Another Great Day at Myakka

Ernie and Noela drove up from Harbor Lakes and met us at the Myakka office around 7:30.  Only 30 permits are issued a day to hike to the Deep Hole and we wanted to be sure we got our permits.  The Deep Hole is estimated to be about 130 feet deep and is one of the best watching spots in the park.  Park rangers have counted as many as 120 alligators in one viewing!

After getting our permits, we drove to the parking lot for the Deep Hole and were the first people there.

It was a beautiful morning for a hike and the temperature was perfect.

We were glad we started early before the sun started beating down on us.  

Most of the hike was out in the open...

...with a few trees here in and there.

As we got closer to the deep hole, we walked through this beautiful canopy of trees.

We reached a fork in the road with a sign showing the way to the Deep Hole.

But when we reached the Deep Hole (or what we thought was the Deep Hole), we were a little disappointed.

I mean it was pretty and all...

...but we were just expecting  this big hole with a lot of alligators surrounding it.  We saw one alligator in the water off in the distance, one heron, and two ducks.  

Fortunately, two other hikers came up behind us just as we were about to leave and told us the Deep Hole was way over there....

...up by those palm trees.

We followed the two hikers up to the Deep Hole...

and saw a lot more alligators (all those dark spots in the water are alligators)...

...and a Roseate Spoonbill (Ken's favorite)...finally!  

A few more hikers arrived as we were standing there including a couple of wildlife resources people.  They said the water is up higher right now so you don't see as many alligators lying around the banks.

Mature alligators only eat about once a week and they eat anything from fish to birds to other alligators.  The wildlife resources guys said the birds seem to sense when the alligators are getting hungry and typically know when to get out of the gator's way.  This Roseate must know these gators have already had their dinner for the week.  :)

We saw only one alligator out on the bank and he was HUGE!  

These anhingas were drying their wings in a nearby tree.

The most alligators we counted at one time while we were standing there was 15 but none of them were very close or else we would not have been standing there!  :)

We were so glad those two hikers walked up behind us and showed us where the Deep Hole was.  It was a pretty neat thing to see...even with only 15 alligators.  :)

We turned around and began our hike back to the car stopping for a few minutes to see the Lower Myakka Lake which was just north of the Deep Hole.  We saw one alligator here way off in the distance.

We began our 2 1/2 mile hike back to the car and were enjoying talking with Ernie and Noela and learning more about their home in Quebec when I almost stepped on this huge turtle.

He (or she?) wasn't just any ol' turtle.  He was a Florida soft-shelled turtle.  

He had a huge head with penetrating eyes and a little snout for a nose.  

Florida's soft-shelled turtle is the largest soft-shell turtle in North America.  What is surprising is that from what I read the turtle is almost entirely aquatic.  But this guy (or gal) was crawling right along the hiking trail.  The below movie shows how he (or she) moves fairly quickly for a big turtle and can really stretch his head out.  

Well, that was cool!  We walked on a little further and the guys looked down and saw this little snake that Noela and I had just stepped over.  

Before we knew it, we had made it back to the parking lot and then rode back to our campsite and rested for a few minutes.  Then we loaded up our picnic lunches on our bikes and headed into the park for a bike ride.  We were all pretty hungry after our 5 mile hike so we stopped first at the picnic area near the Myakka Outpost and ate our lunch.  

Then we rode all the way to the north end of the park and rode out to the Clay Gully area.  

We could see some fish in the water that were kind of wallowing near the surface like a carp sometimes does.  

Then, we rode out to the front entrance where Ernie and Chuck ran several experiments to determine what would open the gate.  They weren't sure if it was weight or metal that caused the gate to open because both a bike and a car would open the gate.  Standing or jumping up and down on the sensors would not open the gate and neither would the metal from keys as Chuck found out.  Noela and I just stood there and laughed as we watched our scientists hard at work.  :)  

I think they determined that there was just enough metal in a bike to make the gates open.  Another mystery solved!  :)

We stopped back by the Myakka Outpost and had some ice cream.  We could not believe how crowded the park was.  I asked the clerk in the Outpost what was going on for it to be so crowded and she said it is this way every day during snowbird season and until right after spring break.  

By the time we got back to our campsite, we had ridden about 14 miles.  Wow!  Hiked 5 miles and biked 14 miles.  But the day was not over yet!  We decided to finish off our fantastic day with dinner at Sweet Tomatos!  

We had another sunglasses incident today.  Before going on our bike ride, Noela couldn't find her sunglasses.  We looked everywhere but Noela thought she may have dropped them at the Deep Hole parking lot when she was taking her hat off.  On the way to the restaurant, we stopped at the parking lot for the Deep Hole to see if we could find them but no luck.  After we said our good-byes to Ernie and Noela at the restaurant and returned to the campground, Chuck and I noticed that the Myakka office was still open. I went inside to see if anyone had turned in a pair of sunglasses.  And guess what!  There was Noela's sunglasses.

Bonnie, Noela and I have all had issues with losing our glasses this winter.  First, Bonnie dropped hers in Six Mile Cypress only to be retrieved by Chuck.  Then, I dropped mine on the pier at Matlacha only to later find them resting on the bench on the pier.  And then today, Noela lost and then we found her sunglasses.  Unbelievable!  Oh yeah, Chuck just reminded me that Bonnie had almost lost her sunglasses a second time at Great Licks ice cream shop in Matlacha but Ken picked them up to see if she noticed that she left them on the table.  :)

What a super fantastic day!  Ernie and Noela, thanks for driving up and joining us for the day!  And like Noela said, now that we found her sunglasses, we have to meet again!  :)  Safe travels back to Canada and we look forward to seeing you again!