have to struggle directly toward the beach to reach safety.

The speed of the rip current can be 5 mph or about 8 feet per second, faster than an olympic swimmer. This can easily overpower even the strongest swimmer. Instead of trying to fight the current by swimming directly against it, the best means of escape is to swim across the narrow portion of the rip current, usually only a matter of a few yards, before swimming toward the beach at an angle away from the outgoing current.

The best advice to avoid becoming a rip current victim is to swim at beaches with lifeguards. The United States lifesaving association has calculated the chance that a person will drown while attending a beach protected by an affiliated lifeguards at 1 in 18 million.

During the past several years, very few drownings have occurred at beaches with lifeguards, and lifeguards routinely perform hundreds of rescues yearly at South Florida beaches alone. Ocean Rescue personnel can spot rip currents and warn you before you get into them. Color flags are posted from lifeguard stands which indicate the risk of rip currents. Always heed the advice of the beach patrol and ocean Rescue.

Even before you go to the beach, you can learn about the risk of rip currents each day by listening to NOAA Weather Radio and local media outlets. In addition, the National Weather Service in Miami issues daily surf zone forecasts, hazardous weather outlooks and special weather statements which alert the public of expected hazardous weather, including rip currents. This information can be obtained via NOAA Weather Radio or by visiting the National weather in Miami website at www.Weather.Gov/Miami and clicking on the current hazards for South Florida link.

Persons are urged to learn about rip currents and the danger they pose by visiting the National Weather Service rip current web site at www.Ripcurrents.NOAA.Gov.

Remember, break the grip of the rip!

Are you a scuba fan(atic)? Do you wish you could stay underwater for more than just a couple of hours or so?

Why not stay at Jules’ Undersea Lodge, the famous underwater hotel in the Florida Keys?

This is one cool place, but just so you know, you must be dive-certified to stay here — because the entrance is underwater, too (21 feet deep, to be exact)!

The lodge has two bedrooms, a bath area, and a common room (TV, mini-kitchen, etc.). Because this underwater fantasy is rented by the person, if you have less than four in your party, you may end up rooming with others.

The bedrooms each have two bunks, one upper and one lower. There’s also a 42″ window so you can easily watch the parade of sealife wander by.

Your check-in is at 1:00 in the afternoon, and your checkout time is 10:00 AM the following morning. That gives you a good amount of time to explore the waters around the habitat. And in theory (assuming you had the money), you could spend days underwater without surfacing!

Now the cost — at the time of this writing it’s $475 per person, per night. But that also includes a gourmet dinner and breakfast, plus all your dive gear.

The Jules’ Undersea Lodge is located in Key Largo, the gateway to the Florida Keys, at MM 103.2.

If you love golf and you love Florida (especially in the winter), then a South Florida golf vacation is probably on your list of things to do.

You’ve definitely got a choice here; there are more golf courses in Palm Beach County alone than in several states! Not to mention there are magnificent professional courses, like at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens.

Now I’ll admit, the only golfing I’ve ever really done is on the putting green — never got the courage (or skill) to actually go out on the course. But you know what?

A Florida golf vacation can be for anyone — someone who lives and breathes the game, or for someone who just wants to enjoy the resort amenities. Or likes to hang out on the putting green.

So, what are a few other South Florida golfing resorts to check out? Well, there’s the Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami for one. If you prefer the South Florida Gulf Coast, how about the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort? All the luxury of the Ritz, in a tropical setting.

Let’s see, what else? Well, the Ft. Meyers area (including Sanibel, Captiva and points nearby) has some nice resorts. How about the Sundial Beach & Golf Resort in Sanibel? Right on one of the most beautiful beaches on the SW Florida Gulf coast.

The cool thing about all these resorts are the number of things to do while you’re on vacation. So if you love the game but someone else prefers the beach, or shopping or…well, you get the idea. So it wouldn’t be hard at all to talk someone else who doesn’t golf to agree to a golfing vacation.

Well, that’s about the extent of my knowledge of the major golf resorts around here, but there are even more, if you care to look. Here are a whole bunch more Florida golf vacation packages. Take a browse and see what might be on your agenda, come vacation time!

South Florida kayaking is usually though of in terms of the ocean. The intercoastal, while an option, can get plagued by jet skis and pleasure boats. A lot of the lakes are too small to do much. But we do have the Loxahatchee River here in South Florida and it’s great for canoing and kayaking.

(A friend of mine went out to Riverbend Park not too long ago and provided these pictures of the trip.)

I love this first picture. The Loxahatchee is one of Florida’s designated “national wild and scenic” rivers, and it can be breathtaking at times. The cypress lean towards the waters; epiphytes cling to the trees; the water carries you quietly back it time.

Float past alligators and turtles. See herons stalking their lunches in the shallows. Listen to the music of the birds in the trees, calling to each other.

The photo is a kayak-eye view of the river and some paddlers ahead. The sunlight streams between the trees, giving it a mysterious quality. To me, this photo almost seems to be a watercolor painting.

If you paddle the river, stop by Trapper Nelson’s.  Here’s the story; a man called (what else?) Trapper Nelson lived on the banks of the river back in the 1930’s or thereabout. He made his living trapping and fishing, and his homestead is preserved as a view of what it was like to live here before air conditioning, without electricity or plumbing…you get the idea. I find it amazing that he did it.

The Loxahatchee has small (okay, teeny-weeny) waterfalls in spots, but nothing in the way of white water. No, this is a slow, quiet river — great for experienced and beginning kayakers alike.

Now the full paddle, from Riverbend Park through to Jonathan Dickinson State Park, is a total of eight miles. It’s not as hard as it may seem, since you need do little more than drift with the river and avoid crashing into other kayakers or canoeists.

If you do paddle the distance (it’s 5 or 6 hours), you’ll likely want to take advantage of the pickup for your kayak/canoe for return to Riverbend. The price is included in your rental, and speaking of the rental, it’s from $30 (a single kayak) to $55 (three-person canoe).

Note: I just saw a notice on the canoe rental website and it says they are closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, effective February 27, 2008.

If you’d like to do some South Florida kayaking, go on over to Riverbend Park; it’s located at 9060 Indiantown Road in Jupiter, about a mile west of the Turnpike.

The park is open seven days a week, from sunrise to one hour before sunset.

Hungryland Slough at J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area in South Florida is like going back in time. With all the water stealthily flowing around them, the cypress trees lift their eerie branches to the sky. Climbing vines clamber up pines, while all kinds of epiphytes hang tight to their branches. Or wherever.

Almost makes you think “Jurrasic Park” and not “West Palm Beach”.

Fortunately Hungryland Slough has a boardwalk where you can safely wander back in the wilds. The boardwalk crosses over shallow waters and what appeared to be game trails. Trees, vines, air plants — they all crowd around, sometimes closer, sometimes farther away.

The boardwalk is about a mile long, in somewhat of a loop. It’s quiet, peaceful and there are all kinds of things to see. Whether you like birds, flowers, epiphytes or just plain taking a stroll on an unusual trail, you’re bound to find something interesting.

But there’s a catch (you knew there would be, right). And it’s this — to get to the boardwalk (where it’s high, dry and level), you have to cross some ground that isn’t high, dry or level. Not a lot, mind you, but it’s no place for anyone who is unsteady on their feet.

The trail leading up to the boardwalk was somewhat uneven, due to the antics of the feral hogs — they had dug up a lot of the area around and sometimes onto the trail. And since it had rained a few days before, that dug-up area was pretty muddy. Not to mention slippery.

We didn’t have to wade through any water, but it was also Winter — our dry season. I wouldn’t encourage you to visit during the rainy season — if the mosquitoes don’t fly off with you, it will only be because you’re stuck in the mud!

It may sound like these are reasons to not visit J.W. Corbett’s Hungryland Slough boardwalk — not so. It’s a piece of Florida wilderness that hasn’t been trampled by developers, and therefore is precious. It’s also a bit of a hike to get to the boardwalk. Then again, isn’t that why we go to the Florida State Parks? To leave civilization behind, even if only for an hour or two, and experience natural Florida.

I’ll leave you with another photo taken on the boardwalk, this time of some interesting-looking mosses. It just goes to show you that all kinds of plants live here. So don’t just gaze up into the greeny-blue of the cypress trees, or at the vines scaling the tallest pines; look down at your feet as well, for all kinds of other fascinating forms of life.

J.W. Corbett and Hungryland Slough. They aren’t your typical Florida, for sure. But they are naturally Florida.

You guessed it — more Lion Country Safari photos — this time of the giraffes.

(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

This photo was from the drive-through safari section of the South Florida theme park. There was a group of mostly adult (or at least big) giraffes, plus a little one. Not sure how old it was, but it was pretty small compared to the adults, which can grow up to 17 feet tall.

In the amusement park section of Lion Country Safari, there is a giraffe feeding station. You walk up a ramp to a covered platform about 10 to 12 feet high. Once at the top, you can buy trinkets or the most popular purchase.

Sweet potato slices. Used to feed the giraffe. As in hold out the treat and the giraffe is happy to take it from your hand. And yes, I can report that this animal does have a blue tongue!

There were quite a few visitors who opted to buy some of the sweet potatoes and feed this very tall creature. But everyone was warned not to try and pet it. Guess it may look docile, but it’s still a wild animal. We decided to leave, however, when the giraffe got a little to excited about being fed — he was salivating and the wind was blowing it into the crowd! (Ick.)

Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee is a rather interesting place. Part zoo, part theme park. In any case, it revolves around what fascinates us — the animals.